{"id":18429,"date":"2019-07-12T15:27:09","date_gmt":"2019-07-12T14:27:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=18429"},"modified":"2020-11-12T12:56:02","modified_gmt":"2020-11-12T12:56:02","slug":"parliamentary-staff-white-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=18429","title":{"rendered":"‘Catalyst for real change’"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The shocking extent of bullying and harassment of parliamentary staff was laid bare this week (July 11) in a new report<\/a> — and Unite’s parliamentary staff branch are hopeful it will bring about lasting change.<\/p>\n

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The inquiry led by Gemma White QC, who spoke to more than 200 staff members, found a \u00e2\u20ac\u0098significant problem\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 with workplace bullying and harassment, including sexual harassment, of staff at the hands of MPs and senior colleagues.<\/p>\n

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Staff who contributed to the report told harrowing stories<\/a> of being shouted on a daily basis by their bosses and having objects such as office equipment thrown at them. Staff were often asked to take on personal duties for MPs, such as cleaning homes and caring for pets and children.<\/p>\n

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Sexual harassment was highlighted as a significant problem, as was the failure of any effective system in place to support staff.<\/p>\n

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Unite parliamentary staff branch secretary Harriet Dines spoke to UniteLive about the issue following publication of the report.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bAs shocking as some of the testimony in the report is, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not surprised at all by any of it,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 she said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bBullying and harassment of parliamentary staff has reached endemic levels.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Dines, who first became active in the union after sexual harassment in Parliament gained media attention in 2017, welcomed the White report, especially since, she said, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bit is the first time staff concerns have been placed at the forefront\u00e2\u20ac\u0165.<\/p>\n

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But she warned that action must be taken urgently to address the situation.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe initial Cox report on bullying and harassment in Parliament came out nine months ago, and still many of its recommendations haven\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t been implemented,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Dines said. “We can no longer wait for action.”<\/p>\n

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The latest White report offered a number of recommendations which Dines said \u00e2\u20ac\u015breally got to the crux of the problem\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 \u00e2\u20ac\u201c most importantly the recommendation that there be established a separate HR department specifically for parliamentary staff. At the moment, no such department exists.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bA major reason why bullying and harassment has been allowed to fester is that there is little accountability,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 she explained. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bMPs\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 staff are employed individually by each MP \u00e2\u20ac\u201c so it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s like there are 650 separate small businesses but no one as a whole takes responsibility for staff. In this way, bullying and harassment become structural problems.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Dines called for the conciliation service Acas\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 involvement, so that an agreement can be hammered out with the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA) and Unite to transform employment practices.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIn addition to continuing our work of supporting individual members who are victims of bullying and harassment, our branch is now campaigning for Unite to be consulted every step of the way on any changes that happen as a result of this week\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s report,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 she explained.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bBullying and harassment is certainly nothing new in Parliament – the Unite parliamentary branch has been campaigning on this issue for more than two decades,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Dines said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re hopeful that this report which is long overdue can be the catalyst for real change.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The shocking extent of bullying and harassment of parliamentary staff was laid bare this week (July 11) in a new report — and Unite’s parliamentary staff branch are hopeful it will bring about lasting change.   The inquiry led by Gemma White QC, who spoke to more than 200 staff members, found a \u00e2\u20ac\u0098significant problem\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[17],"tags":[309,650,1001],"wps_subtitle":"Unite parliamentary staff branch welcomes Commons bullying and harassment report","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18429"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18429"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18429\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25141,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18429\/revisions\/25141"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18429"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18429"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18429"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}