DRAFT CHARTER FOR THE LABOR-MANAGEMENT

 

COMMITTEE ON WORKPLACE BULLYING

 

Proposed by AFGE Local 12, February 2006

 

 

Introduction

 

The U.S. Department of Labor and AFGE Local 12 jointly establish this Committee to work together to examine and to understand workplace psychological abuse and bullying, and to develop effective means by which to address any such problems that might appear in the Washington, DC area.

 

This agreement to collaborate does not restrict or diminish the Department’s or the Union’s rights to carry out their responsibilities.

 

This Labor-Management Committee is established for one year.  Its term of service may be extended upon agreement of both parties.

 

Mission of the Committee

 

The mission of the Committee is to research, to analyze, and to make recommendations regarding workplace bullying.

 

Research

 

·        The Committee will collect and review literature on workplace bullying, psychological violence, abusive supervision, status-blind harassment, and intimidation.

·        The Committee will seek such literature from academics, professionals, business, labor, Federal agencies, and state and local entities, with particular attention to experts in industrial relations, management, psychology, and the health sciences.

·        The Committee will also collect and review such literature from government, business, labor, professional, and academic sources in the British Commonwealth countries and the European Union.

·        The Committee will prepare a bibliography of the literature it examines.

 

Analysis

 

·        The Committee will describe the impacts of such aggressive behavior on employees, employers, and their customers.

·        The Committee will use its research to develop a definition of psychologically abusive/bullying behavior in the workplace for use at the Department of Labor.

·        The Committee will gather and consider reports of surveys of employees at DOL, other agencies, and the private sector to describe the prevalence of such abusive behavior in general and at DOL.

·        The Committee will, within 6 months, develop a questionnaire to collect the views of DOL employees on this issue in a confidential manner, but which shall collect the gender of surveyed employees and their supervisors.  In addition, the questionnaire shall collect employees’ perspectives on abusive behavior towards their co-workers.

·        The Committee will, within 9 months, conduct a survey in the National Office using the questionnaire, and will report the results to the Secretary and to Local 12.

 

Recommendations

 

·        The Committee will draft a proposal for a Departmental policy and program to prohibit and to respond to status-blind harassment, psychological abuse, and bullying in the DOL workplace.

·        The Committee will prepare a report of its work, methods, findings, and recommendations, within 12 months.