Hi everyone
Should St Mungo’s have an effective grievance procedure or not?
As with questions about the health of St Mungo’s finances, the Leadership Team’s position varies considerably depending on who they’re talking to.
Back in December, a manager who is a Unite member wrote to Emma Haddad asking for her help in making progress on a collective grievance which had been waiting since March for a decision. Miss Haddad replied:
“I’m sorry to hear that it has taken such a long time to deal with the grievance that you and other colleagues raised. I think this is probably due to a) people being asked to lead on these on top of busy day jobs and b) delays in gathering the information needed from a wide range of teams and colleagues…In my view we are more likely to pull together and make things happen if we approach them in a constructive way, and grievances are not conducive to that.”
Unsurprisingly, workers at the project were upset by this response, which appeared to suggest that staff ought not to bring grievances and that responding to them was not part of a manager’s “day job.” As Unite Convenor, I wrote to Emma raising these concerns, but she did not reply.
At the JNC on 24 January we encountered a different approach, as senior managers affirmed that they understood the vital importance of the right to bring grievances, “and Emma gets it too.” A joint statement was agreed as follows:
“All parties are fully supportive of having an effective grievance process, and recognise the right of colleagues to raise formal grievances and the importance of a timely and thorough investigation and response. It was agreed that we should also be focusing initially on local and informal resolution which is often quicker and deals with matters early on, where this is possible, without the need for escalation. The JNC will continue to monitor the time to resolve cases with a joint aim that times reduce.”
We, at least, meant it.
Subsequently, we discovered that managers of West London projects attended a meeting at TMS at which they were instructed not to raise grievances concerning failures of central services.
Workers at St Mungo’s know that the grievance process is far from perfect. Decisions often take an unacceptably long time and are not always impartial. For the most part, workers bring grievances not because it’s the best option, but because it’s the only option left. When everything else has been tried and you are still being bullied, discriminated against or working in an unsafe environment, what else can you do?
We too would like to see staff bring fewer grievances. But we believe that the way to achieve this is not to let staff down in the first place. Where mistakes are made, it is very often possible for those in authority to remedy them without the need for a grievance. But the right to bring a grievance is essential. No-one should have to wait nearly a year for a grievance outcome, and then face the insult of being told that handling grievances is not part of a manager’s “day job.” No-one should ever be pressured not to bring a grievance.
If our Leadership Team want to reduce the number of grievances, there are some very good ways to achieve that. Interfering with workers’ right to bring grievances and to have them dealt with promptly and fairly is wrong and will never be accepted by Unite.
If you are a Unite member and you would like to discuss your experience of the grievance process or request representation, please get in touch.
If you’re not yet a member: don’t wait til you need us as it may be too late. Join now https://join.unitetheunion.org/
Best wishes
Jacob
Jacob Sanders
Unite Convenor, St Mungo’s
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