Respect Frontline Workers

Seven out of ten workers have encountered harassment or violence at work, often from the public. That is seven too many. Women and members of marginalized groups are overwhelmingly more likely to be the targets of workplace violences, as hateful attacks spill over into the workplace, leaving workers feeling unsafe and afraid in a place they should feel comfortable in.

ILO Convention No. 190 – Violence and Harassment Convention (C-190), adopted in 2019, aims to eliminate workplace violence and harassment through collaboration among unions, employers, and governments.

Thanks to lobbying of activists like you, the National Action Plan to End Gender-Based Violence has agreements in place in every province. We must ensure that workplace violence is included in the national discussions of gender-based violence.

The Respect Frontline Workers campaign seeks to raise awareness and drive action to ensure that violence and harassment are never seen as "part of the job."  

Participate in the #NotPartoftheJob campaign on social media to raise awareness of gender-based violence and harassment in the workplace.

Thank you to all frontline workers who  have shared their stories and experiences. Your responses are invaluable in our fight against workplace violence and harassment. Here are some of the insights we've gathered so far. If you haven’t shared your experience yet, please click here to submit your story anonymously. Your voice is crucial in helping us create safer, more respectful workplaces.

• “We as frontline workers take so much abuse.  I personally have been called a bitch, been sworn at, told they know what they are doing.  I had one person yell at me for about 5 minutes that the whole store heard but no one came to my aid.”

• “We have people harassing us threatening us and treat us like they are better than us. This happens daily. What makes it harder for us is when someone complains to supervisors or managers about crap they say about us that is usually not true and they believe the customer over their employees.”

• “Every day those of us on the front line are overworked and stressed to the max. With hours being drastically cut, those of us scheduled are extremely overworked to make up for less staff being scheduled. 3 out of 4 days I sit in my car on my break and cry from the stress.”

Some companies are starting to address violence against frontline workers, but many are still failing to act.

For Union Activists: Next Steps

As a union activist, here are three things you can personally do to help end gender-based violence in your workplace:

1. Bystander intervention training – learn the tools to be an “active bystander”
2. Improved language in your collective bargaining agreement to end gender-based violence.
3. Create awareness through education – register for On-the-Go webCampus courses on Gender-Based Violence or Workplace Violence and Harassment.