BULLYING AND VICTIMISATION ALIVE & KICKING AT DHL KILMARNOCK!
William Esther & Brian, 3 DHL workers at the Kilmarnock service centre registered 1st stage grievances against Kilmarnock managers for bullying behaviour which ranged from screaming and swearing at staff to unfair treatment. A burger van owner was recruited into a non job at the site and regularly screamed at and abused workers whilst management stood back and did nothing. These grievances were filed in line with DHL’s very own anti Bullying & Harassment policies.
Before the grievances were even heard, the three workers were threatened by a Glasgow manager with ‘action’ should they be found to be lying. Their letters of invite were sent to them through the very bullies they were complaining about, totally compromising all confidentiality. The UDW wrote to DHL expressing our objections and concerns over the further threats and the lack of confidentiality. DHL took no notice of our objections and allowed the Glasgow manager to continue his so called investigation.
The 1st stage grievances were heard at Bellshill during which the hearing manager attempted to obstruct the UDW official by telling him that he, ‘wasn’t allowed to talk’. The UDW official challenged this and properly represented our members.
After hearing each grievance, the Glasgow manager then went to the Kilmarnock service centre and interviewed a number of employees, and was then given a tour of the service centre by one of the managers our members had complained about. Tea and cupcakes were provided as refreshments. Employees were interviewed in an office with the full knowledge of the bullying managers who had their own office doors wide open, and each employee was summoned to the interview room by the very manager that the complaint was about.
Despite at least two other employees confirming that they had either witnessed or experienced bullying at Kilmarnock service centre, the Glasgow manager chose not to uphold any single aspect of the grievances.
At the appeal hearings a Regional Director and the HR Business Partner for Scotland sat almost silent as William Esther & Brian each talked at great length and detail, through their personal experiences at Kilmarnock service centre clearly explaining what had taken place, how the bullies behave and their views on how DHL management had treated them for daring to complain about unfair and unacceptable conduct.
The Regional Director & HR Business Partner gave a firm assurance that they would look very closely at what had occurred and that action would be taken to stop it from happening again. Needless to say William, Esther and Brian’s grievances were again not upheld.
DHL Kilmarnock. Click image to enlarge.
The very day after Brian received DHL’s decision he was formally notified that he was now at risk of redundancy and his route was taken from him. He attended 3 consultation meetings (despite his original work still being at the Kilmarnock service centre) and requested that he should be given reasonable alternative employment. He was eventually given a route almost 100 miles away, in an unfamiliar area with no training or allowance to adjust, only to be suspended the following day (by one of the bullying managers he complained about) for not doing enough work. Brian was taken off suspension some weeks later only to be told by the Regional Manager that his 8 week ‘trial period’ ends on the 16th of October despite spending almost 5 of these weeks on suspension.
Brian has in the meantime been given very poor quality work, resulting in low productivity and no job satisfaction despite having an excellent record of over nine years service.
DHL have since dispensed with William’s employment by way of a ‘mutual’ agreement.
Esther (who is William’s daughter) is being left alone for the time being while the bullies attempt to continually target Brian.
John Ledbury UDW National Secretary commented:
“The hypocrisy of DHL management in Scotland is absolutely disgusting. Not only have they totally ignored their own Dignity at Work and anti Bullying policies but there has been a concerted effort to cover up and whitewash the appalling abuse, behaviour and ongoing victimisation that these workers have been subjected to. Not only has a young female employee in a predominantly male environment been screamed and sworn at, but she has been left in tears with the bullies still hanging over her, fearing for her job and received little support or advice from the HR business partner in Scotland, who is responsible for overseeing workers going through DHL’s dignity and grievance procedures. Brian continues to be targeted by local and regional managers and is earmarked for redundancy in October despite his excellent service and experience.
This is obviously how DHL managers in Scotland choose to deal with workers who dare to make legitimate complaint about wicked and vicious behaviour from people who are in positions of power and responsibility. The fact that DHL claim they are proud to be associated with anti-bullying campaigns whilst bullying and victimisation is clearly alive and well in Scotland makes the hypocrisy even worse. The national executive will now be writing as a matter of urgency, to the Managing Director Ken Mc Call and the HR Director to bring these cases to their attention.”
-ends-
Contact: John Ledbury -National Secretary 07976606910
If you are being bullied in your workplace or have witnessed/experienced similar abuse please contact us in confidence for advice and support.
UPDATE! 26/10/09
Brian has now been removed from DHL Kilmarnock also! The UDW accompanied our member Brian to an, ‘end of trial’ meeting last Friday (16th October) The meeting lasted roughly two minutes with the Regional Manager reading out in parrot fashion, a letter that stated Brian had been ‘unsuccessful’ in his so called trial period, after 9 years of unblemished service. After reading this letter out, the regional manager had the balls to ask if anyone wished to comment….as if there would have been any point. In the previous meeting the same manager smeared anyone challenging or disagreeing with him as being hostile and aggressive. On leaving the service centre we were flabbergasted to find that a cheap plastic banner had been erected at the top of the street inviting the public to come in and deliver parcels for cash!
This DHL advert was hung on the same morning as Brians redundancy meeting...Click to enlarge
John Ledbury National Secretary branded the entire procedure an utter disgrace and slated the feeble cover up in DHL Scotland.
“For management to sack an employee of of over 9 years in the disguise of redundancy, while his work and other work was still available is an act of sheer badness in retaliation for Brian standing up to the bullying cowards and their cohorts at DHL Kilmarnock. We hold the Regional Manager & the HR business partner for Scotland solely responsible for ignoring and condoning this vicious and cowardly behaviour in one of their very own service centres. Not only have DHL sacked the man, but they had the utter stupidity and nerve to advertise for driving staff as we left!" John confirmed that an appeal has been filed with DHL’s head office and the UDW remain resolute in our efforts to ensure proper justice for our member.
UPDATE! 08/12/09
In late November the UDW accompanied our member Brian to his appeal against redundancy from DHL Kilmarnock. The appeal was held at DHL in Bellshill Glasgow, and we received confirmation through the HR advisor that it was again not upheld. In short the meeting was a sham, and we were fully aware of the outcome within a few seconds on entering the meeting room. However these sham proceedings with this employer have to be followed. We will now write to the Managing Director to make him fully aware of exactly what has taken place throughout this shameful sequence of events. A claim will be filed with an Employment Tribunal shortly, where we will seek substantial compensation and re-engagement for our member. We will also request press attendance at this tribunal, and of course give you the full findings of the hearing through this website and a newsletter. We would like to thank those of you who have sent messages of support for Brian, and also those who have recently informed us of similar behaviour at your service centre.
Please keep a record of any incidents of bullying and abuse. Dates, times and who was involved. If possible use your mobile phone to record it and forward it to us. We will be pleased to present it to DHL’s senior management for their consideration and of course will post in on the website for our members (and the workplace bullies) to hear.
We look forward to updating you as and when we have more news. Read the full story here.
DHL KILMARNOCK BURGER VAN USE ONLY !
Many visitors to our website have enquired about the ‘Free power burger van use only!’ reference behind the Kilmarnock Bullyboy above. This was designed as a result of a burger van that was directly plugged into the Kilmarnock service centre over a long period of time, no doubt consuming substantial amounts of energy. Despite raising concerns and objections about this and the potty-mouthed owner who was gifted a job in the Kilmarnock service centre, management refused to remove the van for over a year, and kept the van within the depot at night to keep the refrigerator running, and when it finally failed as a business it was parked at the rear of the depot, up until last week, when they discovered one of our members taking pictures of it to send on to head office at Orbital park. We simply wish to ensure that DHL head office are aware of this van being on their property and that they are able to fully recoup the large energy costs they may have incurred.
 
Back door view of DHL Kilmarnock and The DHL Burger Van... Click images to enlarge
THINK YOU CAN REALLY TRUST YOUR WORK COLLEAGUES?
Having represented many workers in literally thousands of hearings, my advice is quite simple…… DON’T!
Your work colleagues are probably the most deceitful, malicious and cowardly people you are likely to ever come across. They are your best friends and closest confidants until something goes wrong, and when it does you will frequently find that they will give evidence against you, stop speaking to you and in many cases will encourage others to do the same. This is all too evident in many cases of bullying in the workplace.
I have rarely ever come across a case where a bullied worker was able to garnish a single supporting statement of the conduct and misery they have had to endure. On the contrary, many work colleagues instead choose to isolate and ignore you, sucking up to the bully instead, either for favour or fear.
If you find yourself the subject of serious allegations at work, just observe how many colleagues are indeed truly supportive of you. How many will speak to you in full view of the workplace bully? Ask yourself if you could truly rely on your work colleagues’ support in times of trouble?
Unfortunately we now live in a culture where putting the boot into a person when they’re down is considered acceptable and part of the course. A culture where gossiping, laughing and sneering at another person’s misfortune is little more than a real-time version of a soap opera being played out in front of everyone’s eyes. It puts a bit of excitement into the mundane affairs of the workplace.
I have personally witnessed people who have been very close friends for over 20 years giving statements against each other in attempt to inflict serious damage on each others employment, while the HR vultures circle around trying to make themselves look productive.
If you really want to keep yourself safe at work, I would personally advise the following:
1. Keep your personal views about work, religion, politics etc strictly to yourself.
2. Never ever take any work colleague into your confidence.
3. Keep a diary of any unprofessional conduct or malicious behaviour at work (names times dates etc)
4. Join a trade union- any union!
5. Avoid workplace politics at all costs.
6. Be friendly and polite with work colleagues but always keep them at arms length. Remember: workplace colleagues are people you didn’t choose to spend 8 hours a day with, but rather people you were contracted to spend 8 hours a day with.
7. Look around and ask yourself: how many of your work colleagues will truly support you when the going gets tough?
8. Keep your mouth closed and your eyes and ears open!
Following these simple rules will significantly reduce your chances of problems at work and most certainly will help protect your employment whenever trouble rears its ugly head.
Jim Mc Ewan –Senior Organiser
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