Celebrating Eequality in WET Workplaces

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Conference
2014 Water, Environment & Transport Service Group
Date
24 February 2014
Decision
Carried

Conference notes that workplace equality issues are often portrayed as problems, difficult to handle, a minority interest and all about discrimination and prejudice.

Conference believes that equality is not a problem but rather is something to celebrate in our Water, Environment and Transport (WET) workplaces. By celebrating equality and celebrating diversity we can help end the invisibility, isolation and marginalisation that are too often the experience of minority groups within the workplace. Marginalisation can have a direct negative impact on people’s work performance and well-being at work. The opposite of this is workplaces where all can thrive, contribute and progress at work.

Conference sees good equality policies and procedures and employers’ commitment to equality as benefiting the whole workforce.

Conference welcomes the opportunities presented by events like lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) history month in February, international women’s day on 8 March, young workers month, celebrated in March in 2014, Black history month in October and disability history month, marked 22 November – 22 December each year.

Conference calls on the WET service group executive, working in conjunction with the Business and Environment Equal Opportunities Working Party and self-organised and young members groups, to:

i) Provide information to WET branches on these various months and days.

ii) Encourage branches to raise the marking of these with managers and employers.

iii) Promote the involvement of the self-organised groups and young members in such activities, circulating information about these groups to all WET branches.

iv) Collate and distribute examples of good equality practice within WET.