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BY HAJERA BLAGG “
must also change. “Employers should be ashamed; these are young women in low paying jobs, reporting that the behaviour they’ve experienced has made them feel unsafe,” she said.
“But instead of feeling supported 60 per cent of those that responded were unsure or lacked faith in their management to deal with a complaint of sexual harassment.
“The hospitality industry needs to sort itself out – adopt a zero tolerance approach to sexual harassment and treat complaints seriously.”
Unite regional officer Dave Turnbull agreed. “We’ve seen other surveys of the industry from outside of the UK with
similar results so this means that there is a specific problem within the sector,” he said. “Part of the problem arises from this ‘customer is always right’ mentality – rather than challenge a customer, especially if they are a VIP, it’s swept under the carpet.”
He added that the high level of migrant workers – who often don’t know their rights – in the industry as well as low levels of unionisation also contribute to the high incidence of sexual harrassment in the sector.
“The answer of course is union organisation in the way we have in other workplaces – with recognition, reps and so on,” Turnbull said.
21 uniteWORKS Spring 2018
It’s totally and completely normalised. Just the other day, a customer very forcefully brushed his crotch against a waitress. Women are constantly being told by management to wear short skirts, to shave, that their hair isn’t okay
Nilufer Guler Unite rep and waitress
” Zero tolerance – Unite demands sexual harressment be treated with the utmost seriousness
Unite’s survey is still on-going and McCarthy urged those working in hospitality to come forward.
“Lifting the lid and exposing the problem is an important first step in ending sexual harassment in the industry,” he said. “As the #MeToo movement showed, the more people who come forward with their stories, the greater the collective push to change a culture that for far,far too long has gone unchallenged.”
If you or anyone you know works in the hospitality sector, fill out Unite’s #NotOnTheMenu survey, download here:
https://response.questback.com/
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