Part of the reason cases were handled so poorly was that there were no policies in place related to clients.

There were policies related to Gaba instructors and other staff, but not related to clients.

After the union raised the issue in negotiations the company made a policy regarding how to deal with these problems but refused to publish it for instructors or give the union a copy. 

It was in essence kept a secret from instructors. Gaba has a sexual harassment officer who is responsible for these issues, but the company remarkably refused to give their contact information to the instructors citing “privacy”.

So, after four years of continued client harassment, news articles, the hiding of harassment, repeated union demands and requests and punishments of instructors for trying to fix problems that the company was ignoring Gaba Corporation has finally published the guidelines for what to do if a client harasses an instructor.

The policy can be found on the Gaba intranet.

Instructors can go to the “Instructor Policy” tab, followed by the “Professionalism” tab, and then finally find the “Inappropriate Behavior Instructor Policy” to read it and see the steps to follow.

Curiously, the last line of this policy states:

 We would recommend that instructors also refrain from sharing their concerns about client behavior with others. 

The General Union does not agree with this recommendation at all.

If an instructor experiences some type of harassment, they should certainly follow the policy to have them blocked.

However, if there are issues with a client, other instructors – and, of course, the other staff working for Gaba – deserve to know.

Harassment flourishes in an environment of secrecy and fear.

Let’s remove that once and for all.

If you have any questions or continue to experience problems after reporting harassment, please feel free to contact the General Union.