LRD guides and handbook November 2012

Bullying and harassment at work - a guide for trade unionists

Chapter 4

4. RAISING AWARENESS OF BULLYING AND HARASSMENT

The TUC says that there are a number of positive steps reps can take to raise awareness of the need to tackle bullying and harassment at work:

• reps can use posters and leaflets to raise the issue and take the opportunity to discuss bullying with members to see if they think there are any problems. Reps should report their concerns and those of their members to management;

• safety reps can use their routine inspections, or undertake special inspections, to speak to members about bullying at work;

• one of the best ways of assessing the scale of bullying within the workplace is to survey members. This can gather evidence of the scale and extent of bullying in the workplace and can be done either by the union or jointly with management. Any survey must be strictly confidential, but it is important that staff are told the overall survey findings. The results can help employers develop a policy on dealing with bullying and can also be useful in trying to change the behaviour of individual managers and staff.

TUC Workplace Manual, 2012

Reps should also learn from best practice and share experiences, building on some of the shared union resources that are highlighted in this booklet.