CWU LTB:Bullying and Harassment

[POSTMAN]

Dear Colleague



RE: Bullying and Harassment

At a recent meeting the Postal Executive endorsed a document which sought a review of the bullying and harassment procedure due to the fact that we are experiencing serious problems with the application of the agreement in various parts of the country.

These fall under a number of headings.


Union Officials / Activists


The bullying and harassment procedure has been used to target union representatives or union members who take a strong pro union position. This has particularly been the case in the aftermath of the dispute.

Moral crusade

A culture of "zero tolerance" has produced in some cases a "scalp hunting" mentality where, as a result of a complaint from a particular individual, members are singled out for punishment for behaviours which have been widespread and common in their office. Typically the behaviours complained of and investigated have been implicitly or explicitly accepted by local management.

Use of the bullying and harassment procedure as a weapon to harass

This not only applies in cases brought by managers or encouraged by managers against union representatives and activists but has also been an underlying problem in its own right. In offices where relationships are bad employees and managers can tend to see taking out complaints of bullying and harassment as another weapon to attack colleagues.

Review

In the light of these difficulties we need to seek a formal joint review of the bullying and harassment procedure, based on existing conference policy. The review needs to encompass the role of independent harassment investigators, the issue of consistency of approach and the treatment of trade union officials. As part of the review the unresolved issue of access to documentation prior to interview under the procedure needs to be resolved. In addition, we need to strengthen the emphasis on informal resolution of complaints to avoid the unnecessary escalation which has been evident in a number of recent cases.

It will be our intention to send correspondence to Royal Mail seeking a review. In the meantime in line with LTB 530/07 would all branches gather all information regarding cases against representatives, activists or members that fall under any of the above categories. This will assist us in our endeavours to review the agreement.

Any enquiries to Ray Ellis's office, quoting reference PTC/MA/js/410
Email address: rellis@cwu.org


Yours sincerely

Ray Ellis,

Assistant Secretary