BULLYING AT THE COUNCIL: DON’T MENTION IT OR YOU TOO WILL BE BULLIED

NOTEBOOK by BILL HEANEY

Bullying is a word that must never be used within the precincts of any West Dunbartonshire Council office. If you do dare to use it then you will find yourself being … bullied.

That there is deep concern amongst staff about the culture of bullying within the walls of the Church Street council headquarters is becoming clearer by the day.

But it’s not just the staff who are being bullied. The councillors are at it too by becoming involved in shouting matches in the chamber and “altercations” in the corridors of power.

They are bullying each other. The atmosphere is appalling.

That the bullying culture is a figment of no one’s imagination became perfectly clear when an Employment Appeal Tribunal suggested that a disabled council worker should be awarded compensation of around £1 million for the disgraceful way he had been discriminated against, bullied and victimised by the council.

Yes, you read that correctly £1 MILLION, but only if the victim agrees to take the money and ceases to pursue further litigation against the Council.

That would mean that the case of Brian Gourlay v West Dunbartonshire Council would run as long as Jarndyce v Jarndyce in Bleak House by Charles Dickens.

That case is a central plot device in the classic novel and has become a byword for seemingly interminable legal proceedings.

Advertisements such as the one at the top of this page have begun to proliferate on the web and their message is clear:

West Dunbartonshire Branch of Unison

SAY NO TO BULLYING, HARASSMENT, VIOLENCE AND INTIMIDATION OF OUR MEMBERS

Your workplace should be a safe place

Contact the branch confidentially if you require advice or support

unison@west-dunbarton.gov.uk

Take care of yourself and others

I was making journalistic inquiries into the the heated exchange of views and the shouting match between Cllr Michelle McGINTY (Labour) and Gordon SCANLON (SNP) that I realised just how serious the bullying problem is at West Dunbartonshire Council.

That I myself was being bullied by having my reputation as a journalist trashed by this council during a time when both Labour and SNP have been in power goes without saying.

I have been aware of that for the past five years since their senior officials threw me out of a meeting for asking to have the sound turned up so the press and public could hear what was going on.

I was discriminated against and victimised. I still am.

Additionally, I became concerned when I heard that two councillors – again one Labour and one SNP – had told a meeting of one of the local community councils that I wasn’t a journalist at all and that this was part of a pernicious campaign which went beyond politics.

I have been wearing the this ban as a badge of honour since what it indicates clearly is that by upsetting politicians across the spectrum I must be doing something right.

But let’s go back to the employees, who are much more important than me.

How do the suits and skirts in Church Street feel to know that people are frightened of them, too scared to go to work in the morning because they know they will be bullied?

The evidence in the Gourlay v WDC case gave a clear indication that council workers are given very little respect by their bosses.

It’s not the first time I have heard this. I went to a union meeting last year, organised by the GMC and Unite, outside the Burgh Hall, and heard similar accusations.

As the country waits for Rishi Sunak to call a general election, Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner has written for UNISON on the challenges and opportunities ahead.

May be an image of 2 people and text that says "Angela Rayner: 'It's our chance to change Britain' S UNISON the public service union"

Labour will do what the Tories won’t – tackle sexual harassment at work, she wrote.

And here Labour’s Anneliese Dodds and Angela Rayner explain how the party intends to tackle workplace abuse of women before it even starts.

In recent years, public life has been rocked by horrific allegations of sexual harassment.

And it’s not just powerful men found abusing young women and hiding in plain sight for years.

But such high-profile cases are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the experiences of millions of women in workplaces the length and breadth of Britain.

[The Brian Gourlay V WDC demonstrates that it is not just women who find themselves being bullied and harassed at work.]

As visible women in public life, women come to us all too often with their stories of how sexual harassment has ripped away their confidence, ruined lives and destroyed careers.

And we know from the government’s own data that nearly a third of women in employment have endured some form of sexual harassment in work over the last year.

That’s millions of women every single day being threatened, harassed, and humiliated. Millions of women who do not feel safe to go to work and being forced to change jobs while over 40 per cent of perpetrators see no sanction. Justice denied, and victims let down.

We have seen countless examples where the victim of harassment is the one to pay the price, not the perpetrator. We hear about it every day. The woman discouraged from reporting harassment by a senior member of staff and threatened that she wouldn’t be able to keep her identity confidential. Another forced out of work with stress due to the trauma of seeing her harasser every day.

For these women the situation is intolerable. It’s not good enough to place all the responsibility for dealing with and reporting harassment on the victims, rather than on the employers. Everyone should be able to go to work safe from sexual [and other kinds of] harassment, knowing their employer has taken steps to create a safe working environment.

It’s not sufficient to take action against sexual harassment after the fact. We need to create workplaces that are free from harassment in the first place. That’s why the next Labour government will introduce a stand-alone legal duty requiring employers to take all reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment.

Labour’s legal change will not make employers liable for things they cannot control – they will only become liable if they fail to take steps to stamp out sexual harassment at their workplaces before it starts. The crucial difference here is a shift towards prevention before an incident of sexual harassment has happened, rather than merely action afterwards.

When it comes to sexual harassment there can be no grey areas. Labour remains fully committed to protecting workers from harassment by third parties, including customers and clients, and we will consult to define the circumstances and boundaries to ensure employers protect their employees from sexual harassment in all its forms.

Even the government admits that the onus is currently too heavily on the victim to painfully recount an incident to their employer. But four years on from their consultation on tackling workplace sexual harassment, the Tories are still dragging their feet.

So Labour will do what this Tory government won’t and properly tackle sexual harassment at work. But that’s not all. We’ll make misogyny a hate crime, toughen sentences for perpetrators of rape and stalking, and halve the level of violence against women and girls. Women subject to debilitating symptoms of menopause at work will also get the support they deserve. And we will empower women entrepreneurs.

Too many women have their future stolen away from them. The next Labour government will fight for every woman in this country to have the bright future they deserve.

Anneliese Dodds is the shadow secretary of state for Women and Equalities; Angela Rayner is the shadow secretary of state for Levelling Up, Housing, Communities & Local Government