Dear Member
Hi all! We hope you’re all keeping well. Firstly, an apology for not sending out an update yesterday but we hope you understand that on occasion urgent requirements to support members must be our priority, which was the case yesterday evening. So on to today’s update, which as always we hope is of use to you. If there’s anything you’d like us to cover in these updates, that you don’t think we have already, please get in touch.
Bullying
There is no simple definition of bullying because it can take many different forms. It occurs in a variety of situations and crosses gender, race, age and involve one or a number of individuals. However, Unison has defined workplace bullying as persistent offensive, intimidating, humiliating behaviour, which attempts to undermine an individual or group of employees. Bullying is generally carried out face-to-face but can also occur in writing by telephone, text messaging, email and on social media. In light of the changes that the pandemic has brought about in working practices, we want to highlight the issue of cyber bullying to you and offer assurance that if you come to us with a complaint about bullying- we believe you!
Bullying has been previously linked to numerous physical and psychological symptoms, including headaches, chronic neck pain, fibromyalgia, type 2 diabetes, sleep problems, anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress, suicidal ideation, and others. If you feel that you have been bullied at work, Wirral Unison believes you; we accept your complaint at face value. We know that anyone who has been bullied may feel demoralised, lacking in self-worth, that their views are not valued and have little confidence. If you raise the matter with us, you will be appointed a dedicated Steward or Officer who will support you through any processes; who will be on your side.
Bullying can take many forms, but with many members working remotely at home cyber bullying is likely to become more of a problem. Figures are not yet available but sadly we expect to see an increase in cyber bullying during the coronavirus crisis. This will be due to the nature of the way we are working, but also perhaps as employers have their focus shifted on to other issues. Cyber bullying can be defined as any use of information and communications technology to support attempts of intimidation, threats, humiliation and harassment against another person (or group of people). The bullying behaviour can come from a colleague or group of colleagues, against a manager, or by a manager to a member or members of their team. It can be against an individual or a group of staff. Wirral Unison is clear there is no place for bullying in our organisations and that no matter who the bully is, be it a colleague, a manager or a senior manager, we will challenge unacceptable behaviour and be at your side throughout.
One of the worrying aspects of cyber bullying is that during the coronavirus lockdown it may be targeted against an individual who is already feeling isolated. It is less likely that there will be witnesses, or colleagues who can provide support. It can be a lonely place. Examples of cyber bullying may include offensive emails, bombarding a person with more work than they can handle, being dismissive of the pressures of home working, making derogatory comments in chat groups (it is possible that a person may not immediately experience the bullying directly because they are unaware of what is being posted until later).
During these times of change and uncertainty, the employer still owes a duty of care to all staff, policies and procedures are still in place, legislation still exists. Bullying behaviour is still unacceptable. If a member is accused of bullying, we will also provide support and advice, a dedicated Steward will still be appointed, we are aware that facing an allegation brings its own stresses. We are all still trying to adapt to new ways of working, we know that this is not easy. We will be approaching employers to discuss what specific measures are in place to address cyber bullying. But if you are being bullied, please do not suffer in silence, get in touch. We believe you!
Calling all shielding workers!!!
Are you a member of Unison who is currently shielding under NHS advice? If you are we want to hear from!! What have been your experiences during this time? Have your employers been sympathetic and understanding? Have you struggled to be paid appropriately during this time? Are you worried about future changes to shielding guidance? Whatever your experience, we understand that shielding throughout the pandemic has been extremely difficult for our members and in light of government plans to revise guidance around shielding, we want to hear from as many of you as we can.
Re-opening of services
We wrote to members on 29 May advising that as government continues to ease the lockdown, many council services will be considered for re-opening in the coming weeks and months and that the council had committed to fully consulting on the proposals to re-open these services. We can now update members that we have agreed a process with the council through which consultation will take place. This formal process has been used for the first time this week in considering the re-opening of Birkenhead Market and we are confident as a result that all appropriate safety issues can be identified and addressed through this process.
We will also be engaging with other employers around return to work processes and we have in the past week had initial discussions with Wirral Evolutions and Wirral Met College. We will provide further details on these discussions in the next day or so.
Funding for Local Authorities
The Mayors of London, Manchester, Sheffield and Liverpool have issued a joint call warning that Local Authorities are at risk of going bust and have urged Boris Johnson to take immediate action. It is estimated that the additional costs to Council’s across the country, in tackling the crisis could exceed £13 billion. To date, the government has provided an additional £3.2 billion, barely 25% of what is required. Yesterday during Prime Minister’s questions Boris Johnson announced a further £63 million for council’s to use at their discretion to help support vulnerable families. This is a drop in the ocean.
The Mayor of the Liverpool City Region, Steve Rotherham said “At the beginning of this crisis Local Authorities were told by Government to do “whatever it takes” to support communities, but this response comes at a cost. Couple this with the drop in income, without substantial extra funding from central government it would be impossible for Local Authorities to balance their budgets whilst maintaining services.”
We will be contacting Wirral Council to offer support in any campaign to call for extra funding from the government.
Schools
We are aware that a number of you will be worried about the position around schools and we want to reassure you that we are continuing to present the case that schools should not return more broadly until it is safe to do so. We have a meeting with the council tomorrow to address our concerns and will update members following this meeting.
TUC Surveys
The TUC is currently asking union members to take part in two surveys:
1.How have you or other BME workers been treated at work during this crisis
https://www.tuc.org.uk/news/how-have-you-or-other-bme-workers-been-treated-work-during-crisis
2. Universal Credit - experiences of and views on the five week wait - closing date 12 June
https://www.tuc.org.uk/we-need-your-help-scrap-universal-credit-five-week-wait
That’s all for today everyone. We’ll be back in touch tomorrow but until then take care of yourselves and each other.
In solidarity!
Lois and Dave
Dave: davidnjones@wirral.gov.uk 07880199539
Lois: loisfounds1@wirral.gov.uk 07384512521
Published on: June 12, 2020