EPSU, the European Federation of Public Service Unions, announced in a press release on Friday 20 September that it had reached agreement on the first multi-sectoral guidelines for the prevention of violence at work.
“Third-Party Violence and Harassment at work (TPVH), be it of a psychological, sexual or physical nature, is on the increase and must be halted. This is why the EU social partners in five sectors, Education, Local and Regional Government, Central Administration, Hospitality (hotels, bars and restaurants) and Health and hospitals, have negotiated a revision of the 2010 Multi-Sectoral Guidelines to Tackle Third-Party Violence and Harassment Related to Work”, EPSU announced.
“Every workplace must have a TPVH policy agreed with the trade unions embedded in occupational health and safety, gender equality anti-discrimination policy, as well as trade union rights”.
EPSU also notes that adequate staffing levels and a manageable workload should contribute to a good violence prevention policy, and highlights the need to tackle the persistent under-reporting of these acts and protect those who report them.
Link to the agreement: https://aeur.eu/f/dil (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)