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INPRIMATU
Discrimination against gender identity in trade union elections
  • ESK denounces that in Álava there have been twice a failure to respect the gender identity of workers in the union elections. It proposes amending the regulations on electoral processes in order to avoid such discrimination.
Onintza Irureta Azkune @oirureta 2024ko urtarrilaren 26a
ESK sindikatuak askotariko genero-identitateak defendatzeko darabilen afixa. ESK sindikatuak askotariko genero-identitateak defendatzeko darabilen afixa.

The two situations of discrimination occurred in the trade union elections in December 2023, and, according to ESK, both became aware on the same day. They think it's no coincidence.

Census without change of name or gender

The first worker denounces that appeared on the electoral roll with the old gender and name. In Correos there are over 600 workers and this data was made available to all staff. The census company sends him to the election table so that workers can see the list. The census collected personal data such as first name, last name, date of birth, seniority and sex.

The members of the table realized the error and through the union they asked the company to change the name of the worker and gender. This trans worker has all the change in registration. When no reply was received, they were submitted to arbitration. During this time, Correos replied that it was a computer error and apologized. It undertook to modify the data. The renewed data were sent to the ESK trade union, but not to the other trade unions and workers. The union talks to the worker and he tells them that it was not the only mistake. On the payroll it has all the modified data, while on the network platform they use for internal work old names and genres continue to appear.

The ESK union considers that what happened is “unacceptable and incomprehensible”. He criticizes the mistake twice and denounces the action “with few issues” and no protocol. According to the union, “transphobia is an example. In our minds it is not understood that the name is miscommunicated or changed.” The CSR says that Correos campaigns against transphobia and homophobia and that it should at least be an example within the home.

That the company consults the worker about his gender

The union election regulation is over 30 years old and the CSR believes it is time to innovate. According to the law, in that census that all workers see, we have to do a series of data, but for several years in many elections the law has not been respected. In other words, they do not record the data they consider unnecessary. According to the union, the presence of the sex in the census harms many workers. However, not putting this data is illegal.

The other worker who has come to the CSR complains that, without asking, the company has assigned a gender when conducting the electoral roll. The worker is non-binary. It asks you to be asked earlier, that is, not to end gender. In this example, the CSR has concluded that the electoral table acted correctly, that is, because this is required by the law that maintained the data on sex. That is why the trade union is calling for this law to be amended. He proposes to reflect on the theme and take steps, at least ask the worker what gender he wants and add the options “non-binary” or “I do not want to answer”, at least in the electoral roll, because this is not necessary. In this example, the company accepted its error of not having consulted previously.

Both events have been communicated by the union to the Ikusgune Phobia Observatory, LGBTI+ of Vitoria-Gasteiz for the opening of dossiers. It asks him to analyse the measures so that this does not happen again in the working world.

ESK claims that gender sexual identity is an important issue for people and that workers should be satisfied with their identity in the workplace.