Speaking up to tackle discrimination in Guernsey

Prospect is supporting proposals to introduce equality legislation to safeguard workers from discrimination on the Channel Island of Guernsey.

Prospect is the union for around a thousand people working across all areas of the States of Guernsey government as well as representing people in the telecoms and energy sector on the island.

Guernsey currently has very few rules to safeguard members from discrimination at work. The government’s Committee for Employment and Social Security recently put forward proposals to introduce significantly improved laws on discrimination.

The proposals take many of the best bits from legislation in the UK, Ireland, and Australia.

In our response to a government consultation on new laws, we have supported many of the proposals and made suggestions for further improvements or clarifications, based upon our extensive experience of dealing with a wide range of discrimination cases.

While it is anticipated there will be opposition to the proposals from some quarters, Prospect will continue to support the development and introduction of this important new legislation.

Stephen Langford, Prospect negotiations officer, said:

“Guernsey has very little in the way of employment-related legislation, which leaves all employees exposed to discrimination of varying sorts, with no meaningful effective remedy.

“The adoption of the proposals from the Committee for Employment and Social Security would therefore be a significant step forward, not just for Prospect members but also Islanders in general.”

“Given the clear interest among our membership in seeing these proposals enacted, I will be keeping a close eye on how they are progressed.”

It’s expected that the proposals won’t become law until at least 2021.

Read more

Read the State of Guernsey’s summary of draft proposals and technical draft proposals

Read Prospect’s consultation response: https://library.prospect.org.uk/id/2019/October/14/Consultation-on-Discrimination-Legislation