January 30, 2008

News from Kingston University, UK

1. During the past 10 years how many formal grievances have been raised by employees? How many employees have raised such grievances?

Answer: 36 grievances have been raised by 28 people.

2. Of those grievances appealed to the level of Vice Chancellor, how many appeals were successful?

Answer: None (although one was partially upheld).

3. Of those grievances appealed to the level of Board of Governors, how many appeals were successful?

Answer: None.

4. Of those grievances appealed (i.e. beyond the level of Personnel to the Vice Chancellor and/or Board of Governors), how many employees launching such appeals are still employed by the University?

Answer: Two.

5. Of those employees dismissed on any grounds, please provide the percentage of these employees who were members of ethnic and/or religious minorities.

Answer: The University does not record employees religion. The percentage of employees who were members of ethinc minorities was 57% (4 out of 7).

6. Of all employees dismissed on any grounds, please provide the percentage of these who were non-British born.

Answer: 28% (2 out of 7).

7. Of all employees hired since 1998, what is the average length in years/months of employment of such employees?

Answer: From the data the University has recorded from 1998 the overall average length of employment in years/months is 3 years 1 month.

8. Of the above average length of employment, what is the figure for employees who are members of ethnic/religious minorities?

Answer: The University does not record employees religion. The average length of employment for employees who are members of ethnic minorities is 2 years and 10 months.

9. Of the above average length of employment, what is the figure for employees who are non-British?

Answer: The average length of employment for employees who are non-British is 2 years and 8 months.

January 24, 2008

Thirty academic mobbing cases since 2005

Below, in alphabetical order, are 30 academics whose troubles, as reported in the press or on the web, appear to fit the definition of workplace mobbing. Reviewing these cases is useful for understanding the variety of origins of the phenomenon and the different ways cases play out.
  1. Jury refuses to convict Sami Al-Arian (University of South Florida); he is eliminated anyway
  2. Jonathan Bean on guard, surviving at Southern Illinois (Carbondale)
  3. Jerry Becker and Elisabeth Reichert in board presentation at SIUC
  4. Stephen Berman is ousted from University of Saskatchewan
  5. At Sheffield, Aubrey Blumsohn is forced out, starts blog
  6. Student Seung-Hui Cho goes postal at Virginia Tech, 33 dead
  7. Firestorm over Ward Churchil at University of Colorado
  8. Suicide of David Clarke at Southern Illinois (Carbondale)
  9. At last, Jean Cobbs vindicated at Virginia State
  10. Dramatist George Cron is ousted from Missouri State
  11. Shiraz Dossa goes to conference, is mobbed, keeps job (St. Francis Xavier University)
  12. Christopher Dussold's resistance at Southern Illinois (Edwardsville)
  13. Mohammed Elmasry retires at Waterloo — mobbing aborted
  14. Jews mob a Jew: Norman Finkelstein gone from DePaul
  15. Redress for Joan Friedenberg at Southern Illinois (Carbondale)
  16. Ouster of Frank Glamser and Gary Stringer at Southern Mississippi
  17. Biswanath Halder cybermobbed at Case Western Reserve, goes postal
  18. Hector Hammerly (Simon Fraser University) is dead
  19. Filmmakers John Hookham and Gary MacLennan suspended from QUT for newspaper article
  20. Harassment of Gabrielle Horne continues at Dalhousie
  21. K C Johnson alive and kicking at Brooklyn College
  22. Biology professor Robert J. Klebe files suit (UTHSC San Antonio)
  23. David Mullen suspended for words at Cape Breton University
  24. Physician Nancy Olivieri still battling in court (University of Toronto)
  25. Lethbridge administrators attack Tom Robinson for his website
  26. John Soloski fighting back at University of Georgia
  27. Successful mobbing of Harvard President Lawrence Summers
  28. Medaille College settles with Therese Warden & Uhuru Watson
  29. James D. Watson broken for breaking a taboo (Cold Spring Harbor Lab)
  30. Supreme Court victory for Wanda Young (Memorial of Newfoundland)
More details and info from: http://arts.uwaterloo.ca/~kwesthue/mobnews06.htm

Once a bully always a bully? Dealing with the perpetrators

There's no shortage of statistics to paint what is a rather bleak picture of bullying in the UK. According to the Andrea Adams Trust, a global workplace bullying charity, as many as 18.9 million working days are lost to bullying every year and up to a half of all stress-related illnesses are a direct result of bullying.

Even more worrying is that, despite legislation designed to stamp out the problems, the trend appears to be on the up.

When the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) last tested the waters in 2006, they found as many as 20 per cent of respondents had experienced some kind of harassment or bullying over a two-year period. This is an increase of 7 per cent since the 2004 survey.

The Association for Coaching (AC), a not-for-profit organisation that carried out a joint survey with the Trades Union Congress and CBI, also found that just under half of employees have witnessed workplace bullying, indicating that the incidences of bullying might actually be higher then the 'reported' figures represent.

Marie Strebler, a senior research fellow from The Institute for Employment Studies, says the issue is made even more confusing given that bullying doesn't lend itself to a legal definition but the statistics indicate loud and clearly that the problem is rife, alive and well in organisations across the UK today...

Read the rest at: http://www.hrzone.co.uk

January 23, 2008

Speak out on bullying

9 November 2007

I have been a target of workplace bullying in the university where I work. I have been so ill with stress that I have taken time off work. When I returned I was ignored by colleagues, my grievance unresolved. The union rep who was supposed to be supporting me blamed me for the lack of progress in my case.

If you know someone being bullied, then speak out. It's not a spectator sport.

From: Times Higher Education