- Conference
- 2021 Virtual Special Local Government Service Group Conference
- Date
- 31 March 2021
- Decision
- Carried
Conference is clear – sexual harassment isn�t just a problem for celebrities. It happens in ordinary workplaces everywhere. This includes local government.
Anybody can experience sexual harassment. However, TUC research shows that half of women have been sexually harassed at work. Two thirds of LGBT+ people have experienced it too. Four out of five people don�t feel able to report it to their employer.
Conference is concerned that online sexual harassment has become more prevalent and that the requirement for so many workers to work at home because of Covid-19 lockdown restrictions, means sexual harassment, far from reducing due to the widespread closure of workplaces, has just moved on-line. Research shows that on-line sexual harassment can be more pernicious and difficult to deal with.
UNISON�s survey of 47,000 women members in February 2021 found that 77% of women working in local government were working from home during the pandemic.
Conference notes that the charity Rights of Women surveyed women during the pandemic and found 15% of women who have experienced sexual harassment reported an increase in on-line harassment while working from home. Nearly one in three women who have reported sexual harassment to their employer said that the process had been negatively impacted by the pandemic.
The survey report highlighted examples of online harassment including male managers telling women to attend video calls wearing more make-up and �sexier� clothing and stated that the move to working from home has also given harassers new tools to indulge in �less favourable treatment and victimisation�.
Conference congratulates the National Women�s Committee for their work in 2020 to fight sexual harassment through:
1)UNISON�s #ustoo campaign;
2)Our call for a change to the law to make it mandatory for employers to evidence that they are proactively taking steps to stop sexual harassment taking place;
3)New bargaining guidance to ensure zero tolerance of sexual harassment in the workplace.
However, conference also notes the need to refresh and update the campaign and UNISON�s own guidance in light of the increase in on-line abuse and to take account of new ways of working due to the pandemic, particularly video-conferencing.
Conference calls on the service group executive to:
a)Work with the National Women�s Committee to build the campaign for zero tolerance of sexual harassment in local government workplaces particularly on-line abuse;
b)Encourage local government employers to support UNISON�s campaign for changes to the law to make it mandatory for employers to evidence that they are taking steps to stop sexual harassment taking place and to address third party sexual harassment;
c)Work with Labour Link to call for the changes to the law in b) above.