News/Reports
Remembering John Sweeney
It is with great sadness that we learned of the passing of our friend John Sweeney, the lion of the labor movement and a founding Board Member of the Global Fairness Initiative. His lifetime of service and advocacy on behalf of workers is an inspiration and guiding star for our work at GFI and his loss is felt deeply by us and working people everywhere.
The son of union members, Sweeney made the labor movement and the fight for worker rights his life’s work. Beginning with the International Ladies Garment Workers Union in Manhattan and then the Service Employees International Union, Sweeny championed the cause of the most marginalized of low wage workers in New York. In 1980 Sweeney brought the fight for workers’ rights to Washington serving as President of SEIU and then as head of the AFL-CIO, the federation at the heart of the labor movement representing over 12 million workers from teachers to actors to transport workers. It was during his tenure as President of the AFL-CIO that he joined the Global Fairness Initiative as a Founding Board Member.
In receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2011 Sweeney said that he saw the labor movement was “a way to social justice, striving to improve the lot of others.” This vision and his lifelong fight for equity, dignity and security in work inspired the founding of the Global Fairness Initiative and guides our work and mission to this day. Our values are rooted in his values and we are forever grateful for his for his leadership on our Board, and for his warm and wonderful friendship over these many year. In solidarity with workers everywhere, and on behalf of our whole GFI family, thank you John.
The Pandemic and Informality: What Needs to Be Done Now!
By Karen Tramontano
With over 35 million unemployed, over 138,000 dead from COVID-19 and over 3.5 million confirmed infections in the United States, it is difficult to think about anything other than the leadership and policy change that needs to happen in America. As bad as it is here — and it is getting worse — every aspect of what is bad in the U.S. is even worse for workers in the Global South — especially workers in the informal economy.
Tunisian Government passes “Auto-Entrepreneur” Law to Facilitate Formalization Efforts
The newly passed bill will ease the formalization process and improve the livelihoods of Tunisia’s informal workers.
WASHINGTON, DC - The Global Fairness Initiative (GFI) commends the Tunisian Government on the passage of the “Auto-Entrepreneur” law. Developed through years of direct engagement and partnership with informal workers, civil society, government and the private sector, this new law will serve to ease and incentivize the formalization of single-employee enterprises by reducing the barriers workers currently face when trying to formalize their activities. The passage and enactment of this law will directly benefit a large population of Tunisian workers, facilitating their integration into the formal economy and access to essential social and health services, labor protections, and other benefits and opportunities. As Tunisia’s informal workers have been disproportionately affected by the COVID-19 crisis, this new legal framework will allow for the extension of essential protections to populations most in need.
“We applaud the Tunisian Government for taking this important step towards the empowerment of informal workers.” said Karen Tramontano, President, Global Fairness Initiative. “As close partners with Tunisia’s Ministry of Employment in their efforts to facilitate formalization, we are proud of the leadership role that Tunisia has taken to enable the formalization process for hundreds of thousands of informal workers.”
As outlined by Tunisia’s Minsitry of Employment, the new law will:
-Reform Tunisia’s tax code to reduce barriers to formalization through consolidation of occupational sectors
-Create a government institution to streamline the formalization process by offering a central hub for the entire formalization process.
“This remarkable achievement was made possible through a fruitful partnership between the Tunisia Inclusive Labor Initiative and Tunisia’s Ministry of Employment and Vocational Training.” said Asma Ben Hassen, Tunisia Country Director, Global Fairness Initiative. “Informal workers are the backbone of Tunisia’s economy, and we have seen this even more clearly through the COVID-19 crisis. The Auto-Entrepreneur Law will allow so many of these essential workers to claim their rights and integrate into the formal economy.”
About TILI-EO
The Tunisia Inclusive Labor Initiative - Expanding Opportunities (TILI-EO) aims to create a more inclusive economy for informal Tunisian workers so they can access decent work and government-mandated protections. It is an expansion of GFI’s work within the informal sector and government actors in Tunisia, which began shortly after the revolution. The program aims to support the Tunisian Government in implementing its strategic objective on formalization, which includes creating new policies to support formalization, improving capacity and skills to support informal workers, and increasing public knowledge and engagement on formalization.
About GFI
The Global Fairness Initiative (GFI) aims to change the global poverty cycle through market-based initiatives that benefit small-holder producers and workers around the globe. Through community-based programs in Asia, Africa, and Latin America, GFI leads strategic partnerships and interventions that enable more equitable opportunity and drive full-employment for the working poor. GFI’s critical programs emphasize social protections and economic access, and ensure that the voices of the poor are integrated into public policy and echoed by decision makers in order to create a more equitable social and economic environment for small and marginalized producers. Focusing on the bottom line, namely strengthening wages, market access, decent work, and livelihoods as a whole, GFI has helped to improve the lives of thousands of workers and communities worldwide. To lean for about GFI visit: www.globalfairness.org
