Staff from Sydney Credit Union have been successful in getting the credit union’s bullying policy reviewed and training provided for all staff following several reported instances of bullying in the workplace.

Several complaints were made by staff to management of the credit union without any initial success. FSU members then sought out advice and assistance from FSU organiser Ola Hamed who organised after hours meetings of staff to discuss ways of dealing with the bullying issues.

After a second out of hours meeting, management were approached directly by FSU members Deanna Douglas (pictured right) and Julie-Anne Webster (pictured left) with their FSU organiser Ola Hamed to outline what they believed was necessary to fix the problem.

“We felt the best thing to fix the problems was for the credit union to invest some time and money in staff training about bullying so everyone was aware of their rights and responsibilities and to also have the credit union’s policy on bullying reviewed”, said Deanna.

“At a meeting with the CEO, both of those things were agreed to which was really great”, she said.

Deanna, Julie-Anne and Ola then sat down with management to work out the changes to the policy which included:

• The policy would now state that bullying is an occupational health and safety issue.
• The policy outlines the effects of bullying on individuals
• That management will respond to any future issues around bullying within 48 hours.

All staff were then asked to view and sign a copy of the new policy.

“We’re really happy with the outcome now”, said Julie-Anne. “It was good to have the support of our Union behind us in what was a stressful situation but it was equally good to work with credit union management to resolve the issues in a way that not only benefits the staff, but our employer as well,” she said.
 
If you think you may have issues at your workplace with bullying and would like to positively resolve the situation just like the staff at Sydney Credit Union, or if you just want to ask some questions, contact the FSU Member Rights Centre on 1300 366 378.