Safe spaces where we work

Submitted by Matthew on 10 April, 2013 - 12:27

Women transport workers have begun an effort to strengthen their union’s policy on gender violence in the workplace.

Customer-facing transport workers often experience being grabbed or forcibly kissed by male passengers and, in a male-dominated industry, often feel unsupported in responding to the issues.

A motion written for Rail, Maritime, and Transport workers union (RMT) bodies says: “management and the police have a tendency to minimise these incidents as drunken laddishness, failing to give appropriate support.

“This culture can affect the way our women members assess what has happened. While we might feel deeply distressed, the environment encourages us to feel nothing serious has happened.”

The motion would commit the union to ensuring “that women members subject to assaults such as this receive the full support of the union in dealing with the consequences”.

It would also see the union “provide guidance and training for RMT representatives and branch officers, making it clear that the union expects them to take incidents like this seriously and to challenge the culture that allows them to happen.”

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