30 September 2004

Surveys of banks reveal workplace bullying

Union surveys of two major banks have revealed significant levels of workplace bullying.

"In recent surveys of Westpac and the National Bank we have found that workers at all levels, including managers and team leaders, are at risk of being bullied," said Matthew Fitzsimons of Finsec, the union for bank workers.

"The culprit is the management system, which imposes low staffing levels, then puts extreme pressure on staff to perform.

"These two problems, low staffing and pressure to perform, were the main stressors named by our members who participated in an earlier work life balance survey.

"As a result of high levels of workplace bullying Finsec will run membership courses that will tackle the underlying causes of aggression and bullying in the workplace," he said.

Finsec has sent invitations to the Banking and Insurance industry representatives to attend a seminar 2 November on work life balance which will include a session on workplace bullying.

"Bullying is bad for finance workers and bad for business. However, trying to cure it by focusing only on the individual bully is a bit like trying to prevent accidents by wearing a seat belt," Mr Fitzsimons concluded.

ENDS

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Gordon Campbell: On the Sony cyber attack

Given the layers of meta-irony involved, the saga of the Sony cyber attack seemed at the outset more like a snarky European art film than a popcorn entry at the multiplex.

Yet now with (a) President Barack Obama weighing in on the side of artistic freedom and calling for the US to make a ‘proportionate response’quickly followed by (b) North Korea’s entire Internet service going down, and with both these events being followed by (c) Sony deciding to backtrack and release The Interview film that had made it a target for the dastardly North Koreans in the first place, then ay caramba…the whole world will now be watching how this affair pans out. More>>