Its On The Rise
Bullying and harassment are widespread in the Victorian public sector,affecting one in four workers.
That is the finding of the Commissioner for Public Employment in his annual report,which showed that 23% of people surveyed had been harassed or bullied in the past 12 months. A further 19% had observed such conduct in the same period.
Commissioner Peter Salway said”It is a real problem which organisations need to deal with.”
Bullying in State Government bodies has ranged from verbal intimidation to physical violence. The commissioners report also revealed” a critical lack of confidence by employees in grievance processes” with 36% fearing they would suffer”negative concequences” if they lodged a complaint.
Mr Salway said “There seems to be a lack of trust in management and a concern that grievances will not be resolved independetly.
Community and Public Sector Union state secretary said workplace bullying was “a growing epidemic.”
State Opposition WorkCover spokesman Bill Forwood said “it is no wonder the Governments WorkCover premiums are so high. they have an obligation to set a benchmark on best practice in the workplace and these figures from their own reporting show this is not happening.”
recently it was reported that six bullying cases involving two departments and one agency cost taxpayers almost One Million pounds.
Kenneth Nguyen.