Bureau for Workers' Activities (ACTRAV)

  • 5-16 June 2023

    111th Session of the International Labour Conference

    The 111th Session of the International Labour Conference will be held from Monday, 5 June to Friday, 16 June 2023. The Conference venue will be the Palais des Nations and the ILO headquarters in Geneva.

  • Trade Union Revitalization

    How did the ILO Support Workers’ Organizations in 2022?

    Throughout 2022, the ILO Bureau for Workers’ Activities (ACTRAV) has been at the forefront to ensure that workers’ organizations have the information and assistance they need to face the multiple and overlapping crises facing the world of work. Watch some examples of how ACTRAV has contributed to trade union revitalization over the past year and see what its priorities will be for 2023.

  • 13-23 March 2023

    347th Session of the Governing Body

    The ILO’s Governing Body will meet in Geneva for its 347th Session, between 13 - 23 March. Discussions among the representatives of Governments, Workers and Employers will include the report of the Director-General, developments in Member States, and proposals for a Global Coalition on Social Justice.

  • International Journal of Labour Research

    Unions must work together and find ways to organize new forms of work

    Trade unions need to strengthen their unity, attract more young people and organize workers in the digital economy, according to the 2022 edition of the International Journal of Labour Research.



  • 28-30 November 2022

    Trade Union Unity in Africa: How can it be achieved?

    To stimulate the discussions and research on the challenge of revitalization within the trade union movement, the ILO’s Bureau for Workers’ Activities (ACTRAV) is organizing a series of Labour Research Journeys in April. This series of events will bring together authors, researchers, academics, ILO representatives and leaders from trade unions. This session is devoted to Africa and focuses on how to achieve trade-union unity across the continent.

Publications and briefs

  1. Trade Union Revitalization

    Trade unions navigating and shaping change

    20 March 2023

  2. Trade Union Revitalization

    Digital technologies and trade union revitalization in the Arab States region

    07 March 2023

  3. New Technologies

    Improving Workers' Data Rights

    28 November 2022

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News and articles

  1. How are trade unions adapting to changes in the world of work?

    02 June 2023

  2. Occupational safety and health key to achieve social justice, says ILO

    24 April 2023

  3. How did the ILO Support Workers’ Organizations in 2022?

    23 March 2023

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Key areas of work

  1. Trade Unions in Transformation: Actors for Change

    The Future of Work is uncertain. The world of work is faced with multiple transformations in the context of changing labour markets, driven by technological advancement and digitalisation, climate and environmental changes, globalization and demographic shifts. ACTRAV’s programme on Trade Unions in Transformation : Actors for Change supports trade unions to engage in this debate and to strengthen transformative action on the future of trade unions.

Key resources

  1. International Journal of Labour Research

    Trade Union Revitalization: Organizing new forms of work including platform workers

    This edition highlights the experiences of trade union revitalization worldwide with an emphasis on trade union unity and cooperation and the challenge of organizing new forms of work including platforms workers where young people are over-represented.

  2. Manual

    Dealing with crises arising from conflicts and disasters-ILO training manual for workers’ organizations

    This training manual focusses on situations that are at the crossroads of humanitarian assistance, development, peacebuilding and resilience. It contributes to anchoring the role of the ILO and the social partners across this field.

  3. Guide

    Workers’ guide to ILO Conventions concerning minimum standards of social security

    The guide aims to help workers’ representatives to promote the ratification of ILO standards, and in particular Convention No. 102, and to ensure their application at national level as a basis for progressively extending adequate and sustainable social protection to all.

  4. Report

    Decent work deficits among rural workers

    This report is a summary of the findings of 16 case studies commissioned by the ILO Bureau for Workers’ Activities (ACTRAV) in mid-2021 to examine the situation concerning decent work and existing opportunities for trade union organizing in rural economies in selected countries and economic sectors in Africa, the Americas, Asia and Eastern Europe.

  5. Report

    Social Dialogue Report 2022: Collective bargaining for an inclusive, sustainable and resilient recovery

    This first edition of this new ILO flagship report focuses on collective bargaining.