Murphy's letter from Edinburgh

 

The Workplace Bully

On Sunday some of the papers run a story which appeared to show a group of our armed forces knocking seven bells out of each other, and it gave the impression that our military was rife with a bullying culture.  Because this is an ongoing investigation I don't think it would be right to comment on this until all the facts are known.

Because bullying has become such an important issue in this country I would like to know how they treat workplace bullying which I believe to be far worse than a few marines bonding and letting off steam in their own way.  Our workplaces are full of bullies who have made life a misery for many people who spend more time at their work than they do at home.

Why should someone who probably doesn't argue or fight in their out of work life go to work to be pushed around by some jumped up supervisor or boss in any workplace.  For years the unions turned a blind eye to this issue, although I believe that they are now starting to take this issue a little bit more seriously, but it took them long enough to recognise that it was a problem that was rife and one that can make some peoples lives a total misery.

I have worked in many workplaces in my life and through experience I would say the worst places for the workplace bully are the public services such as industrial council workers, the civil service and the media along with many other jobs for life industries.  I am not going to generalise on the issue by tarring everyone with the same brush, because there are many decent people in these areas of work also.  But like any business or workplace they have their fair share of over zealous people who go way over the top when speaking to other people.

Over the years there has been a lot of work done to bring children who bully to book and get them to modify their behaviour.  But the workplace still carries on with a lot of the bullies still in a position where they can get away with this type of behaviour with impunity.

When I left school in 1962, I stated that I would never take bullying from anyone in my life because from that point on I considered myself a working man - a young adult who was old enough to earn proper wages, and one who was not prepared to be treated in the way that my earlier life had been.

My first job only lasted about three months due to a bullying incident and one that saw me flooring my first workplace bully.  I was quite happy at my work and got on with everyone until one day an older man grabbed me face on and started to give me a bear hug which was uncalled for.  It was in front of a lot of other workers and started off as fun, but he started to squeeze harder to the point of pain while the other workers laughed and thought it was hilarious.

Too me it was sore and I asked him to stop it, but the more I asked him the more he squeezed.  I asked him three times to stop because it was hurting me, but he wouldn't.  I had a pair of boots on with tacks in the soles of them and I used the only form of defence that I had, I took my right foot and took it right up his shin removing the skin from it.  He soon let me go as he lay on the floor squirming in pain, only this time the other workers were roaring in laughter at him being floored by a fifteen year upset worker.

I saw the boss and told him to make up my wages because I had no intention of staying there to work.  He told me it would not happen again and said I didn't need to leave the job.  I was young strong headed and left anyway, but in those days I was working in another job the next day where they didn't have a bullying culture.

As I got older I have come across many jobs where the bullying culture has been rife often with the bosses knowing about it but doing nothing to stop it.  I made it my pledge when I left school that I would always stand up to the bully and have gone through a number of jobs because of the workplace bully.  I also lost a good job because I stood up for someone else who was getting harassed and bullied by a temporary supervisor.  It appeared that all the other workers were prepared to let it go on as long as it wasn't them, because they all knew about it, but did nothing to stop it.

I stuck my neck on the block and took on the bully which took the heat off the person being bullied.  And eventually after going through a whole load of procedures the bully was forced out along with the permanent supervisor who was also well aware of what was going on in a council department.  I wrote a document on it called 'Bully boy, bully boy who's on your side'.  Bully boy bully boy with the bosses you can hide'.  This document documented the whole incident because a lot of people are unable or unwilling to tackle the problem of the workplace bully.

This is now becoming something that people are not prepared to accept under any conditions, and it might be time to take the issue of workplace bullying a lot more seriously than we have in the past.  We are surely old enough to realise that working days are lost and people won't stay in jobs where this goes on.

I for one will not accept anyone trying badger, bully or harass me in any shape or form.  But at the same time, why should anyone else have to put up with it.  They shouldn't and it's time for all workplaces to draw up proper rules stating that no bullying or harassment of any kind will be accepted in the workplace.

This has to start with the bosses in all types industry.  No one goes out to work to go home totally stresses out because of their working environment and the workplace bully.

Written by Andrew Murphy 29 November 2005

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