General Council Statement on tackling and preventing sexual harassment
Tackling and preventing sexual harassment in the trade union movement
Introduction
Trade unions have played a vital role in highlighting the scale and impact of sexual harassment in the workplace. We have pioneered research on the issue, and led campaigns to change the law, laying the foundations for the culture change that is needed if we are to end sexual harassment and the cultures that allow it to thrive. But like every workplace, we need to get our own house in order. No one should ever feel unsafe in a trade union space.
A culture of sexism and misogyny creates a permissive environment in which sexual harassment can occur. If we are to effectively tackle sexual harassment in workplaces including our movement, then we must change the culture that enables it, including the sexism and misogyny that women face daily. Sexual harassment is about power and control. We know anyone can experience sexual harassment, but as our own research has shown, it is women who are overwhelmingly the victims/survivors of sexual harassment, and the majority do not report.
Through our research we also know that sexual harassment can be more prevalent for younger and disabled women, Black, LGBT+ and migrant workers, those in insecure forms of work and those working in male dominated industries, and that experiences of sexual harassment can be compounded by racism, ableism, ageism, homophobia, biphobia, transphobia.
To build preventative cultures we must acknowledge that culture change does need to happen. We must be intersectional in our approach, recognising the role inequality and multiple forms of discrimination play in perpetuating permissive cultures for sexual harassment. And we must understand that this work cannot be time specific and must be part of an ongoing course of action.
Statement of commitment
The TUC Executive Working Group was established in 2021 to tackle and prevent sexual harassment within our own movement. Working with our democratic structures, the Working Group has developed a statement of commitment that sets out principles and key actions that all unions must commit to if we are to tackle and prevent sexual harassment in our movement and show leadership in the wider world of work.
This statement of commitment sets out our intent as a movement and provides a mechanism for us to monitor and assess our progress and review the changes we need to see in our unions and across our movement.
Principles
The trade union movement believes sexual harassment and the cultures that enable it are unacceptable and morally wrong. Sexual harassment is a health and safety issue and has a real and detrimental impact on individuals – overwhelmingly women – our workplaces and in our organisations. It has no place in the trade union movement.
We recognise the intersectional impacts of sexual harassment, particularly on Black, disabled, migrant, LGBT+ and younger workers and will ensure that our work addresses the experiences of workers with these characteristics.
Sexual harassment is not inevitable. It can be prevented through practical action including workplace policies and collective bargaining to protect workers and members against harassment and transform workplace and organisational cultures. Appropriate action should be taken to build positive cultures of prevention within our movement.
Tackling and preventing sexual harassment in our movement, as well as in our members’ workplaces, must be a priority for trade unions. We must lead by example. There must be genuine and full commitment and dedication to properly resource and support culture change across trade union structures by the senior leadership of the trade union movement.
Our own staff, activists and members must be safe, equal and have dignity in trade union workplaces and spaces. This is not only our legal responsibility, but our moral duty. It is vital that we uphold decent standards of behaviour – there must be no tolerance of sexual harassment, or any form of discrimination, that serves only to weaken our movement.
We believe victim/survivors and support them to make reports should they wish to. This means that all reports, including historical reports, should be taken seriously, supported by fair, robust, transparent, and independent processes of investigation (meaning either external or those who are involved in the investigation are independent from the case or incident being investigated).
No-one should suffer a detriment for reporting incidents of sexual harassment or supporting a colleague or member to do so. Staff and members must have access to safe, confidential reporting routes and support throughout any reporting or investigation process.
We do not silence victim/survivors or anyone reporting incidences of harassment, victimisation, or discriminatory behaviour.
Actions
There are a range of actions that we must take to embed meaningful and lasting culture change. Recognising that this work must be ongoing and sustainable, the below commitments lay the foundations for building safe spaces for our staff and members and driving the culture change necessary to tackle sexual harassment.
All unions must:
take steps to understand the extent of sexual harassment and the cultures that enable it within their organisations. This can be done through anonymous climate surveys or independent inquiries, for example
emphasise that they have a clear moral and legal responsibility to take action on harassment and bullying as well as zero tolerance of all forms of harassment and bullying
have a standalone anti-sexual harassment policy for staff and members that makes a clear commitment to tackling and preventing sexual harassment, outlines a clear code of conduct, safe and confidential reporting routes, transparent and fair processes for handling reports both formal and informal and what steps can/ will be taken to remedy and prevent sexual harassment occurring again
have safe reporting routes and a clear process for raising reports against trade union staff or members and the findings to be shared with union executives at least annually to support monitoring progress and ensure actions to prevent harassment are in place
commit to ongoing training and education for staff and members
ensure the use of NDAs or settlement agreements is in line with TUC and Acas best practice guidance. They must not be misused in cases of sexual harassment, or any other form of bullying, harassment, or discrimination, or as an alternative to carrying out robust investigations.