Union used weapons and violence to bully bin depot bosses

GMB union reps made threats and used violence at the Brighton and Hove City Council bin depot in Hollingdean, according to a senior barrister.

Her report on the Cityclean depot said that GMB reps threatened to stab people and brought weapons into the depot and showed them to staff.

The barrister, Aileen McColgan, said: “Aggression has become culturally engrained.”

The latest revelations emerged days after Cityclean boss Rachel Chasseaud wrote to staff about the weapons found during a search of the depot by an independent security firm.

The search was carried out after staff spoke out, with the haul including knives, hammers and metal bars. Some staff claimed these were tools required for their work.

Miss McColgan’s report said that complaints by staff “contained multiple allegations of sexual harassment, race discrimination, discrimination based on disability, bullying and intimidation”.

Her report alleged that GMB reps shouted in managers’ faces and “made implicit and explicit threats to use physical violence and in fact (used) such violence”.

It contains claims about the suicide of a vulnerable member of staff, saying: “I heard a very disturbing account of pressure said to have been imposed by a GMB rep on a vulnerable member of staff to withdraw a complaint about bullying by two staff members who were described to me as being ‘very close to the GMB’.

“The vulnerable individual, who later committed suicide, proceeded with the complaint.

“When they later expressed a wish to return to Cityclean after a period of sickness leave and a temporary secondment, I was informed that another GMB rep made it clear that such return would not be tolerated.

“I heard from a number of people about the death of a driver who tragically suffered a heart attack after returning home from a disciplinary meeting.

“I am satisfied that the approach taken by the council to the driver had been fair and reasonable and that those in attendance at the meeting after which he died had, with the exception of the GMB rep, been calm.

“I heard from a number of witnesses who nevertheless attributed this unfortunate death to the driver’s having been hounded by managers.

“I am satisfied that this impression was created by some of the GMB reps, one of whom called a senior manager at 7am the day after the death to accuse the manager of killing the driver.

“Despite this allegation having, I understand, been withdrawn, I heard evidence of subsequent such allegations against managers, including from another GMB rep.

“The evidence suggests that one GMB rep, in particular, sought to weaponise the driver’s death against Cityclean management.

“Some GMB reps and individuals described to me as particularly protected by them have routinely demonstrated behaviour which has no proper place in a working environment. This behaviour has included

• Shouting, screaming and swearing at managers
• Issuing threats
• Sexual harassment of women workers
• Use of racist language
• Undermining training including by informing staff that they did not have to attend it

“Some GMB reps within the council operate to protect some GMB members at Cityclean (drivers, the majority of them white men, and operatives on refuse and recycling) while displaying significantly less interest in other members

“I have been provided with credible evidence that the nature of that protection appears to extend well beyond the normal stuff of trade unions to include

• Providing effective immunity from sanction for individuals protected by GMB reps within the council.
• Routine sabotage of investigatory and disciplinary processes by some GMB reps by delaying tactics, use of strategic counter-allegations and unacceptable behaviour by reps in correspondence and interviews.
• Retaliatory action against managers who are involved in disciplinary action against individuals protected by GMB reps within the council.
• The use of intimidation to encourage GMB membership and participation in GMB industrial action.

“I am satisfied that some GMB reps have encouraged staff to regard entirely reasonable management orders as tantamount to harassment or bullying and / or as breaching agreements which do not exist.

“This has had the effect of making Cityclean exceptionally difficult to manage and of encouraging staff to regard even the most benign managers as the enemy.

“The tendency to characterise as bullying or harassment entirely reasonable attempts to engage in performance management or even to make entirely reasonable requests of staff has resulted in a situation in which members of staff are unable or unwilling to distinguish between management and abuse.”

Miss McColgan also said: “I spoke to over 70 witnesses who came forward in response to the council’s invitation to approach me directly.

“Face-to-face interviews were conducted under conditions of secrecy because of the level of fear expressed by some potential witnesses about potential retaliation … I regarded that fear as well founded.

“I heard numerous accounts of appalling behaviour faced by staff and managers at Cityclean including accounts of individuals

• shouting and/or swearing at and/or threatening staff
• acting in a physically aggressive way, making implicit and explicit threats to use physical violence and in fact using such violence
• referring to managers as ‘cunts’, ‘wankers’, ‘a fucking bitch pulling the strings’
• racially harassing members of staff including by racist name calling and graffiti
• sexually harassing women staff and managers
• harassing gay staff including by ‘catfishing’ them

“Many of the individuals accused of these and other inappropriate behaviours are either GMB reps within the council or are among a group of around 10 white men who were described to me by witnesses as having been particularly protected by the GMB reps within the council.

“It is important to stress that those individuals, most of whom did not come forward to speak to me, have not yet been given the opportunity to answer any of these allegations.

“This being the case, I have made every effort to avoid the identification in this report of individuals accused of wrongdoing.

“I am satisfied that managers at Cityclean and elsewhere in the council have, until recently, been unable to respond appropriately to the behaviour discussed in my report by reason of the threat of industrial action and a (reasonably) anticipated absence of political support.

“I found no evidence that any of the managers I spoke to were hostile to trade unions. Many, perhaps a majority, identified themselves to me as trade union members.”

Miss McColgan praised managers, saying: “I been very impressed by the commitment of managers to whom I have spoken to at Cityclean, to the public it serves and, especially, to its staff.

“I make no finding that the many difficulties currently experienced at Cityclean or, in particular, the failures over time to enforce appropriate standards of behaviour or to require staff to comply with their contractual obligations, can fairly be attributed to Cityclean managers.

“One manager told me that, in many ways, Cityclean was similar to many other waste and refuse and recycling services in that there was a typical predominantly male manual work force in which issues such as sexism, homophobia and racism were prevalent.

“The real differences in Brighton and Hove were what happened when management tried to deal with those problems. I have found no reason to disagree with this analysis.”

To read the full report, click here.

To read about the deal that prevented a bin strike during Pride, click here.