Bullying ‘rife’ at Blaenau Gwent council (From South Wales Argus)

Bullying ‘rife’ at Blaenau Gwent council

11:14am Friday 8th July 2011 in News

BULLYING and harassment were rife at Blaenau Gwent council, according to a damning report into the behaviour of some officers and councillors.

Dozens of statements outlining allegations of bullying, through different levels of management, were given during an investigation, which has taken two years to complete.

The report says councillors were left largely to their own devices when addressing ward issues and councillors deal directly with staff at all levels, which could be intimidating for more-inexperienced staff.

There was a widespread perception that the more powerful a member you are, the better off your ward is in terms of a share of council resources.

The report reveals that not only had bullying and harassment gone on for years, there was the widespread view that when issues were raised, little or nothing was done about it.

Examples of the types of bullying include councillors shouting down officers during meetings and not listening to answers to questions; meetings ‘becoming personal’ and conducted in front of people from all levels of the authority to embarrass staff; as well as staff feeling intimidated when dealing directly with some councillors.

The report by consultants Clarkslegal was commissioned by the council after Abertillery councillor Nigel Daniels was suspended in 2009 for nine months for intimidating and acting inappropriately towards a council officer in 2007.

The report’s author, Julie James, now Swansea West AM, highlighted clear problems with council leadership in the past, a culture of fear among the staff of repercussions if they ever complained and the perception that nothing would change.

Roles and responsibilities of officers and councillors were also unclear, leading to uncertainty among staff A small number of people interviewed disagreed with the view of a bullying culture, believing instead there was robust challenge where others sawbullying and harassment.

Full council unanimously backed recommendations in an attempt to address these issues, including appointing a dedicated officer to deal with complaints, strict protocol on how councillors’ ward issues are addressed and initiating a programme of change to reassure staff that bullying will be take seriously.

A statement said: “The council has demonstrated its collective determination to address this issue and has moved on significantly since 2007 “We have made many improvements already, which have been endorsed by an independent specialist.

“We recognise that a highly motivated and dedicated workforce helps make the council even more efficient and effective.

“Tackling bullying whenever it occurs is the right thing to do, for the individual and the organisation.”

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EDITORIAL COMMENT: No place ever for bullying

IT is disturbing to learn the details of the bullying inquiry at Blaenau Gwent Council. It would appear that a culture of bullying – to use their own words – has made life for a number of employees almost intolerable. It is a sad fact that in these days of shrinking staff and increased workloads, people are being asked to work harder than ever before. Some managers are able to achieve improved performance by motivation and a mixture of reward and recognition, while others, in desperation, resort to bullying. Then there are those managers who are just in the wrong job, were never cut out to supervise people and should never have been put in that position in the first place. We are glad to see that this subject has been highlighted in Blaenau Gwent and, presumably, is now being remedied. We wonder if a similar position exists in other local authorities and public bodies. Sadly, bullying is all too frequent in the workplace and we regularly see industrial tribunal reports highlighting cases in both the public and private sector. There is no excuse for bullying, whether deliberate or accidental. Just like sexual or other forms of harassment, it needs to be rooted out of the workplace and those responsible need to be sorted out. It does appear from the report that some councillors and senior officers thought that by throwing their weight around, they were doing a better job. This was the sort of thinking that prevailed a century ago and has no place in a modern working environment. It is a pity that individuals are not named in this report because we feel that such people should no longer be in office.