Tackling sexual harassment

Sexual harassment is a trade union issue

We know that it takes courage to report sexual harassment at work, whether you’ve experienced it directly or seen it happen to somebody else.

We also know that workplace cultures that routinely tolerate sexism and misogyny are those that are also most likely to foster the most extreme instances of sexual harassment.

Fundamentally sexual harassment arises from misuse of power – organisational and physical – and it can simply be too much to deal with on your own.

Prospect is on your side.

We are committed to using every tool at our disposal to protect members from sexual harassment at work.

We can:

• Represent you individually – providing expert support to victims of sexual harassment, both in your workplace and through legal proceedings.
• Use our collective bargaining experience and influence to shape better workplace policies and cultures, to prevent sexual harassment from happening in the workplace.
• Organise and campaign – for awareness and better education of workers and employers, and for stronger laws to protect workers. We will not stand back from publicly criticising employers who fail to act.

What we’re doing

Our work on tackling sexual harassment doesn’t stop. We are:

• Updating our workplace guidance and will be issuing it on a sectoral basis in 2024.
• Devising a short training course for representatives to support victims of workplace sexual harassment.
• Launching a new sexual harassment support service for members affected by sexual harassment. This will pilot in our defence sector and with Bectu freelancers, before being rolled out to our full membership.
• Campaigning where we have evidence of sexual harassment being a problem in particular industries and workplaces, such as the Ministry of Defence.