Revolutionary Socialism in the 21st Century
 
Revolutionary
Socialism in the
21st Century
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Bullying in the workplace

Barbara Jeffery

Barbara Jeffery, UCU Branch Secretary Tower Hamlets College (pc) discusses how to tackle bullying in the workplace. First published in the Summer 2014 edition of the rs21 magazine.

Research suggests that since the onset of austerity there has been a significant rise in bullying and harassment in the workplace. Studies show a definite link between economic conditions and bullying, where the threat of redundancy, increased workloads and the the weakness of trade unions have all contributed to a bullying culture.

In 2010 the Guardian reported that it was a major contributing factor to workplace stress, with 13.7m working days lost each year as a result of stress and depression resulting from bullying at work.

It is not just the private sector that is affected by this increase: reports have also suggested an increase in the public sector, including many colleges. A survey carried out in 2007 by the University and Colleges Union (UCU) showed that the culture of bullying by managers or colleagues had increased to ‘very stressful’ levels across both Higher Education and Further
Education.

A further survey showed the issue was the single most common concern facing UCU members, with responses from over 4,000 members nationwide, saying that the issues they were most likely to take to branch officers were bullying and harassment.
There is, as yet, no legal definition of bullying, and yet cases of bullying at work have been pursued through employment law, health and safety and protection from harassment legislation.

So what is bullying?

UCU’s definition of bullying and/or harassment includes:

This is not an exhaustive list as bullying can take many forms, but whatever form it takes, the crucial point is that any behaviour that is unwarranted and unwelcome by the recipient should not be condoned.

How to tackle bullying

One of the most important approaches for tackling bullying in the workplace is to raise awareness, making the impact of bullying transparent.

An example of this is how UCU branch officers and members at Tower Hamlets College have organised a campaign against bullying and harassment in the workplace. This was in response to reports of an increase in cases linked to bullying.
The following are some of the strategies UCU at Tower Hamlets have adopted to tackle these issues:

As with every campaign we are stronger as a collective than as individuals. Tackling bullying is tackling the new management culture.

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