`Bullying and harassment costs Consignia £15M a year,' says Amicus
Amicus, the union for 15,000 managers and professionals in Consignia, is today (Monday) publishing a survey, which reveals an institutional culture of bullying and harassment within the post office.
80% of staff say they had experienced bullying in the past year, 33% had experienced uninvited sexual teasing, and verbal abuse and 60% had witnessed another colleague being bullied within the past year.
Respondents reported an average 51 days sick leave taken by those suffering bullying and harassment, the union calculates that the full cost to Consignia could be as high as #15m per year. This does not include compensation payments to victims.
Speaking at the CMA section conference in Southport today, Amicus National Secretary Peter Skyte said: “Amicus is calling for a zero tolerance crackdown by Consignia management to eliminate bullying and sexual harassment from the postal service.
“We demand a public commitment at the most senior levels of Consignia to work with us to stamp out bullying and harassment.
“The time for further navel gazing internal reviews on these issues is over. Consignia has policies but these are clearly ineffective. Consignia must act now and act fast to change the bullying culture in the post office.”
Over 16000 employees have told Consignia they have suffered harassment and bullying in the last 12 months according to the organisation’s Employee Opinion Survey.
As a result of the survey, Amicus will seek agreement from Consignia management for:
– a zero-tolerance crackdown on bullying and harassment in Consignia workplaces
– a complete overhaul of the existing Consignia policies and practices and the creation of a a more effective Consignia-wide Dignity at Work policy and training programme in partnership with its unions
– a review of workloads of managers and an end to unachievable and unrealistic targets which sustain an environment where bullying and harassment Is tolerated
Amicus General Secretary Roger Lyons said:
“All working people deserve dignity at work, human rights do not stop at the office door.
“That’s why Amicus is sponsoring the Dignity at Work Bill which is going through parliament right now, it will give all workers legal protection against the evil of bullying and harassment in their workplace and force Consignia to confront the problem head on.”
Notes to Editors:
The Amicus CMA section represents 15000 managers and senior managers working for Consignia, formerly the Post Office.
The survey was carried out through a representative sample of 265 members across Consignia business units and locations
PERSONAL PROFILE
Gender/Ethnic Origin: 80% of respondents were men. Of these, 92% were of white ethnic origin and 7% were of Asian ethnic origin and 1% ‘Other’ ethnic origin. 18% were women and of these, 96% were of white ethnic origin and 2% in each Asian and ‘Other’ ethnic origin.
Location: London was the most frequent location mentioned (12%). Other locations mentioned more than once included: Anglia; Birmingham; Bristol; Carlisle; Chesterfield; Cornwall; Croydon; Dartford; East; Edinburgh; Exeter; Glasgow; Leeds; Liverpool; Manchester; Midlands; Milton Keynes; North; North East; North West; Nottingham; Peterborough; Reading; Scotland; Sheffield; South; South East; South West; Southern; Stockport; Swindon; Watford; West.
Business: The majority (nearly two-thirds) work for Consignia/Royal Mail. The rest were spread fairly consistently over: Business Systems; Cash Handling & Distribution; Corporate Clients; Counters; Customer Management; E-Enterprise; Group Centre; International Services; Letters; Logistics Solutions; Packages & Express; ParcelForce; POSG; Post Office; Processing; Property Holdings; Research & Consultancy; Sales & Customer Support; Transaction Services; TVL.
CMA Bullying and Harassment Survey 2002 – SUMMARY
BULLYING
A representative sample of 265 members was covered by the questionnaire.
– The majority (near
