Advancing the practice and language of equality at work within the European Union has been an ongoing and at times uneven project. Despite some advances, there have been delays and issues related to the establishment of firm- and state-endorsed guidelines. The financial support and other resources contributed by public bodies to the associated research lend a degree of legitimacy to the patient, piecemeal process of gathering evidence and good practice based on long experience of social dialogue across various transnational sectoral spaces and forums both within the European Union (EU) and beyond. Gaining consensus from affiliate bodies such as the national members of European trade unions and employer associations requires much internal discussion and trust.
In May 2024 the EU developed and adopted a robust piece of transnational European legislation: the first key directive on effectively opposing and countering general violence against women and domestic violence. This has implications for the workplace in terms of the conduct of individuals and is accompanied by a series of guidelines and practices that have been built up to support employers and trade unions dealing with these issues at work.
The role of the trade unions, especially UNI Global Europa, has been key to this process, since issues of gender-based violence and harassment are present in a range of sectors that they represent and operate in, such as retailing and hospitality. Violence against women, and harassment both at home and in the workplace, has an impact across various industrial sectors. Traditional collective bargaining agendas have over time steadily increased inclusion of equality-related issues such as childcare and equal pay auditing – although not always consistently. In some cases, such as in Spain, equality plans are an important feature of the industrial relations system, while in France the role of the state and the use of benchmarking in pay auditing have become more systematic. While these continuing developments within industrial relations have often been uneven across different national experiences, the need to broaden the debate to address issues such as violent conduct and to establish frameworks to recognise and deal with it is more recent. Some national contexts are much more advanced, for example, in France, the designation of a ‘sexist and sexual harassment referent’ has been a legal requirement in all companies with more than 11 employees since 2018. In the UK, after many years of campaigning by trade unions, the Worker Protection Act, effective from 26 October 2024, introduces a new legal duty on employers to prevent sexual harassment of their employees. In other countries, there is still a stigma associated with these sensitive yet essential topics.
Interventions by the ILO – see ILO Convention 190 on violence and harassment at work ‒ form part of a longer-term strategy that has been unfolding for some time and has generated a network of trade unionists and more progressive employer organisations or lead employers. Key to the process of consensus building leading to the EU Directive have been a range of political and social alliances that have been built within and beyond the labour movement, as well as sector-based social dialogue forums within the EU. The importance of key individuals within UNI Global Europa in forging alliances and in generating evidence-based research has been pivotal. Yet, despite common ground on such issues as violence within the workplace, progress and change are not always straightforward. Many people do not speak up and denounce the sometimes-intangible issue of violence and harassment in the workplace; as a social issue it requires clear management and disciplinary systems as well as social support-related processes.
A key report by UNI Global Europa highlights how the pandemic changed the perspective and contexts of violence and contributed to the rise of new sets of dynamics and developments that needed to be accounted for:
…the pandemic period has also led to an alarming increase in violence against women, both physically and online, where the victims of the latter are significantly more isolated from potential resources and opportunities for help. Domestic violence has increased by a third during the pandemic. Evidence would also show that remote working has meant that work-related sexual harassment has become more prevalent online. (UNI Global Europa, 2021: 6)
The pandemic brought new sets of challenges for many and pushed a range of organisations towards a realisation that broader social issues had to be dealt with in a more systematic manner. There are many aspects to equality at work beyond purely economic indicators such as pay levels and pay distribution. Gender-based violence involves a range of health and safety issues as well, given that violence has not always been at the centre of such activities and there has normally been a rift or lack of coordination between health and safety on the one hand, and equality and inclusion on the other.
Substantial recommendations have been agreed between employers and trade unions, although how these become operationalised may vary according to national and corporate context. The recommendations proposed by the social partners in relation to these developments are expansive and point not just to industrial relations processes but also to questions of culture and structure.
Operational Strategy: To address gender-based violence effectively, we propose the development of a gender-based violence operational strategy, implemented and monitored by the social partners.
Gender Balance in Leadership: We commit to promote gender balance by appointing an equal number of women senior executives within the governing structures of trade unions and employers' organizations.
Sharing Best Practices: We will facilitate the regular exchange of best practices, including collective agreements that address gender violence.
Awareness and Training: Raising awareness and providing training for managers and individuals in positions of authority will be a key focus.
Codes of Conduct: We suggest creating codes of conduct or specific charters related to the prevention of gender violence.
Corporate Culture Shift: We emphasize the importance of developing an inclusive, comprehensive corporate strategy to transform company culture into one that fosters trust, support and protection. This includes promoting a zero-tolerance culture towards all forms of violence and harassment.
At least two decades of political positioning and piecemeal agreements in the form of European Collective Agreements and general agreements and protocols have led to these shifts, pointing to the roles of key trade unions, sets of activists, and social networks in raising awareness of what is a very significant social issue. The need for greater action on such social and work-related problems incorporates a range of organisational and social activities – it cannot be simply an addendum to an agreement. It also requires persistence and the ability to recollect earlier discussions and inroads. Normally it is a small set of activists and officials who recall previous achievements and build trust amongst the wide range of actors who need to support such initiatives so that they become formally integrated into the legislative frameworks of the state. Our research on this and other equality-related issues clearly shows that a greater commitment to organisational and research-based resources is key, as often these developments hinge on key individuals tirelessly steering and sustaining the agenda and connecting the different actors and protocols that constitute this debate.