Call on the UK Government to Ratify ILO Convention 190

Unite's survey of service workers shows, workers in low paid sectors, particularly hospitality need better protection and legal frameworks to challenge sexual harassment at the workplace. Of the 1181 workers who responded to our survey 30% said they had directly experienced incidents of sexual harassment and 22% said they had witnessed incidents in the workplace. When we broke it down into specific sectors hospitality fared the worst - 47% had experienced and 62% had witnessed. One member summed up her own experience. "Customers feel they are entitled to your body and to be sexually suggestive because you are serving them." Others shared similar experiences. This is not what workers should expect to tolerate. We need stronger laws and stronger protection and UK Ratification of ILO Convention 190 would oblige the UK Government to act and strengthen legislation.
In November 2021 Therese Coffey, the Secretary of State for the Department of Work and Pensions, announced that the Government will lay the text of ILO Convention 190, in the form of a Command Paper in both Houses together with an explanatory memorandum stating the Government’s proposal that the UK should ratify it. If no objections are raised in the next 21 sitting days, the Government will move to draw up the UK’s Instrument of Ratification. The convention will come into force 12 months after the instrument of ratification is deposited with the International Labour Organisation.
We now need to see the Government to deliver on this commitment.