As I write this bullying is big news. In the past week or so thousands of complaints have been received about alleged
racist bullying on Big Brother, witnessed by millions. Yet millions experience bullying directly, not merely vicariously
through a television reality show. And education, some experts suggest, is the industry where bullying and harassment are
most prevalent. The bully culture of the playground, it seems, is frequently transposed into the college or university.We need to be clear what we mean by bullying. There are a number of definitions available. Unison, for example, has defined it as ‘persistent unacceptable offensive, intimidating, malicious, insulting or humiliating behaviour, abuse of power or authority which attempts to undermine an individual or group of employees and which may cause them to suffer stress’
It’s important to note that bullying does not have to involve overtly offensive verbal or physical acts. For instance, deliberately undermining a competent worker by overloading and constant criticism is also bullying, as is unfair treatment or preventing workers from progressing by intentionally blocking promotion or training opportunities.
One aim of this piece is to encourage activists to respond to bullying not only (although this is essential) by supporting and representing our members in whatever ways possible as individuals when it happens to them, but also to encourage a collective response to the phenomenon both at the level of local branches and associations and by UCU nationally.
We need to ensure that awareness about bullying and harassment in post-16 education is raised at all levels of the union and UCU adopts measures to combat increasing workloads and poor remission specifically.
It is not simply a question of the number of teaching hours per week: it is fundamentally important that members are encouraged and supported in refusing to work longer than their contracted weekly hours or to take on more than can reasonably be expected of them.
If they have not done so already branches and associations need to carry out, or arrange for independent bodies to carry out, risk assessments on workload and stress, and surveys on bullying. Branches and associations can then use these to negotiate acceptable policies on bullying and harassment and on remission to counteract work overload.
UCU needs to discuss and set appropriate parameters for these at a national level and encourage branches to pursue them.
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UCU Left
Webmaster: Mark Campbell
Webmaster: Mark Campbell