Misrepresented: women fight harassment and the union boys' club

Progressive, The, August, 1996 by Camille Colatosti

The only way to avoid situations like Darco's, says Peggy Nash, assistant to the president of the Canadian Auto Workers, is for unions to confront co-worker harassment head-on.

"Even though this can seem to raise questions about choosing sides and breaking workers' solidarity, there can be no solidarity with sexist and racist behavior," she explains.

Unions need to take a stand, making it clear that sexual harassment is not permissible, whether it comes from management or from union members. The union should take it upon itself to implement policies, organize educational sessions, and distribute literature on the issue.

Bob White, president of the Canadian Labour Congress, promotes a "zero-tolerance" policy. "The time has come for zero tolerance of pin-ups, of racial slurs," he says. "Too often, racial slurs, whistles, and sexist comments are passed off by the harassers with the comment: `Can't they take a joke?' It's no joke; it's degrading and humiliating."

In order for any union to reach a goal of zero tolerance, it needs to be sure that the policies outlined in its literature, and negotiated in its contracts, are enforced by top union leadership, reinforced at the union local level, and implemented in every workplace. That means the unions should file grievances for victims of sexual harassment.

The United Auto Workers local at Mitsubishi has strong anti-harassment contract language, but since it is not enforced, it serves little purpose. The Canadian Auto Workers took a step toward enforcing zero tolerance when it established an extensive educational program, negotiating paid training on sexual-harassment issues for their members.

In the United States, no union has yet negotiated paid training for its members nationwide. However, some local unions have done so. The Oil, Chemical, and Atomic Workers Local 2477 won sexual-harassment training for all hourly and salaried employees at a Conoco Oil refinery in Denver, Colorado. Unfortunately, the training came only after an incident of sexual harassment. Union members and supervisors were watching pornographic videos during work. Women employees objected and upper management wanted to fire everyone involved. The union stepped in and instead of defending harassing behavior, negotiated paid sexual-harassment education for all employees.

Other unions organize voluntary educational programs and encourage members to participate. The United Auto Workers, the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, the Service Employees International Union, the Communications Workers of America, the Teamsters, and others also sponsor conferences that include workshops on fighting sexual harassment on the job.

In 1994, I was hired to write a pamphlet for the Teamsters entitled "Sexual Harassment: It's Against the Law." As part of the Teamsters' human-rights campaign, the pamphlet, distributed to local leaders, clarified the definition of sexual harassment. Teamsters spokesperson Cynthia Kain explains, "Understanding the issue has been a big challenge. A lot of men were saying they don't understand what it is. They don't understand what they can and can't do."