Summary:
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In December 2021, four UN agencies and international employer and worker groups set up a Joint Action Group to examine the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the world’s transport workers and the global supply chain.
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The Joint Action Group has decided on ways to protect these workers from the effects of future health crises.
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These workers include seafarers, truck drivers, and aircrew.
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At a hybrid meeting at the headquarters of the International Labor Organization (ILO) in Geneva, the ideas were accepted.
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They also ask governments to take preventative steps to protect the rights of transportation workers in case of future global health disasters while the COVID-19 pandemic is still affecting them.
In December 2021, four UN agencies and international employer and worker groups set up a Joint Action Group to examine the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the world’s transport workers and the global supply chain. The Joint Action Group has decided on ways to protect these workers from the effects of future health crises. These workers include seafarers, truck drivers, and aircrew.
At a hybrid meeting at the headquarters of the International Labor Organization (ILO) in Geneva, the ideas were accepted. They list ways to protect transport workers, like making it easier for sectoral organizations to share information quickly and effectively and coordinate responses to public health emergencies that affect the whole world (PHEIC).
In the proposals of the Joint Action Group, each member of the Group, the whole UN system, especially the relevant UN agencies, through UN Resident Coordinators and Country Teams, and the international transport sector organizations themselves are asked to take action. They also ask governments to take preventative steps to protect the rights of transportation workers in case of future global health disasters while the COVID-19 pandemic is still having an effect.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has caused significant and sometimes unaffordable problems in the transportation industry, putting the industry’s future and the lives and jobs of its workers at risk. The head of the ILO, Gilbert F. Houngbo, said that we need to make sure we are better prepared to handle situations in the future.
Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus of the World Health Organization (WHO), the ILO Director-General, and the heads of sectoral organizations and federations got together to discuss forming the Joint Action Group. The International Maritime Organization (IMO) and the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) later joined it (the IMO). The panel talked about the critical and urgent problems that the COVID-19 pandemic and impending health crises will cause for people who work in transportation. Its goal has been to protect local communities and protect public health needs while causing as few problems as possible for workers, their families, and global supply chains.
The International Transport Workers’ Federation, the International Chamber of Shipping, the International Road Transport Union, and the International Labor Organization were represented in the group, along with the heads of the ILO, WHO, ICAO, IMO, International Air Transport Association, and WHO (ITF). As observers, the International Union of Railways (UIC), the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), and the International Organization of Employers (IOE) took part.
