Yahoo Finance GMB union institutionally sexist, inquiry finds
One of Britain’s biggest trade unions has been described as “institutionally sexist” in a highly critical independent report.
The GMB union, whose general secretary, Tim Roache, stood down this year following anonymous allegations of misconduct, needs “fundamental change”, the inquiry by the barrister Karon Monaghan QC concludes.
“Bullying, misogyny, cronyism and sexual harassment are endemic within the GMB,” the report says. “The culture in the GMB is one of heavy drinking and late-night socialising, salacious gossip and a lack of professionalism.”
The report covers the last decade, 2010 to 2020, and Monaghan interviewed three former general secretaries of the union, the third biggest in the UK with 620,000 members.
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 are, and always have been, men,” held “disproportionate power” in the union. “Many use that power to bully and manipulate members of the GMB’s lay bodies.”
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.”
She made a list of 27 recommendations to the union, including taking steps to increase the representation of women at all levels and introducing a bespoke complaints procedure for sexual harassment and an annual equalities audit.
The report concludes that sexual harassment is common in the union. “Examples of sexual harassment I heard about included touching hair, leering, commenting on body shape and clothes, placing hands around a woman’s waist, staring at a woman’s breasts or ‘tits’, propositioning young women, ‘sloppy kisses’, ‘lip kisses’, ‘sticking a tongue’ in a woman’s ear, touching of knees, bottoms and hips, hugs, and slapping of a backside,” it says.
Sometimes sexual harassment has been used as a form of bullying, the report says, with examples of men in the union deliberately sexually harassing women in public to humiliate and embarrass them.
“I have also heard of more serious sexual assaults. I was told by one witness that ‘it is simply expected that you’ll have to suffer from being groped at events’,” Monaghan wrote.
Barbara Plant, the union’s national president, 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: “We are committed to achieving this transformational change.”
The union began an independent investigation into sexual harassment in May after announcing it had received an anonymous letter containing claims about Roache’s conduct. The letter accused him of “sexist and aggressive” behaviour. Roache called the allegations against him “defamatory lies” and a “politically motivated smear, deliberately timed to take advantage of my poor health”.
When he stepped down, GMB said Roache had chronic fatigue syndrome and that medical professionals had advised him to refrain from work.
