Challenging Harassment is Everyone's Business! | Workplace ...

Press Release from, marketwire

This year, Sexual Harassment Awareness Week comes at a time when the North American union, UNITE HERE, which represents many hotel and hospitality workers, is running a cross-border media campaign to raise awareness about the dangers that female hotel housekeepers often face while on the job. The campaign was launched in response to a high profile case against former head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Dominique Strauss-Kahn, who is alleged to have sexually assaulted a hotel housekeeper while staying at a New York Hotel, but many similar stories from other cities have been exposed as a result.

?These cases draw attention to the fact that for many working women in Canada, sexual assault is a very common workplace hazard. This situation has been exacerbated by post-recession cut-backs that have often led to female employees working in isolation and with fewer security personnel on hand,? said OFL President Sid Ryan. ?We have to be doubly concerned for all of the women who do not speak up when they?ve been harassed or assaulted because they fear for their jobs. Union protection may give some women the confidence to come forward with their cases, but what about those who do not? No woman should have to face harassment on her own.?

Sexual harassment in any workplace is a serious form of violence against women that crosses every social boundary. While studies continue to show that many working women experience sexual harassment, the harassment women face is not always sexual in nature. Harassment on the basis of race, sexual orientation, disability, gender identity/expression and various other forms of personal harassment, compounded with gender-based harassment, can make the workplace, and indeed society, dangerous and even lethal for women.

The saddening truth is that the workplace murders of two women served as the catalyst for legislative reform in Ontario. June 2nd marks the 15th anniversary of the death of Theresa Vince ? a woman murdered by her boss while at work after years of unrelenting sexual harassment. Nine years later, on November 12, 2005, Lori Dupont, a nurse at Hotel-Dieu Grace Hospital in Windsor was murdered at work by her ex-boyfriend. The families of the two victims were joined by the OFL and various other labour unions and women?s groups who worked together to identify workplace harassment and violence as a hazard. The success of the campaign resulted in new legislative amendments to Ontario?s Occupational Health and Safety Act that came into effect on June 15, 2010 to finally address violence in the workplace.

?Despite a number of serious omissions, Bill 168 was an important first step to addressing workplace violence. Properly enforced, these legislative rights will begin to protect workers against workplace violence and harassment,? said Marie Kelly, OFL Secretary Treasurer. ?Workers now have the right to refuse work if they believe they are at risk of violence and employers must take precautions to protect workers from domestic violence that crosses into the workplace, but much more remains to be done.?

The OFL and various women?s groups will continue to demand that the Ontario McGuinty government take further concrete actions to end workplace violence and harassment. While the Occupational Health & Safety Act now defines workplace violence as a hazard, Ontario women still need:

? Strong, effective and timely enforcement of existing legislation;
? Strong regulations on training and consultation with workplace joint Health and Safety Committees;
? An expansion of the Employment Standards Act definition for ?compassionate leave? to ensure that job protection cover abused women who need time for legal issues, finding housing, addressing child care and healing;
? Provisions in the Human Rights Code, Occupational Health and Safety Act and the Employment Standards Act guaranteeing abused women the right to workplace accommodation, including the right to alternative work, flexible hours and job transfers;
? A multi-language public education campaign to ensure women workers know their workplace rights and where to go for enforcement;
? Funding for women?s organizations that provide support for women who experience harassment and develop community education programs; and
? An expansion of the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board policy on compensation for chronic stress in order to cover workers who experience harassment, verbal and emotional abuse while on the job.

?Ontario unions will closely monitor enforcement of the new amendments and we are committed to strengthen anti-violence and harassment rights through collective bargaining?, said Ryan. ?The government must ensure that women know their workplace rights and that additional legislative action is taken to ensure no woman has to choose between her safety or her job.?

Source: http://workplaceviolencenews.com/2011/06/02/challenging-harassment-is-everyones-business/

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