Female FIFO worker told to avoid ‘provocative’ clothing after dismissal for harassment

They call them “knock requests”.

When male workers will approach women in fly-in fly-out (FIFO) camps, in their portable bedrooms after dark.

“I don’t know how they know where my room is,” said Liz Jelley, a former FIFO worker who worked on the Curtis LNG Queensland gas pipeline in 2013.

His chambers were buried among the dongas, temporary structures that could be demolished on site.

“You feel like that’s your place where you can lock yourself in and feel safe.

Ms Jelley was employed by McConnell Dowell, who was contracted to build the pipeline as part of a joint venture known as MCJV, for the Queensland Gas Company (QCG).

She said she was called a “silly little bitch” by a manager, and a “site screw” by a QCG member and dealt with insulting comments on a daily basis.

“Even just things like, you know, leaving my computer for coffee and coming back and someone uploading porn to my screen that they find, you know, funny.”

In 2013, two male workers on the project were fired for sexual harassment.

After the morning “pre-start” meeting, female workers were pulled aside for briefing with female representatives of the construction business.

The ABC independently obtained footage of the briefing, in which women were told they could prevent sexual harassment if they dressed less “provocatively”.

In it, representatives remind female workers that dismissal is a “big thing” for the men involved.

He went on to tell the women that the men had complained about the “very provocatively dressed” female workers on site.

The female workers were asked to avoid tight jeans and shorts.

“Unfortunately, in their minds, and this may be due to a lack of education on their behalf, they think the girls are asking for it,” she told the female workers.

“So how do we make it better? Management thinks the way to do it is for the girls to dress more conservatively.”

“We’ve had two incidents already, we need to be a little more proactive about them,” a company representative said.

Ms Jelley was among the women who were given direction from management, which the ABC understands was conveyed at several sites on the project.

“It was really a feeling that it was our responsibility not to be attacked,” he said.

“It is our responsibility to make sure that these people are not provoked by our clothes. The feeling on the scene is that these poor people have lost their jobs; these poor, very kind people, you know, they really work.” loud, blah blah blah, “said Mrs. Jelly.

“It doesn’t matter what they do, it’s these poor men and bad women who, you know, have driven them to this goal.”

“We really just stared at each other like, is this for real? Is this really happening?”

Allegations of ‘contrary’ to company values

In a statement, McConnell Dowell said there had been “significant changes to management personnel” since then and the company “strongly believes in treating all employees in an inclusive, respectful and dignified manner”.

The company asserts that management’s directives are unreasonable and inconsistent with workplace safety obligations.

Queensland Gas Company changed ownership in 2016, when it was acquired by Shell.

A Shell spokeswoman said it had a “zero tolerance approach to harassment of any kind” and “our core values ​​of honesty, integrity and respect support the work we do”.

Evidence of widespread under-reporting, lack of support

The commissioner of sex discrimination, Kate Jenkins, said some of the most devastating experiences of sexual harassment she had ever heard of were from women in rural, regional and remote areas, and the risk increased with geographic isolation.

“But I also hear when people ask for help, their peers, friends, family will either ignore or justify or belittle what has happened to them.

“So they are not only affected in their workplace, but in their community they feel a lack of support.”

She said there was evidence of widespread under-reporting across the country but found that “cultural and social dimensions” in non-metropolitan areas made it harder for women to perform.

Jenkins said women who were subjected to harassment often ended up “leaving a job they love, a career they love, a place they want to be”.

“These are all reasons why it’s harder for people in the area to talk,” he said.

In her Respect at Work 2020 report, Jenkins recommends governments “provide increased and recurring funding for Working Women’s Centers” for gender rights support services in the nonprofit workplace.

The NT Working Women’s Center is one of only two left in the country. The support service was established decades ago, but two others in NSW and Tasmania have shut down in the last 15 years and a third in Queensland has joined other services to survive.

NT’s director of services, Nicki Petrou, said her service has had hundreds of approaches from women dealing with sexual harassment in the workplace over the past twelve months, the majority from rural and regional areas.

“So, to deal with it, you need to provide the right support,” Ms Petrou said. “It’s often very intensive. It’s not a quick and easy response. You have to get it right. And it can take a long time. And it takes real commitment.

“And that’s what my staff does.”

But he said despite repeated approaches to the federal government, funding for the service would run out in December.

“We are a done deal,” he said. “We would easily ‘throw money into existing services that are already doing work on the ground that effectively meets federal government goals’. But no, that doesn’t surprise a lot of people, not just me.”

Workplaces shouldn’t assume no reports mean no harassment

Ms Petrou said she received a letter from the federal Attorney General, Michaelia Cash, on the eve of the National Women’s Safety Summit in September, inviting her to apply for funds that had become available for legal services.

“Newsflash is that we are not legal services, so how are we going to go and apply for funds that are clearly intended for legal services?” he says.

“So I’m afraid there won’t be that service for women, almost 30 years and nothing.”

The ABC contacted SenatorCash to ask why the Working Women’s Center was not funded in accordance with the sex discrimination commissioner’s recommendations.

We did not receive a response.

The federal opposition has pledged to provide $24 million in funding for support services nationwide and work with states to build services where none exists.

Sex discrimination commissioner Kate Jenkins has asked regional and rural workplaces to understand that they have a legal obligation to keep employees safe from harassment.

“I would encourage them to shift their focus to not assuming there is no sexual harassment unless someone complains,” she said.

“But to start acting now is to talk to their workforce to ensure that a safe and respectable workplace is there.”

Liz Jelley says she hopes to see women “flooding over the workplace” of the construction and FIFO industries.

“Women on site bring exactly the same things as men do,” he said.

“I’m very good at my job. Sometimes I work 18 hours a day.”

“And I also think we brought a fantastic balance to that too, you know a different set of skills.”

“It’s just that this is a workplace, it shouldn’t be dominated by men.”