News

Memorial for Robin Gillespie from the International Transport Workers’ Federation

Posted February 2021

Robin’s commitment to the health, safety and welfare of transport workers, the quality of her work and the depth of her knowledge was never more apparent than in her recent project, a wide-ranging research report for the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine entitled Improving the Safety, Health, and Productivity of Transit Operators Through Adequate Restroom Access which was published in late 2020. 

This work, and its timing, is of particular importance to the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) as, since 2018, we have been campaigning for safe access to decent sanitary facilities, sanitation systems and the ability to use them during their working day when needed, for all transport workers, particularly women. 

To this end, in November 2019 the ITF launched the Transport Workers’ Sanitation Charter “Toilet Rights are Human Rights”, calling for action from employers, governments and global organizations. We are indebted to Robin for her valuable feedback on the draft Charter.

Robin will be greatly missed, but her work will live on, not least in a toolkit which we are developing to help our affiliates implement the Transport Workers’ Sanitation Charter across the world.