Thursday 22 June 2023 saw 11 strong RTBU women march on Parliament along side 54 other sisters from various unions around the state.
Why?
To let the state government know the ongoing mis-use of Non-Disclosure Agreements has to stop now!
Issues with NDA’s are not restricted to a specific gender. However, statistics indicate that 1 in 3 women in Australia are subjected to sexual harassment and gendered violence in the workplace. Most of these women will never be able to tell you about their experience or warn others of the danger in their workplace thanks to employers making non-disclosure agreements a standard part of any settlement in these matters.
NDA’s are effectively gag orders, preventing victim-survivors from being able to speak to anyone about their experiences. Not even their family, union officials or lawyers; whilst the perpetrators are able to continue on with minimal to no consequences for their actions.
In March 2021 the Victorian Government formed the Ministerial Taskforce on Workplace Sexual Harassment to develop reforms that will better prevent and respond to sexual harassment in the workplace. That taskforce made 26 recommendations, of these, the Victorian State Government agreed to implement 12. To date, only one recommendation has been fully implemented, with the other 11 still in progress, including the ban on NDA’s. This is not good enough!
RTBUWomen proudly stand along side the Victorian Trades Hall Council and all of our union sisters to ensure the government stop sitting on their hands and start actioning these recommendations instead of talking about it.
For more info or to discuss further, feel free to contact me on 0429 150 906.
