Connecticut's HB 5285 moves forward: why that's good for all of us.

HB 5285: AN ACT CONCERNING STATE EMPLOYEES AND VIOLENCE AND BULLYING IN THE WORKPLACE was voted out of the Labor Committee on the 9th and yesterday it was sent to Government Administration and Elections Committee.  It passed the Labor Committee on an unanimous vote.  That is a very positive sign. This a bill that mandates that the state receive information about complaints of workplace bullying and abusive conduct when it happens to state workers.

The Act defines workplace bullying as:  "Abusive conduct" means conduct or a single act of a state employee in the workplace that is performed with malice and is unrelated to the state's legitimate interest that a reasonable person would find hostile or offensive considering the severity, nature and frequency of the conduct or the severity and egregiousness of the single act. Abusive conduct includes, but is not limited to, (A) repeated infliction of verbal abuse such as the use of derogatory remarks, insults and epithets; (B) verbal or physical conduct that a reasonable person would find threatening, intimidating or humiliating; or (C) sabotaging or undermining a person's work performance; 

The Act therefore largely uses the language recommended by the Workplace Bullying Institute in the Healthy Workplace Bill. 

While many in the movement are eager for a Healthy Workplace Bill to pass, what Connecticut is proposing--to study the problem--is a first step in establishing what many of us know firsthand: that bullying is a rampant workplace problem. A WBI-Zogby Poll found that 37% of workers reported being bullied at work. Add to that the number of people who have been witnesses to bullying, for whom the work environment also becomes stressful, and about half of all workers are affected by the problem. 

People just want to do their jobs. I was reading a book Employment Law in a Nutshell, 3d (West Nutshell) (Paperback) by Robert N. Covington, Ch. 5, pp. 326 and 327. I was very surprised to come across a discussion of bullying, and even the question of what happens when an employee commits suicide over bullying. The subject came up in a discussion of stress, but in one case, Swiss Company, Inc. v. Dept. of Industry, Labor, and Human Relations, 72 Wisc. 2d 46, 240 N.W. 2d 128 (Wisc. 1976) there was recovery when a bullying supervisor berated and harshly criticized the claimant, who had been working long hours and was under a great deal of stress. People in the 1970s were fighting for things like comparable worth legislation, equal pay for equal work, and so to find this first raised in the 1970s shouldn't be so surprising. But in this employment compensation claim, we see the nascent beginnings of what is now a movement.

The movement is about fairness. Contrary to some claims by the Connecticut Business and Industry Association, the workplace bullying movement is not anti-business. We value our jobs or we would not be fighting so hard to make the workplaces where we work healthy ones. HB 5285 does not affect private business. It measures instances of abuse of state employees. This bill will ultimately help make our work places, private and public, safer, healthier and more productive just by recognizing the problem.

CCSU Professors Speak Out for Solidarity in Confronting State Budget Crisis

CCSUProfs4Progress

Statement on the Connecticut Budget Crisis, March 1, 2010

On February 22, 2010, CSU-AAUP President David Walsh sent a letter alerting CSU-AAUP union members of the gravity of the State of Connecticut’s budget deficit and the likelihood that some CSU departments, programs, and employees will be terminated with the next biennial budget.  According to President Walsh’s letter, Connecticut has already borrowed $1.2 billion to bridge its budget shortfall and estimates predict the deficit will grow another billion dollars by June 2010 and an additional three to four billion dollars during fiscal year 2011-2012. 

  

These budget deficits are not the fault of university employees, nor the fault of students.  Instead, they represent a failure of our nation’s economic and political system fed by an economy of low wages and high debt, foreign wars, a lack of stable, well-paid jobs, and long-term problems in the nation’s health care and retirement systems.   In this is moment of crisis, we cannot be bystanders as administrators and politicians undermine our university’s mission.   Higher education is essential to a vibrant economy and we must ensure that Connecticut residents have access to affordable, quality education.  The state’s economy will not be fixed by adding university employees to the ranks of the unemployed, but eroding our education system puts everyone’s future at risk.  

As faculty we have fought for shared governance, recognizing our unique insight into what it takes to create a quality education.  In keeping with this fundamental principle, we insist that:

• ·       There can be no cuts in education or student services. The excellence of our university must be maintained.
• ·       All university budgetary matters must be made transparent; faculty, staff, and students must participate in all decisions concerning cost saving measures. 
• ·       There can be no faculty or staff layoffs.  Administrators must not be given preferential treatment in terms of pay raises or retention bonuses.  The retention of our fine faculty and staff must be the first priority.
• ·       Affirmative action must be defended.  Reduced budgets cannot be used to undermine the creation of a diversity faculty, staff, and student body. 
• ·       The budget deficit must not be passed on to our students. We stand against increases in tuition and fees, and any measures that compromise the quality and affordability of our students’ education. 

We also recognize the power of democratically-organized unions to enact positive social change.  This will be accomplished through broad discussion and decision-making among the membership.  Even though budget cuts have already increased our workload, we must make room in our professional lives for union participation and we call on our union representatives to facilitate open discussion through regular and meaningful meetings in which members make decisions together.  Finally, we recognize the importance of standing in solidarity with CSU staff, students, and other unions, including, but not limited to those within the State Employees Bargaining Agent Coalition.  We call upon staff, students, and other unions to enter the discussion that we begin with his statement and make suggestions as to how best to meet this crisis.  Together, we can move beyond legislative politics and build a powerful movement, just as the faculty and students of the University of California have begun to do.  

Signed,

Briann Greenfield, Chair, CCSUProfs4Progress 

Steven Adair

Mike Alewitz

Sheri Fafunwa-Ndibe

Kathy Hermes

Jeffry McGowan

Serafín Méndez-Méndez

Rachael Siporin

Robert Wolff

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Note from CT Bullybusters: HB 5285 AN ACT CONCERNING STATE EMPLOYEES AND VIOLENCE AND BULLYING IN THE WORKPLACE:http://www.cga.ct.gov/asp/menu/CommDocTmyBillAllComm.asp?bill=HB-05285&doc_year=2010