- Conference
- 2024 National LGBT+ Conference
- Date
- 17 July 2024
- Decision
- Carried as Amended
Conference notes the ‘LGBT+ Inclusion @ Work’ report from Deloitte in 2023, following a survey they completed across workplaces in 13 countries, including the UK.
The report highlights its findings that less than half of respondents feel comfortable being out at work, because they are concerned about being treated differently, or may even have concerns for their personal safety. It also notes that 42% of respondents had experienced non-inclusive behaviours at work, with a majority being certain that this is linked to their sexual-orientation or gender identity, and the most frequently reported type of non-inclusive behaviour in the workplace was unwanted comments or jokes of a sexual nature.
The report found that harnessing the power of allyship would provide a key opportunity to help overcome these challenges of feeling unable to be out at work, and the prevalence of non-inclusive behaviours.
Conference notes that UNISON has a long history of building allyship alongside the essential work of self-organised groups and has already established a strong base of Trans Allies, over the last two years.
In recent times, organisations have rolled out ‘active bystander’ training, which was primarily devised to equip people with skills to challenge misogyny and violence against women and girls. Conference notes that there are many transferable aspects of active bystander training that could help challenge the apparent issues of non-inclusive behaviours towards LGBT+ people in workplaces.
The report from Deloitte makes several recommendations, and conference notes that UNISON is in a strong position to take forward some of these actions, into the many thousands of workplaces where there are UNISON members, reps, or activists, and continue the legacy of our trade union being at the forefront of the fight for equality for all.
Conference notes that at the end of this Year of LGBT+ Workers, there remains so much yet to do, and calls upon the national LGBT+ committee to:
Develop a programme of work to harness the power of allyship for all our LGBT+ members, working with regions and branches to roll out a programme of training LGBT+ Allies.
Work with regions and branches, considering how we organise with and productively engage our members who are allies, for the good of LGBT+ members.
Work with self organised groups (SOGs) at local, regional, and national level, young members and retired members networks, recognising the importance of solidarity and allyship across all strands of equality within the union, to build stronger links and build effective allyship.
Consider the model of training members to be ‘active bystanders’, to challenge the pervasive issue of non-inclusive behaviours, including unwanted comments and jokes of a sexual nature.