UNI Americas and the Latin American Group of the International Federation of Actors (FIA) and their affiliates, present a Survey on violence and harassment in the workplace in the Audiovisual Media and Performing Arts Industry in Latin America. The survey aims at identifying and making visible this behaviour regionally. The information collected will serve as a research base for trade union organizations to perform an in-depth study and carry out prevention actions and include specific proposals to better represent the interests of their affiliates in social dialogue processes.
“If all the women who have been sexually harassed or abused wrote #metoo on their accounts, we might give people a sense of the magnitude of the problem” wrote actress Alyssa Milano in 2017, starting the #Metoo movement, to denounce sexual assault and harassment in the film industry in the United States. Along with this campaign, others emerged in various Latin American countries denouncing the same situation and led by the unions themselves, such as Argentina, Colombia, Chile, among other.
“Unions have been working tirelessly so that clear rules are introduced through collective bargaining to promote policies that prevent violence and harassment in the workplace. This survey will shed more light on the relevance of the problem in the sector, and will add to what the different union organizations have already been denouncing” said Briceida González, Regional Director of UNI Americas Equal Opportunities
For the PANARTES Women’s Group in Argentina, it is important to highlight that “as trade union women, our commitment is to create the necessary tools with collective bargaining to ensure violence-free workplaces. We believe that we must create safe environments so that our sisters lose their fear of denouncing violence. This regional initiative is a great step forward, especially in these difficult times for our industry. The survey will give us information on the media, art and entertainment workers in the region”.
“We must understand that prevention and protection policies that promote workplaces free from violence and harassment create better working conditions, and are equal to other rights in any employment relationship; therefore, it is an urgent and necessary tool that we owe ourselves as women in entertainment” added Alejandra Rincón, General Secretary of FIA-LA.
“In all work areas, violence against women and dissent is expressed as assault, sexual harassment, segregation, wage discrimination, hiring restrictions, a strong glass ceiling, among other. A clear and precise study is urgently needed to promote and adopt specific policies. This survey provides a good analysis and a tool for creating essential networks to achieve better and more equal working conditions”, added Alicia Dogliotti, Vice President of FIA.
This survey is a regional union initiative of Panartes affiliates, the Media, the workers in the media, entertainment and arts sector (UNI MEI), and the Latin American Group of the International Federation of Actors (FIA), with the support of Union to Union, the organization of the Swedish trade union movement for international development cooperation as well as Scen and Film, the Swedish trade union for performing arts and film. The survey is available at the following links:
In Spanish: https://bit.ly/3BdpEbc
In Portuguese: https://bit.ly/36zVHUT
You can connect to the launch event on Thursday, July 15 at 12:30 pm ARG / URU, 11:30 CHI, 10:30 PERU / COLOMBIA.
You can watch the event here: https://www.facebook.com/events/3874937222615341
For more information contact: carolina.gonzalez@uniglobalunion.org
An initiative of: UNI Global Union / FIA-LA, with the support of: Union to Union
