GMB Deemed “Institutionally sexist”

[CaveMum]

From BBC: www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-54003606

Full text:

The GMB Union has been called "institutionally sexist" after an independent report into sexual harassment within the organisation.

The report's author, Karon Monaghan QC, said "bullying, misogyny, cronyism and sexual harassment are endemic".
And she said the union's policies were not "sufficiently clear or robust".

The organisation's national president, Barbara Plant, apologised to members who had suffered, saying "real and lasting change is needed".

The investigation into the union, the UK's third-biggest, in terms of members, was launched in May.

Publishing her findings on Wednesday, Ms Monaghan said women were "underrepresented throughout the GMB's ranks", with branches "often organised in a way that deters women members' participation".

She said regional secretaries, who oversee "good governance" in different parts of the UK, were "and always have been, men" - and held "disproportionate power" in the union.
She added: "Many use that power to bully and manipulate members of the GMB's lay bodies."

Ms Monaghan also said there was a culture of "heavy drinking and late-night socialising, salacious gossip and a lack of professionalism".
She added: "Fundamental change is required if the GMB is to meet its promise to women in the GMB and to women in society more widely."

The QC made a list of 27 recommendations to the union to tackle its failures, including taking steps to increase representation of women at all levels, a bespoke complaints procedure for sexual harassment and an annual equalities audit.

Ms Plant, who has been the GMB's national president since 2018, said the report made "sad and difficult reading".

She said: "On behalf of GMB, I apologise to all those who have experienced sexual harassment or bullying within the union.
"It's clear that real and lasting change is needed for us to become a safe and inclusive place for all."

She said the union would now act on the report's recommendations, adding: "We are committed to achieving this transformational change."

Analysis by Iain Watson, political correspondent

For an organisation which is supposed to represent staff who may be bullied or harrassed in the workplace, it is clearly embarrassing that it has not apparently put its own house in order.
The report was prompted by an anonymous letter to the union's national president Barbara Plant by "concerned members and staff" of the GMB in the spring, which had complained about the handling, or mishandling, of complaints of harassment and assault.
The union has decided to publish Karon Monaghan's findings unexpurgated - and with the forthcoming election of a new general secretary, the GMB's most senior paid official, it has the opportunity to deliver the "transformational change" that its executive committee is now promising.
The union is affiliated to Labour - and another QC, Martin Forde, is currently chairing an inquiry into the party's culture, prompted by the leaking of a report which contained hitherto confidential emails and WhatsApp messages between staff.
It remains to be seen if he will be as straight-talking as Ms Monaghan.

Another male dominated organisation not only drenched in sexism and misogyny but said males also determined to remove the rights and safety of women in favour of men.
Every stone turned over shows such similar types of people and behaviour towards women.

Says it all, really.

@Whatwouldscullydo

So people who dont know what a women is, still somehow manage to treat women unfavourably...

I think thet know more than they let on

It's unfathomable. Colour me gob-smacked.

The GMB was one of the unions that pressured the Morning Star newspaper to apologise for a cartoon that warned about sex predators using self-ID to harass women. They actually pushed the Morning Star to drop this female cartoonist.

Isn't it cute when a trade union, created to protect workers' rights, gets an innocent worker sacked?
gcritical.org/2020/07/12/the-cancelled-cartoonist

Now we hear that the GMB is rife with bullying, misogyny, cronyism and sexual harassment.

What a surprise.

That’s a real shame, I was in the GMB years ago and they were a fantastic union and really stuck up for me and another female colleague when we were getting made redundant.

Every union I've been a part of has been a lesson in discrimination even in who their negotiations benefit - age, sex or length of service, sometimes it's more than one, they've all consistently sold out one set of their employees in order to make another set better off. They don't rotate around the beneficiaries, they find their powerbase and pander to it consistently. The top heavy representation of white men as officials and the racist and sexist behaviour of shop steward etc.which largely went unchecked has been a key feature of all of them.

I support unions in practice, despite this, because they seem to shore wages up overall. But it leaves me sceptical, at best, about the left's claim to moral leadership in matters of equality.

Quelle surprise! Who would have thought it? Not me, not after they so gallantly stood up for the rights of wom... oh wait.

Weren't the GMB the union who refused to do the equal pay claim for loads of women council workers? This is because men would be paid less. The women had to use private lawyers to prove they had a case before the the union finally took their cards on.

What was the quote? "143 different genders and yet we still know which half of the human race has to wipe arses" Love this Molten

So just this one Union then???????

I wonder if Ms Monaghan could be persuaded to set up a union just for women? (The XX kind).

Well knock me down with a feather.

"143 different genders and yet we still know which half of the human race has to wipe arses"

Aye.

Come on ladies, this is the role of a woman:

www.gmb.org.uk/history

"At the heart of building our union was our co-founder Eleanor Marx, a socialist trade union activist and daughter of Karl Marx.

Eleanor was at the forefront of the campaign for the eight hour working day which created the union and was unanimously elected to the union’s Executive in 1889, attending every meeting without fail and speaking to members and public meetings up and down the country. She was responsible for writing the union’s first rule book as well as forming the first Women’s Branch of the union.

A significant industrial and political figure in her own right, Eleanor consistently fought for both economic and gender equality in both her own activities and as a highly effective activist and administrator in the early years of the union.

With a lifelong friendship based upon shared ideals and practical common goals, Eleanor Marx would not only teach Will Thorne to read and write but also become his most significant political mentor - cementing the union’s commitment to transforming society so that it runs in the interests of working people."

Women can be very helpful, but obviously if you want to be a General Secretary, and get paid, you really need to be a man.

Eleanor Marx died at the age of 43. She poisoned herself when she found out that her partner of the last 2 decades, fellow activist Edward Aveling, had secretly married a younger actress.

Daughter Jenny Laura Marx died by suicide also, with her partner Paul Lafargue.

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/cb9a69d2-ed4c-11ea-b18a-4606a344c407?shareToken=30d2c865abf53f42a6db1f382286dc30

This is what they told Justine when they chickened out of the web chat

GMB is a proud and staunch ally in the fight for trans rights. We are a member-led union that has a history of fighting for equality for all. As we look forward to Pride events this month and next, we continue to stand in solidarity with all of our LGBT+ siblings.

Equality for all. Except women.

Part of Justine's response:

We can only conclude the animus against Mumsnet is motivated by the fact that we are a site used overwhelmingly by women.

In that light it’s even more disappointing that the GMB, having asked Mumsnet users in precarious employment situations to share their questions, has left these women’s questions unanswered.

Sorry, forgot link:

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/site_stuff/3920256-MNHQ-I-hope-you-are-going-to-release-your-own-statement-on-GMB-Union?watched=1

Just got my invitation to GMB Scotland's new groups - just pick which group you self identify as!

You actually can't say what you are when you sign up, only what you self identify as. 🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄

Well... I guess they got some of the protected characteristics right. That’s gotta be something...

I almost wish I could ditch them. There have been a few issues here where we had to still be a union member to vote on certain things.

I think all the unions are equally ridiculous about this stuff from what I have seen.

Galvantula

I could definitely identify as 'youth under 30' on that checklist. Unlike males who can never mutate into females, I was under 30 for 29 years of my life. I liked it so well, I could happily -pretend- identify as being under 30 for the rest of my life.

I actually went back and read the first bit properly... 😱 (See image if it's not too wee)

The whole point is that people are discriminated because of a protected characteristic that they can't change. Not because they self identify as a woman/disabled person/"youth".

Wtf.

I really want to reply and say they're excluding people who actually are things and don't frickin self identify. I'll probably get chucked out though

couldn't post with image. Will try to C&P.

Wouldn't post with image. I'll try to C&P.

"Colleagues,

Equality is something that we as a union should be striving hard to achieve and yet we are finding it difficult to ensure your voices are heard.

We need you to use your union to come together and address the injustices to those people the equality act is supposed to protect.

You will be familiar with how you or a colleague feels when they are treated unfairly at work simply because they self identify as a protected characteristic.

Or you may not yet be aware of how lots of your working conditions still leave certain groups of people behind.

That`s why GMB Scotland need people like you to come together on the issues that effect you and deliver change whether that be:

• Negotiating policies that reflect equal opportunities and celebrates diversity.
• Ensuring that your employers are abiding by the law under the Equality Act.
• Discrimination is challenged at every opportunity.
• To ensure your issues are on every workplace and political agenda."