CBI President Says Business Group May Not Survive Sexual Assault Scandal
The Confederation of British Industry may not survive a scandal triggered by rape claims among staff, its president said, as he acknowledged that the business group had failed to dismiss “abhorrent” employees who’d harmed their colleagues.
Brian McBride wrote an open letter to members on Monday, saying he hoped the CBI could return as a reformed organization — “whether or not that is possible.”
Some of Britain’s biggest companies rushed to distance themselves from the lobby group on Friday last week after the Guardian newspaper reported claims by a second woman who said she was raped by colleagues at the CBI. It followed previous reports of sexual harassment at the organization, which had already instructed Fox Williams LLP to carry out an investigation.
Update: Major UK Companies Abandon CBI Following Second Rape Claim
McBride said the CBI “failed to filter out culturally toxic people” in the past and should have removed the offending staff. This was a “grievous error” that deterred women from coming forward with complaints about sexual assault, he added.
“It led victims of harassment or violence to believe that their only option was to take their experiences to a newspaper,” the letter said.
A number of staff have now been dismissed following a legal investigation into the claims, McBride added.
The CBI fired its boss Tony Danker earlier in April after he was accused of workplace misconduct unrelated to the wider allegations. Danker argued last week that he was made a scapegoat for the crisis, but McBride’s letter said the complaints against Danker were “the final straw.”
McBride said the business group would implement all the legal investigation’s recommendations, including a zero-tolerance approach to sexual harassment and bullying.
Photograph: Brian McBride, president of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), speaks on day two at the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) 2022 Annual Conference in Birmingham, UK, on Tuesday, Nov. 22, 2022. Photo credit: Darren Staples/Bloomberg.
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