Healthy and Safe Workplaces for Wāhine.

Aims of our mahi

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TEU does Pink Shirt Day, 'speaking up' against bullying and harassment.

Our TEU goal four states that we will work towards improving pay and conditions for their members and fostering inclusive, equitable workplaces. In alignment with this goal, the Gender Equity Vision sets out Objective 2, that will will work towards a time when:

Wāhine are thriving in safe and healthy workplaces. Wāhine have workloads that enable them to live full lives that they value and, they are free from all forms of harassment, discrimination and violence.

To realise this vision, the TEU has committed to taking a proactive approach to generating awareness and understanding about bullying and harassment in our institutions and advocating for increased institutional accountability for creating healthy and safe workplaces.

Approach

To achieve this vision there are a number of things that we are working collectively on:

  1. 1.

    Building a shared understanding of what bullying and harassment behaviours are across union, staff, and institutions. This includes having an appreciation of the relationship between gender-based violence and colonisation in Aotearoa New Zealand.

  2. 2.

    Contribute to an institutional and union culture in which harassment and gender-based violence is not accepted, but where it does occur, swift action is taken to eliminate the possibility of it happening again.

  3. 3.

    Support TEU members to play their part in maintaining a healthy and safe workplace culture. This includes supporting bystanders to call out bullying or harassment behaviour when they see it.

  4. 4.

    Advocate for continual progressive action being undertaken by institutions to protect their staff from harassment and gender-based violence and improving processes to better support staff involved in complaint processes.

External resource sites

Worksafe: Sexual Harassment

Worksafe’s sexual harassment page provides guidance for businesses and workers, an example policy and template for reporting sexual harassment in the workplace.

Union Women, Victoria Trades Hall: Safe and respectful workplaces

This is a site of the Victoria Trades Hall in Australia. It aims to help workers and unionists challenge Gender-Based Violence (GBV) in the workplace. You’ll find lots of resources to help you keep growing your knowledge about building safe and respectful workplaces and combating sexual harassment.

Three actions you can take right now

  1. 1.

    Put 'Protecting staff from Sexual harassment and bullying' on the agenda of the next branch meeting with HR and/or senior leadership. Contact the women's officer womensofficer@teu.ac.nz for a page of discussion points to take to the meeting.

  2. 2.

    Find your institutional policy on sexual harassment and bullying, and the procedures for raising and dealing with complaints (not always in the same place). Read this information and make sure you understand it. If there are things you don't understand, ask your organiser or make inquiries with HR. You will then be ready to support others who need help navigating the insitutional information about making or responding to a complaint.

  3. 3.

    Practice calling out bad behaviour with your friends. For some information and support on how to be an active bystander check these online resources: 'OUR WATCH' and 'DOING NOTHING DOES HARM'.