Joint Labor and Management Domestic Violence Awareness Program

By KC Wagner

A “big tent” approach to engaging ever larger numbers of men to end men’s violence requires that leaders of mainstream organizations play a role in committing the resources and stature of their organizations to these efforts. Nearly 15% of the US workforce is unionized, amounting to millions of workers who rely on their unions to protect their interests in the workplace and in society at large. Increasingly, in an attempt to be responsive to the needs of their members, United States unions have taken active stands on a number of social issues that include HIV, smoking, and domestic violence. Organizations like the Coalition of Labor Union Women (CLUW), AFSCME Women’s Rights Division, and the Family Violence Prevention Fund have successfully placed domestic violence on the union agenda. Recently, organizations like the New York Labor Coalition Against Domestic Violence have begun to explore prevention activities that reach out to men.

History and Overview
Despite the obvious importance of involving unions in domestic violence prevention with men, few efforts have been made by domestic violence prevention activists to reach out to unions. In part, this may reflect the limited resources available to advocacy organizations and, in part, may reflect fears that unions would not be receptive to addressing domestic violence. Senior office holders within some unions have been hesitant to apply their leadership to this issue, for various reasons. Sometimes union leadership has not understood how widespread domestic violence is. Sometimes they have argued that it is a private matter best left to the couple affected. At other times they have expressed concern but felt pessimistic about their ability to do anything about it. And on other occasions they have felt torn between their desire to protect a worker from disciplinary action or job loss and their conviction that domestic violence is wrong.

Three questions arise in efforts to build a workplace and union response to domestic violence: 1) Why is violence against women of concern to employers? 2) Why is violence against women an issue for the union? 3) Why should unions focus prevention efforts on men? Compelling answers to these questions are necessary if we are to get union commitment to address domestic violence.

Why is domestic violence of concern to employers? It is every employer’s legal responsibility to ensure safety in the workplace. Domestic violence compromises the well-being, job performance, and productivity of valuable employees. Many of the attitudes and gender roles that increase men’s risk of using domestic violence also predispose men to other high risk behaviors, such as drug and alcohol abuse, workplace violence, or taking unnecessary safety risks to demonstrate “toughness” to peers. Domestic violence is a leading cause of workplace violence; it also creates safety and health risks to everyone in the workplace:

• Since almost one in four women is affected by domestic violence, we can make a conservative estimate that 10% of employees may be affected by domestic violence.
• 24% of abused women said they were either late or missed days of work due to abuse.
• 54% of abused women missed up to three full days of work per month.
• 94% of corporate security directors surveyed rank domestic violence as a high security problem at their company.

Why is violence against women an issue for the union? Violence against women weakens unions and diminishes their ability to build membership or mobilize current members. It erodes self-esteem and autonomy and undermines women’s union participation, power, and leadership. Frequently, it damages the solidarity of the union community and weakens its ability to withstand employer attacks. Violence against women also undermines job security and economic independence, and places members at risk of losing their jobs. Fully 15% of survivors report that abuse affects their ability to keep their jobs.

Domestic violence is a safety and health issue for all members since perpetrators often stalk and harass women at their workplace, possibly jeopardizing co-workers as well. Ending violence against women is a matter of justice and equality, principles to which unions are committed. Additionally, domestic violence is a work/family issue, since it has devastating economic and personal consequences for the family.

Why should unions focus prevention efforts on men? Unions are uniquely positioned to assume a leadership role in encouraging men to take a stand against violence against women. Unions are invested in the well being of their members and responsible for representing their best interests. Almost by definition, then, unions have a stake in helping men who have been or are at risk of being violent to find the help they need to stop their violence and reduce the likelihood of incarceration and job loss. Furthermore, many unions have a high concentration of men as members, and have a long tradition of mutual aid and a sense of community that allows unions to encourage behaviors and attitudes that promote equity, fairness, and social justice.

Rather than assume that men are going to be defensive, unions can start from the assumption that most men within unions care deeply about the women in their lives and have a commitment to fairness and integrity. Adopting this philosophy makes it easy for unions to reach out to men as allies, rather than as potential perpetrators or colluders to be treated with suspicion. Once approached in this way, it is often surprising how many men suddenly see a never before recognized role for themselves and step forward to take action in their own lives, in their workplaces, and in their communities. Once brought on board in this way, men in unions can have tremendous influence on the attitudes of their peers and can change the culture of the workplace itself, making it a place where men feel a sense of permission to challenge attitudes that contribute to violence, discuss their problems, and look for help from peers.

The New York Labor Coalition Against Domestic Violence In 2000, the New York Labor Union Coalition Against Domestic Violence began to develop, with input from member unions, a customized curriculum and facilitator training program for union audiences. The Communications Workers of America (CWA) District 1 participated, represented by male and female union officers, chief stewards, and staff. At these sessions, it was determined that a joint labor/management strategy would be most effective in reaching out to membership at a major telecommunications company. Through discussions with the company’s Employee Assistance Program, a domestic violence awareness program was developed as the most viable way to reach many employees. Financial support for the program came from a New York State Department of Labor grant to the Cornell University School of Industrial and Labor Relations. A pilot program was initiated to develop, revise, and implement a training curriculum and video with a cooperative, preventive approach that emphasized awareness, workplace strategies, safety, and resources. More than 50 union and management representatives received facilitator training. Security personnel and roughly 400 union members and their management were trained on domestic violence issues. Thousands of posters with emergency contact information and domestic violence resources were distributed.

After these pilot program trainings, a significant number of men from the union and company came forward, indicating an interest in taking a more visible stand against violence against women. At the same time, as a result of management's expressions of concern about the relevancy of the training content to their predominately male workforces, two focus groups of union men and experts in the field were held to develop training approaches that might speak more directly to the male membership. These focus groups revealed 1) that men appreciated the concept of men as allies because it did not assume all men condoned violence, but held them accountable as bystanders; 2) that participants believed the general audience of men would not understand the concept of social norms of power and control as communicated in the pilot; 3) that stewards and managers would need extra training on the many manifestations of violence against women and its impact on working people and their children; and 4) that the men wanted to contribute as bystanders to social change in this area, but also wanted more resources be made available for other union men who were abusive.

Lessons Learned
In the development of the training curriculum and facilitator’s module it is helpful for management and the union to have access to free technical assistance. It was also critical to the program’s success to gain organizational commitment from the beginning and to link it to an initiative with an already high level of representation from company executives and union officials. With institutional commitment, the unions were able to use company time to champion the issue and for training. Again, linking this domestic violence training to already existing safety and health training time was key. Personal testimony from a high level management executive about the positive impact of the current domestic violence awareness program, vocal union support, and the opportunity to make a valuable contribution to the workplace were convincing arguments to fund a workplace initiative to end men’s violence.

Our experiences with this project have shown us that, given the opportunity, men within the union movement will act with courage and are often eager to take a stand against domestic violence because they see doing so as in their own best interests and in the best interests of their unions. Thus, it is imperative that we work together to reach out to men in the unions.