Introduction

Bullying and harassment scar workplaces and ruin lives. This booklet records some of the mounting evidence that bullying is on the rise in UK workplaces and that the economic downturn is contributing directly to a deteriorating work climate for many workers. It also looks at the work being done by unions to tackle the problem, giving examples of best practice and negotiating successes.

The booklet also contains the results of the 2012 TUC biennial safety reps survey. The survey reports disturbing levels of bullying and harassment, which is second only to stress as the hazard most likely to be reported to union reps.

Economic uncertainty and change

That bullying is escalating is unsurprising in the presence of so many risk factors. Bullying thrives in conditions of economic uncertainty with fears of job loss, acute competition for available jobs and pressures on managers from their own bosses to achieve targets at any cost. The evidence highlighted in this booklet also shows how bullying thrives when organisations are subjected to rapid “top-down” organisational change and upheaval, and it is no coincidence that two of the worst performing sectors — the NHS and the education sector — are undergoing just such a process of upheaval since the coalition government took office in May 2010.

Insecure work models

Feeding into this picture is the spread of insecure work models such as “zero hour” contracts, involuntary and often scam self-employment, agency working and unpaid internships. Precarious work models make it far harder for individual workers to speak out about abuse at work. Research in 2010 by the European Working Conditions Observatory into “very atypical contractual arrangements” highlights how Britain now leads Europe in the number of zero-hours contracts issued to workers — contracts where the employer makes no guarantee to provide any paid work at all.

Monitoring technology

Another ingredient in the mix is the speed and spread of technology in the workplace. Electronic monitoring equipment is increasingly used to check on workers and to regulate their working day, while email, text messaging, CCTV and GPS vehicle and person tracking devices provide new opportunities for abusive management and cyber-bullying.

The political climate

These developments are playing out against a backdrop of tacit support by government ministers for poor management behaviour. The current administration seems to have an almost unstoppable appetite for measures and policies that will worsen the workplace climate for ordinary working people. Examples include attacks on health and safety, employment rights, union facility time, tribunal access and collectively agreed arrangements such as innovative flexible working arrangements in the civil service.

Other illustrations include the notorious “Employer’s Charter”, described by Unite general secretary Len McCluskey as a “charter for rogue employers and bullies”, the government-commissioned Beecroft report of 2011, which suggested that allowing employers to sack staff because they “do not like them” was a “price worth paying” for greater flexibility, or the throwaway remark by Ofsted Chief Sir Michael Wilshaw, on taking up his new post in 2012, that “if anyone says to you that ’staff morale is at an all time low’, you know you are doing something right.”

The role of union reps

Against this background the role of workplace reps and safety reps has never been more important — both on a collective and an individual level. The union safety effect, recognised by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), was recently reinforced by new evidence from the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work. The Agency’s report, published in 2012, Understanding workplace management of safety and health: psychosocial risks and worker participation through ESENER, reaffirms that “where worker representation is combined with high management commitment to health and safety, the effect is particularly strong, even more so if there is a works council or shop floor trade union in place, and if the representative is given appropriate training and support“.

This updated LRD guide offers examples of best practice and practical guidance all in one place, providing a useful resource for reps confronting this issue. The booklet is divided into short sections, covering the following issues:

• the scale of the problem of workplace bullying and harassment, its causes and costs (Chapter 1);

• the legal tools available to support members and reps (Chapter 2);

• recognising bullying and harassment in the workplace (Chapter 3);

• how reps work to raise awareness of bullying and harassment (Chapter 4);

• responding to bullying and harassment — individually and collectively (Chapter 5); and

• negotiating a policy (Chapter 6).

This booklet concerns bullying and harassment between people at work. It does not deal with bullying of workers by members of the public or with violence at work.