UNIONS must hold employers to their duty to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace, the TUC Young Workers’ Conference has heard.

A motion brought forward to the meeting on Saturday said that young people were particularly vulnerable to harassment due to their relationship with the internet.

Unite’s Sarah Gilligan said: “Young workers are chronically online, inside and outside of the workplace. And the boundaries between their online and offline worlds continue to blur.”

She said that “73 per cent of gen-Z social media users have witnessed misogynistic content with half encountering it on a weekly basis.

“The manosphere, a network of anti-feminist groups shape how young men view their female peers, teachers, partners, and colleagues.”

Ms Gilligan pointed to a Unite poll from 2023, which found that 75 per cent of 16 to 17-year-olds had consumed content from creators perpetuating [misogynistic] views.

“The manosphere normalises misogynistic and exploitative attitudes,” she said.

“Furthermore, young workers are more likely to be in precarious hospitality or temporary work, where there is already an increased risk of sexual harassment.”

Ms Gilligan explained that changes to the Equalities Act will now force employers to make “reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment.”

She said: “This is about using our powers as trade unions to hold all employers to account for their legal duty, for the safety of their workers.

“Trade unions should be allocating resources in order to campaign around this change in law.

“We should be arming our young workers with the knowledge to be able to demand a zero-tolerance approach to sexual harassment in the workplace.”

Passed unanimously, the motion was supported by Precious Nelson, of teachers’ union NASUWT, who called for this vote to not only be a “symbolic gesture” but a “commitment to real structural change.”