Graham Martin

 

This year’s Annual Delegate Conference the Impact Award was presented by the TUC’s Deputy General Secretary, Paul Nowak, to Huw Meredith for his campaigning work on bullying and harassment. Meredith turned his own experience of bullying into something positive, working with his union to ensure other members didn’t go through the same thing he did.

Meredith said it was “a real honour” to receive the award, which recognises those who have made the biggest impact on member’s lives. It had been “a privilege to work alongside Victoria Jones and Rachel Harris from the FDA”, continued Meredith. 

With support from the FDA’s Equality Officer and Project Coordinator (Jones and Harris respectively) Meredith was instrumental in producing the FDA’s ‘Bullying in the workplace’ report, which highlighted the experience of members who have been subjected to bullying at work and offered a set of recommendations to empower workplace reps to lobby for change in with employers. 

“The response from members was fantastic, with hundreds responding to our survey and dozens joining online focus groups,” Meredith recalled. “I can’t say how much we appreciated the courage of everyone who participated – some speaking out for the first time, others going through the mill, and yet others bearing long-held scars. All too often, bullying goes hand in hand with discrimination or attack on identity, which is so undermining.”

For Meredith, there are two stand out issues it raised. The first is gaslighting – “subtle psychological pressure and microaggressions” – which he argues “needs to be taken seriously alongside the recognised view of bullying such as shouting and aggressive behaviour”. The second is that, for bullying to be addressed, “the employee usually has to take out a grievance”.