Tasmania's mining and manufacturing sectors are taking steps to become a more inclusive employer for women and people of race, says its peak representative body following a damning report from Rio Tinto into workplace bullying, sexism and racism.
The international report from Rio Tinto surveyed employees from its sites all over the world and found systemic harassment within its worksites and overall poor workplace cultures, with more than half experiencing bullying, and almost 30 per cent of women experiencing sexual harassment.
Many female surveyors said they experienced everyday sexism that impacted their self esteem, mental health and capacity to progress in the organisations, while other surveyors noted that racism was normalised.
There is a high prevalence of sexual harassment and we just have to suck it up.
- Female response in the Report Into Workplace Culture at Rio Tinto
A Rio Tinto spokesperson from Bell Bay Aluminium, where 19 per cent of its workforce are female, said it had committed to implementing recommendations from the report.
"Work on making BBA a more inclusive and diverse workplaces has been underway for some time." they said.
"It includes improved workplace policies and procedures, including flexible work options, improved amenities, expressing rooms on site for team members coming back to the workplace while they are breastfeeding and inclusive personal protective equipment."
Tasmanian Minerals, Manufacturing and Energy Council chief executive Ray Mostogl said the report was sobering.
"Tasmania is not isolated from these sorts of behaviours, that is why we are going straight onto the front foot, accepting that whatever the culture is, it is not where it needs to be," Mr Mostogl said.
"The industry, and particularly in Tasmania, have been really pushing to change our industry profile and make it a far more attractive employer for females, and also people from different races and religions."
Some people try to make a big thing about my language. They try not to understand me. I speak 5 languages but sometimes I dont know how to make them understand. I really dont think they want to speak to me.
- Response on racism in Report Into Workplace Culture at Rio Tinto
Mr Mostogl said its health and safety policy now included bullying and harassment as a workplace hazard, alongside physical injury, and it had a inclusion and diversity committee which brought in members from outside of the industry who had expertise in multicultural backgrounds.
He said a new project officer role had also been created this year, to assist its member companies to become more inclusive.
This might include having adequate amenities, appropriately sized clothing and personal protective equipment, or having prayer rooms on site.
I'm not surprised women feel unsafe. Guys go into women's rooms. There is bad lighting. Why cant we have security cameras? I think its pretty piss poor for our women here. Are we willing to put our people first or just put locks on our doors?
- Response in the Report into Workplace Culture at Rio Tinto
"They will work with all of our member companies to put in place the policy, procedures and practices of being a more inclusive employer, and therefore make the industry attractive to a diverse workforce.
Of TMEC's 120 members, he said some had as little as five per cent gender diversity within their workplace, while others were approaching 20 per cent.
He said some "exceptional" manufacturers had 40 percent diversity across gender and race.
"They are the ones that we want to learn from," he said.
IN OTHER NEWS:
The Report into Workplace Culture at Rio Tinto 'Everyday Respect" also included a specific section for racism experienced by Indigenous and Torres Strait Islander and First Nations's people within the organisation.
One surveyor wrote 'the minute my boss found out I was Indigenous, all my training stopped', and another, 'I hear regular derogatory comments to our face like "let's get the coons to do a rain dance". They say it straight to us and don't even blink an eye.'
The report's authors said racism against this cohort of populations existed across various locations, created shame, feelings of low self-worth and loss of confidence among the victimised and reported 'a collective level of distress' from these experiences.
"This powerful feedback from across the Project signals that work is required to cement a truly safe, respectful and inclusive culture across Rio Tinto."
