Nova Scotia union launches workplace violence initiative

Canadian Health & Safety News, September 2010

Nova Scotia’s largest union recently launched an interactive program that seeks to stamp out workplace
bullying and the negative consequences that go along with it.

“The only way to address it is to identify it, call it what it is [and] educate people on what they can do,”
says Joan Jessome, president of the Nova Scotia Government & General Employees Union (NSGEU),
which officially unveiled its Bully-Free Workplace Program on September 8. “We deal with people every
single day” who have been bullied, or psychologically harassed, by co-workers, management and the general public, Jessome points out. “[Bullying] doesn’t discriminate. It crosses all lines.”

Employee absenteeism, increased stress and reduced productivity are all linked to the detrimental
behaviour, the union notes. At its worst, bullying can lead to suicide or retaliatory violence, Jessome says.

Witnessing bullying’s effects spurred initiative

The fact that the union regularly sees the outcomes of bullying, she says, was the biggest motivator in creating the initiative, which is a “peer-to-peer facilitation program” that has been developed and tested over the last year in various Nova Scotia workplaces.

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For his part, French predicts that provinces without harassment provisions will likely include them in future regulation updates. “It’s a matter of time,” he says.“There is a legislative shift towards including psychological harm, or bullying, in definitions of workplace violence.”

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The union has trained 11 front-line members as program facilitators, who deliver two-hour awareness sessions and six-hour interactive workshops to interested employers where NSGEU members work. The union provides the programming, and all that is required of employers is the commitment of employee time and a place for the sessions to be held.

Some topics covered include: employee and management strategies to reduce bullying; differentiating between normal managerial activities and bullying; observing staff for signs of bullying; and, useful skills for changing the dynamics of an unhealthy relationship at work.

The shorter session is as an introduction to the subject that, it is hoped, will encourage staff and employers to take part in the interactive workshop, Jessome notes.

The Annapolis Valley Regional School Board, headquartered in Berwick, Nova Scotia, is one employer that has already taken advantage of the programming.

The introductory session provides “an atmosphere that allows employees to share their concerns without feeling that there are going to be repercussions,” says Lesley MacDonald, the board’s coordinator of employee and labour relations for operational/ instructional support staff.

MacDonald says the board held two-hour sessions on September 7 and 8, and has arranged for more on October 22. All NSGEU members at the board — educational assistants, library staff and student support workers — are taking the short session, and those wanting to participate in the workshop will likely be able to do so in October of 2011, she reports.

Feedback has been very positive, board says Employee feedback on the programming has been “very positive,” says MacDonald, who sat in on a session. Though the board has paid considerable attention to bullying among students, until now it has not touched upon the subject in a workplace context,
she adds. “It can happen in the workplace. It can have very serious ramifications.”

Glenn French, president and CEO of the Canadian Initiative on Workplace Violence in Toronto, applauds the NSGEU’s work, calling it “very progressive.” It is the first Canadian example he has seen where a union offers up anti-bullying programming and facilitators to employers.

“The biggest advantage with something like this is it raises awareness about conduct,” French says, adding that it is then incumbent upon employers to formulate comprehensive workplace violence policies that encompass bullying.

Psychological harassment is not prohibited explicitly under Nova Scotia’s workplace violence regulations, which came into full-force in April of 2008. Nonetheless, some companies have taken it upon themselves to include harassment in their anti-violence strategies, Jessome says.

“We look at the physical violence and the bullying and harassment on a continuum. We certainly see them as related,” says George Thomson, the school board’s occupational health and safety officer. Taking the NSGEU up on its offer is one way for the board to expand its existing violence training, he adds.

For his part, French predicts that provinces without harassment provisions will likely include them in future regulation updates. “It’s a matter of time,” he says.“There is a legislative shift towards including psychological harm, or bullying, in definitions of workplace violence.”