Allegations of a manager swinging an axe while saying, SA国际影视传媒淚 am a crazy Indian,SA国际影视传媒 of threatening to write up an employee for smiling, and for telling staff they could all be replaced and SA国际影视传媒渋t will be worse than residential school,SA国际影视传媒 are but a few of the accusations of workplace bullying that have recently come across the desk of Jason Rochon.
Other allegations include a young Inuk woman being told to repeat, SA国际影视传媒淚SA国际影视传媒檓 just a janitorSA国际影视传媒 to her manager and then being told to go clean the managerSA国际影视传媒檚 car, and threats to an employee from a manager that if they do not do as instructed, the manager will call the on them.
Rochon, the president of the Nunavut Employees Union, said bullying and intimidation in Nunavut workplaces continues to thrive because those who could help resolve and prevent such issues are SA国际影视传媒減assing the buckSA国际影视传媒 and failing to act on such incidents.
SA国际影视传媒淵ou know, we can easily work together to stop this kind of behaviour, and we have to. We owe it to people. Everyone deserves safe workplaces in Nunavut. Nobody should be bullied,SA国际影视传媒 Rochon said.
SA国际影视传媒淣o workers should be at the point where it's so toxic they do self-harm. They [the GN] talk about retention and recruitment, and then they act like that. That shows me they don't really truly care about retention and recruitment,SA国际影视传媒 he said.
The most recent accusations of a toxic workplace stemmed from a Facebook post, since deleted, made by an employee of the Pangnirtung Housing Association, who, out of apparent exasperation or desperation to be heard, wrote of the alleged toxic workplace and the intimidation he said he experienced under a manager.
SA国际影视传媒淚 brought this up and how he is culturally insensitive to everyone here in Pang during a video conference with four people from NHC (Nunavut Housing Corporation). The fact that he has denied saying all these things is why I am posting here now. NHC believes him. They say I am a liar,SA国际影视传媒 David Kilabuk wrote in his lengthy, detailed message.
In a tremendous show of support for Kilabuk, replies from friends and family were posted and acknowledging the problem of bullying in the workplace and the need for change.
Ongoing human resources matter
In a subsequent joint statement, the Nunavut Housing Corporation (NHC) and the Pangnirtung Housing Association (PHA), indicated that their respective boards of directors are SA国际影视传媒渨orking together to achieve the timely and appropriate resolution of this matter.SA国际影视传媒
The NHC offered no further comment.
Rochon said such a statement is SA国际影视传媒渂rushing offSA国际影视传媒 the matter as being an SA国际影视传媒淗R issue.SA国际影视传媒
SA国际影视传媒淪ystemic racism is not an HR issue. Systemic racism is something that they have the power and ability to make change and lift workers up, treat workers in the in the workplaces with respect," he said. SA国际影视传媒淚nuit are tired of being bullied and harassed."
SA国际影视传媒淲e can't have managers in our territory saying things like, SA国际影视传媒業f you think reconciliation was bad, wait till I'm done with you,SA国际影视传媒 to a group of Inuit. We can't have that.
SA国际影视传媒淎nd we're hearing things at the (bargaining) table like, SA国际影视传媒楲et's not discuss wage increases because Inuit don't know how to save money anyways.SA国际影视传媒
SA国际影视传媒淪o then when I hear that, and of course I say something, and I address that toxic behaviour right away, I make sure that NHC is aware of it. And what do they do? They bring in that same person and put them in a different community,SA国际影视传媒 Rochon said.
SA国际影视传媒淚t needs to stop. We need to help people. There should be nothing wrong, and employers should not be afraid to have a happy workplace, a safe workplace and a healthy workplace," he added. "There's a lot of people that need to answer for the conduct that's going on right now, and so I did have a couple of high-level meetings just very recently, and there's going to be some follow up meetings on Friday (Feb. 7), and we're going to be getting some results, and we're going to be getting some feedback on how those meetings went.
SA国际影视传媒淏ut I hope that I'm not going to be hearing excuses for racism. I hope I'm not going to be hearing excuses for jokes about residential school. I hope I'm not going to be hearing excuses about a manager having an axe in the workplace,SA国际影视传媒 Rochon said.
SA国际影视传媒淭heir hiring policy, clearly, is failing the retention and recruitment that they're continuing to struggle with.
SA国际影视传媒淚f people are going to be bullied and harassed and picked on every time they walk into work, and then when they use their voice, they're going to be called liars, they're going to have a retention or recruitment problem.SA国际影视传媒