Paddy Lillis – Usdaw General Secretary says: “Young workers are at higher risk of sexual harassment because of their often precarious position in the labour market. Usdaw research shows that young women are more likely than older colleagues to experience sexual harassment at work and less likely to report incidents to their employer because of well-founded fear of reprisal and further victimisation.
 
“There is an urgent need to tackle and prevent sexual harassment and the cultures that enable it in the workplace. Sexual harassment is not inevitable, it can be prevented. Addressing this is essential if we are going to tackle power imbalances and prevent harassment within workplaces.
 
Usdaw is calling for:

• A commitment to tackle sexual harassment and the cultures that enable it.
• Action plans to tackle and prevent harassment.
• A preventative duty to be incorporated into the Equality Act accompanied by a Statutory Code of Practice. 

Notes for editors:
 
Usdaw (Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers) is the UK's fifth biggest trade union with over 350,000 members. Most Usdaw members work in the retail sector, but the union also has many members in transport, distribution, food manufacturing, chemical industry and other trades www.usdaw.org.uk
 
For Usdaw press releases visit: http://www.usdaw.org.uk/news and you can follow us on Twitter @UsdawUnion