News/Reports
Thank You Myrtle
It was with great sadness that we learned of the passing of Myrtle Witbooi, our dear friend, a GFI Board Member, and a champion of the rights of workers across the globe. Myrtle has been a guide star of the movement to secure the rights of domestic workers for nearly 60 years and she has ensured that the millions of women who work in our homes and care for our loved ones are afforded the protections and voice that has been denied them for so long. With her death we have lost one of the great labor leaders of our time and a resonant voice that would never be silenced, but through her work we have gained a movement and mission that can no longer be ignored or undone. Her cause is our cause and inspires our mission to create a more equitable, sustainable world for the working poor. We mourn her loss, but we celebrate her extraordinary contribution to our common good and to the countless women whose lives she uplifted.
Myrtle was the 2015 recipient of GFI's Fairness Award where she was honored for her leadership in influencing the adoption of the ILO Convention on Domestic Workers (No. 189) and for her life's work to secure greater rights and recognition for the more than 75 million domestic workers across the globe. As a domestic worker herself in apartheid South Africa, Myrtle organized the first South African Domestic Service and Allied Workers Union (SADSAWU)s in 1965 and went on to found and lead the International Domestic Workers Federation (IDWF) which was instrumental in influencing the creation of Convention 189. Throughout her life she lead the struggle to ensure greater dignity and security for women in their work and through her leadership countries across the Global South and North have adopted laws supporting domestic workers. Her commitment to the principles of self-reliance and collective action are the foundation of so many worker-centered organizations like the Global Fairness Initiative and with her passing we redouble our commitment to the mission and model that she set forth. Our thanks Myrtle for your leadership, your compassion and your dear friendship. You will be missed.
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.
