UN agencies, unions and transport sector launch Joint Action Group to protect transport workers during pandemic
13 January 2022
United Nations agencies and other international organisations and unions have established a Joint Action Group to protect transport workers and secure supply chains during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Group will focus on promoting Covid-19 vaccination of transport workers and ensuring the application of internationally agreed protocols and standards.
The JAG was set up by the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the World Health Organization (WHO), together with other international organisations in the transport sector, to review the impact of the pandemic on the world's transport workers and the global supply chain. The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and the International Maritime Organization (IMO) are also members of the group.
It was established following a meeting on 6 December 2021 of ILO director-general Guy Ryder and WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus with International Air Transport Association (IATA) director Willie Walsh, International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) secretary general Guy Platten, International Road Transport Union (IRU) secretary general Umberto de Pretto and International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF) general secretary Stephen Cotton. They drew attention to serious and urgent challenges faced by transport workers resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic.
ILO director-general Guy Ryder said: 'The world's transport sectors and their workers face immense, ongoing pressures and difficulties... we have now established a Joint Action Group that will review the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on these workers and encourage governments to apply internationally agreed protocols and standards.'
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