In March 1982 the Women’s TUC Conference passed a resolution, proposed by the National Union of Journalists (NUJ), which recognised that ‘sexual harassment is a form of sex discrimination that can damage trade unionists’ morale, job security and prospects at work’.
This was an important moment because it shows how the legal framing of sexual harassment as a form of sex discrimination (under the 1975 Act) was circulating within trade unions, raising awareness that behaviours were both unlawful as well as unacceptable.
The trade unions most active in the campaign against sexual harassment were those with women’s officers or active equal opportunity committees at branch or national level. Indeed, the first battle was to win recognition of the problem within the trade union movement itself. The local government union NALGO (now amalgamated into UNISON) was at the forefront of campaigning against sexual harassment.
In August 1983 the TUC launched its leaflet Sexual Harassment at Work (produced by its Women’s Advisory committee), stressing that ‘sexual harassment is a form of victimisation about which increasing concern is being expressed in the workplace’. It acknowledged there had been difficulties within the movement: ‘Many trade unionists still regard it as a “fuss about nothing”, something that is an “inevitable consequence of men and women working together”, or harmless fun’. The leaflet argued that the ‘structure of British industry’ (with women concentrated in lower status occupations and at lower levels in trade unions) meant they were more likely than men to experience sexual harassment (although this was not exclusively so). Solutions lay in training and education, producing internal guidelines, negotiating effective policies with employers, and enabling women to report cases without fear, guilt or insecurity.
Women in the print and media unions (the NUJ, the NGA and SOGAT) were also prominent in tackling the issue at TUC level and within their own male-dominated industry. They set up the London Print Campaign Against Sexual Harassment in 1983, which held meetings, organised a support network and ran a helpline.