Frankfurt am Main – On Thursday evening, the federal government passed the draft law to ratify the International Labor Organization (ILO) Convention 190. This regulates the right to a working environment free of violence and harassment. IG Metall has been campaigning for ratification for a long time and very much welcomes the actions of the federal government.
Christiane Benner, Deputy Chairwoman of IG Metall, explains the importance: “The pressure from IG Metall, the unions as a whole, worked. The path to ratification of the convention is a path to a non-violent world of work for all employees. In order for working conditions to really improve, the convention must be translated into German law.”
IG Metall is therefore calling on the federal government to transfer the convention into national legislation as soon as possible.
Violence at work, defined by the ILO as “any act, occurrence or behavior that deviates from proper conduct, which seriously offends, threatens, injures, wounds a person in the course of or as a direct result of their work”, is not an uncommon phenomenon. Worldwide Almost a quarter of employees report having experienced violence at work.
In Germany, for example, every sixth woman has already experienced sexual harassment at work.
In order to shape the working world of tomorrow with the possibilities of today, IG Metall is committed to company contact points within the meaning of the General Equal Treatment Act, which are to be set up by the employer.
Company agreements that promote partnership-based behavior at the workplace and regulate, for example, support and training offers for managers and employees, confidentiality and measures, are also brought forward and concluded by the trade union and works councillors.