Every day, all over the world, lesbians and gay men face prejudice, discrimination and violence in the workplace and in society on the basis of their sexual orientation. Many employers discriminate against lesbians and gay men in all aspects of work in recruitment, promotion, dismissal and in conditions of work.

There are few countries that provide any legal protection against such discrimination. In fact in some countries there is specific legislation which criminalizes lesbians and gay men.

One of the key tasks for trade unions is to work for the improvement of working conditions for all workers, for the elimination of all forms of discrimination and the promotion of social and economic justice. Many trade unions and international trade union organisations actively work to defend and promote not only trade union rights, but also other basic human rights. In recent years there has been a growing recognition that trade union action on lesbian and gay rights should be an integral part of an overall policy to fight discrimination and protect workers rights and the rights of the unemployed.

However, only a small number of trade unions have actively taken up lesbian and gay rights issues or developed strategies to confront discrimination and prejudice in the workplace. In general, the involvement and participation of lesbian and gay union members has been an important factor in the development of these strategies. The active unions now recognise that if they would tolerate discrimination against any union member this adversely would affect all union members.

The 1998 Conference on Trade Unions, Homosexuality and Work will bring together lesbian and gay workers from all over the world to discuss ways of building on the work that is already being carried out and to develop proposals for action by trade unions, employers, and other bodies.

The aim is also to bring together representatives of trade unions, employers, experts and politicians as part of the conference.