As a result of our efforts, there have been some small changes in the way ISLs deal with harassment towards instructors. Unfortunately, Gaba has chosen not to share this information with instructors, so it has fallen to the union to inform instructors about this change.   

If students behave inappropriately and instructors ask to have them blocked, in the past an “investigation” had to be completed before an instructor was put onto the ‘swap to avoid’ list.  

Under the old system, the “investigation” could mean that instructors were told to teach their harasser again so that staff could “catch them”. Presumably this was because the company felt that instructors could not be trusted to be honest.  

Due to the union pressing this issue, Gaba must now block the client within two days of the instructor reporting the issue to their Instructor Support Leader (ISL), and before the investigation. This means that within two days, the instructor will not be required to teach the client who had been harassing them.

Additionally, there is now a unified form that is used by all ISLs when reporting such an occurrence, and ISLs have to tell their area manager what has occurred immediately.  The union is aware that this is not good enough, and that Gaba still has a long way to go to provide a safe and comfortable working place. If you’re being harassed, or just have a question, please don’t hesitate to contact us.

April 21, 2014