UNIONS must push to strengthen the Worker Protection Act for all workers, the TUC women’s conference heard in Bournemouth today.

The 2024 Act calls for “reasonable steps” to prevent sexual harassment at work, but it contains several gaps, a motion approved by delegates warned.

As well as a lack of clarity on what are “reasonable steps,” the legislation also fails to cover racial and other forms of intersectional sexual harassment, it said.

Moving the motion, a NASUWT delegate raised concerns over the rise of digital violence against women, including the use of deepfakes on social media, with teachers and school girls increasingly becoming victims.

“Let’s also put our house in order to ensure that preventative duty applies to all workers,” she said.

The conference called on the TUC to lobby the government and campaign for the Act to be extended to include a duty to prevent all forms of harassment and mandatory training for school and college leaders.