Urge Employers to Acknowledge and Address Problems
Britain’s NUJ (National Union of Journalists) general secretary Michelle Stanistreet recently condemned sexism and harassment at work, urging the government and media employers to acknowledge and address the problems that exist in the media industry.
Plans announced at the Conservative party conference included unraveling health and safety measures, attacks on trade union rights and the withdrawal of sections of the Equality Act relating to third party harassment.
The BBC announced an independent inquiry into the Jimmy Savile allegations of sexual abuse. The NUJ supports the inquiry and is committed to working in partnership with union members and employers to challenge sexism and harassment and prioritise the campaign for safer working environments.
United and Determined to Challenge
Stanistreet noted, “Sexism and sexual harassment is totally unacceptable and the NUJ is united and determined to challenge it. We are calling for media employers, trade unions and journalists to work together to ensure that women are safe at work. We want to see measures put in place to protect victims and we want procedures to be introduced to effectively tackle the harmful and damaging behavior of the perpetrators.
"Our women members have come forward to describe instances of sexism and harassment to us and it is clear that media organizations are not always willing to acknowledge or prevent sexism and harassment at work. One of the most recent examples is the sexually based abuse targeted at women journalists on the internet and the lack of measures introduced to protect staff from harm. The last thing abused women need is the offer of shares in return for giving up their employment rights.
"Supporting a strong and representative trade union can help to address the problems and the NUJ will continue to work hard to convince the government and employers of the need for equality policies aimed to challenge unhealthy cultures and practices at work."
Survey Launched to Gather Experiences
The NUJ launched a survey in spring 2012 to gather views and experiences about sexism and below are quotes taken from the survey responses. The survey results and analysis will be published later this year.
Stanistreet added, "I am in no doubt that women's status at work is at an all-time low… men secure the full-time, highly paid jobs and women have the part-time and casual work"
"I feel there is a bit of an old boys' club … jobs are not advertised and senior management regularly give contracts to journalists with a professional or personal connection to them. Nine times out of ten, these new contracts are given to male journalists," Stanistreet said.
Author Michael B. Stack, CPA, Director of Operations, Amaxx Risk Solutions, Inc. is an expert in employer communication systems and part of the Amaxx team helping companies reduce their workers compensation costs by 20% to 50%. He is a writer, speaker, and website publisher. www.reduceyourworkerscomp.com. Contact: mstack@reduceyourworkerscomp.com.
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