Up date on Parking Quotas & alleged bullying

On Tuesday 14 August I visited the depot to speak to our members following an urgent request from the UNISON rep in Parking that I meet up with members to address concerns that they were being bullied and intimidated.

At the meetings I spoke briefly to members who told me about what they described as the bullying culture within enforcement service down the depot. I was repeatedly reminded that a series of anonymous complaints of bullying were made over a year ago, they felt quite angry that this had not been addressed by senior managers in NLBP or the Trade Unions.

 It is widely accepted in research into ‘bullying in the workplace’ that staff experiencing bullying find it difficult to speak out for fear of retribution. I fully understand those fears and have given a commitment that if any UNISON member does want to talk about bullying UNISON will offer its fullest support.

As a result of the two meetings with members on Tuesday morning I immediately wrote to the Interim Director of Environment, Planning and Regeneration detailing the alleged accounts of bullying and intimidation.

Later that afternoon I received response from the Interim Director & the Interim Parking Manager. The Interim Parking Manager has assured me there had been no bullying and workers had not been denied access to council vehicles.

Whilst it is good that senior managers at NLBP have been quick to respond to concerns raised I recognised some of our members would feel the matter has not been taken seriously. It does concern me that there are two completely different views as to whether UNISON members are or have been bullied about the consequences of supporting the industrial action.

Due to the seriousness of the claims made by a number of our members working in parking enforcement I have decided to issue a short health & safety questionnaire to establish how widespread this issue is across our members.

I will be publishing the results in due course.

The view the questions click here