The Writers Guild of America, East (WGA East) has announced the findings from a sexual harassment survey given to its members in January and February — and the results are not encouraging. Per Deadline, respondents cited obstacles to reporting sexual harassment and indicated that they do not consider employer-sponsored training to be effective.
The confidential survey inquired about employers’ sexual harassment policies and practices, but did not ask about members’ personal experiences with workplace harassment. “We chose not to use the survey as a means of asking people to report their own incidents of sexual misconduct on the job,” said WGA East exec director Lowell Peterson. “Our thought was that a survey would not be the most useful or attuned way to have that conversation.”
Specific responses will not be made public, but the survey’s findings show that guild members do not trust the current sexual harassment protocol. They hesitate to file reports of misconduct due to “fear of career damage, lack of confidence that the employer would take real action, and fear of the perpetrator,” according to Peterson. As for preventing workplace mistreatment, he said that “respondents did not find employer-sponsored sexual harassment training to be a meaningful approach; many people didn’t even know if their employers offered this training, and many who took the training said it was not helpful.”
Fortunately, WGA East has promised to use the survey to help curb future sexual harassment. “Members expressed interest in meetings and other ways to take further action,” Peterson remarked. “People had a fairly broad range of views about exactly what form the ongoing work should take, so we will work carefully to put together a variety of programs.”
Last month the guild released a statement on how it will handle sexual harassment claims going forward. “We understand that sexual harassment exists in the broader context of sexism and power imbalance, and our union is committed to transforming the culture and power dynamics that currently exist in our industries,” the pledge reads. “This requires collective action as well as individual representation. We understand that addressing issues of sexual harassment and other inappropriate sexual conduct in the workplace requires us to foster a culture of mutual support with our members and with each other as union representatives.”
WGA East also vowed to respond promptly to each sexual harassment allegation, believe the individuals filing the claims, express compassion and respect, and do all they can to help rectify the situation.
In February WGA East’s sister union, WGA West, carried out their own sexual harassment survey in order to “understand how well or badly [their] employers are doing, or have done in the past, in dealing with complaints,” Deadline adds. Over 2,000 people, or about one-fifth of WGA West’s active membership, participated. The responses have not been made public.
WGA West also issued a fairly disappointing statement on sexual harassment earlier this year. The union announced it would observe a “zero tolerance policy,” but also declared it would not kick out members who have been accused of or legally reprimanded for sexual misconduct.
WGA East’s complete sexual harassment pledge and policy are available on its website.
