{"id":18368,"date":"2019-07-03T14:37:20","date_gmt":"2019-07-03T13:37:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=18368"},"modified":"2020-11-12T12:56:03","modified_gmt":"2020-11-12T12:56:03","slug":"this-is-not-working-sexual-harassment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=18368","title":{"rendered":"‘This is not working’"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Unite has joined the TUC and an alliance of other unions, charities and women\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s rights groups in a new campaign to end sexual harassment in the workplace.<\/p>\n

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The launch of the campaign last week (June 26) comes at a time when sexual harassment at work is rife yet there is no legal duty on employers to take action.<\/p>\n

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Statistics from the TUC show that more than half of women, and 7 in 10 LGBT people, have been sexually harassed at work. But a majority of victims are reticent to report incidents because there is no safe and effective system in place to meaningfully address harassment.<\/p>\n

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Nearly 80 per cent of women said they did not feel able to report incidents to their bosses, while a quarter of LGBT workers said they kept instances of sexual harassment to themselves because they were afraid of \u00e2\u20ac\u0098being outed\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 at work. A quarter of those surveyed by the TUC felt they would not be taken seriously if they did report sexual harassment, while 15 per cent believed reporting would damage their career prospects.<\/p>\n

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One anonymous worker told the TUC, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bManagers didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t seem to care. A lot of them laugh it off because they see it as a joke. Within two years, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve lost count of how many times I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been harassed.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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The new campaign, #ThisIsNotWorking, has called on the government to take immediate action by introducing a new enforceable mandatory duty on employers to prevent sexual harassment.<\/p>\n

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This duty would be underpinned by a new EHRC code of practice that would force employers to take reasonable steps to tackle sexual harassment, such as enforcing a zero-tolerance policy and holding mandatory training for all managers and employees. Such training would ensure that all workers understand what constitutes sexual harassment, what their rights are and how they can report sexual harassment.<\/p>\n

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Each and every workplace should also have a clear reporting system in which reported incidents are promptly and thoroughly investigated. The #ThisIsNotWorking campaign has also called for employers to protect workers from any repercussions if they do report sexual harassment and to respect each worker\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s right to organise in the workplace.<\/p>\n

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The campaign launch comes a week after the International Labour Organisation (ILO) adopted a new convention that will establish a set of standards aiming to tackle gender-based violence and harassment<\/a> in the workplace.<\/p>\n

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The #ThisIsNotWorking alliance has also set up a petition calling on the government to take action \u00e2\u20ac\u201c as of writing it has already garnered more than 10,000 signatures.<\/p>\n

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Commenting on the launch of the #ThisIsNotWorking campaign, TUC general secretary Frances O\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Grady said, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bIt\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s shocking that in 2019 so many people experience sexual harassment and assault while at work. The government must strengthen the law to put responsibility for preventing harassment on employers.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThis would shift the burden of tackling sexual harassment away from individuals,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 she added. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bAnd it would help end toxic workplace cultures that silence those who\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been harassed.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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Unite national officer Siobhan Endean agreed.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIt is a disgrace that workers who are victims of sexual harassment \u00e2\u20ac\u201c which research shows includes a majority of all women and LGBT workers \u00e2\u20ac\u201c must fend for themselves in seeking justice and safety at work after what for many will be a traumatising experience.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe onus to tackle sexual harassment should fall squarely on the shoulders of employers, who must be held to account through government enforcement. This is the only way that we can change entrenched cultures of sexual harassment that are common in workplaces across the UK.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe fully support the #ThisIsNotWorking campaign which is lobbying to ensure employers take reasonable steps to protect workers from sexual harassment and victimisation in the workplace.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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Help support the campaign by signing the petition here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Unite has joined the TUC and an alliance of other unions, charities and women\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s rights groups in a new campaign to end sexual harassment in the workplace.   The launch of the campaign last week (June 26) comes at a time when sexual harassment at work is rife yet there is no legal duty on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2837,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[1001],"wps_subtitle":"Unite joins alliance in new campaign to end sexual harassment at work","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18368"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18368"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18368\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25165,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18368\/revisions\/25165"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2837"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18368"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18368"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18368"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}