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'Bullying' culture at regional assembly under fire
Simon McGee Political Editor COMPLAINTS of bullying and demoralising rules have been revealed at Yorkshire's unelected regional assembly in a highly critical report by the public sector union Unison.
Workers at the controversial Yorkshire and Humber Assembly, based in Wakefield, are said to be"highly stressed" by a raft of internal deficiencies in areas ranging from management style and culture to organisation and manpower.
Petty policies on paperclips – "staff are not allowed to use them" – and biscuits – "soggy ones must be disposed of" – were highlighted as examples of oppressive working conditions.
The Yorkshire Post has learned that many of the problems are long-running and the failure to address them contributed to the resignation last year of a director from the assembly.
The fears of current and former Unison members, compiled by regional union officers last month, were drawn together and fed into the wide-ranging review into the assembly's work and cost-effectiveness, chaired by Paul Sheehan, chief executive of Calderdale Council, which reported back last month.
It is just the latest in a long line of blows to the organisation, which has spent a miserable six months defending itself against accusations that it is a "money-wasting talking shop".
The review was prompted by revelations in the Yorkshire Post of growing discontent towards the assembly's rising subscription rates and the decision by two major local authorities, East Riding and North-East Lincolnshire, to pull out. Two more were also teetering on the verge of withdrawal.
The assembly, created in 2001, has 39 officers in Wakefield and Brussels and currently collects 1.5m in subscriptions from the region's 22 local authorities.
Its membership include
representatives from councils, as well as business, education, and health, and community and religious organisations.
The staff of over 40 include senior management to junior administrative workers.
It is voluntary and nothing like Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott's proposed elected regional assembly, although it was widely seen as a bureaucracy-in-waiting should the elected body ever take form.
The organisation undertakes studies on region-wide issues and has statutory powers in two specific areas – regional planning and scrutinising the work of the regional development agency.
Last month's review concluded its budget was bloated and ordered subscription demands be slashed in half to 750,000.
Unison's memo praises much of what the staff achieve, in areas like its scrutiny of the regional development agency Yorkshire Forward and development of regional strategies.
"Our members believe that the quality of staff at the Assembly is high and that the (Assembly] produces a lot of good work in a wide range of areas," it says.
But it is uncompromising
in the picture it paints
of a dysfunctional organisation.
Some issues it raises
are to do with the complicated structure of the body, as it has the additional function of being the Yorkshire and Humber Association of Local Authorities, the body representing the region's 22 councils.
But it focuses on theproblems faces by many members of staff .
Under a paragraph on "management style and culture" it makes allegations of bullying, and also makes reference to what it calls "perverse" examples of decision-making, where expert legal advice has been sought on issues and then ignored.
It says the bullying is the fault of more than one person and that it has left "some members of staff feeling very upset and contributing to a high level of stress among staff".
Heavy workloads "are contributing to stress and low morale" and many feel undervalued, it adds.
Management is criticised for not taking responsibility for the welfare of their staff on the issue of workload.
The report concludes
that the assembly has to be more transparent in its
structures and work, more focused, and needs to
improve its management structure.
Unison's Wakefield chairman Terry Ratcliffe, who signed off the report, last night refused to expand on the issues he had raised.
"We're dealing with the issue through a consultative process," he said. "We don't want this in the public eye. I don't want to make it worse than it already is."
A Yorkshire and Humber Assembly spokesman pointed out that all staff, as well as unions, had been encouraged to contribute to the review, but turned down the opportunity to comment on the precise issues raised by the report.
The spokesman said: "As stated in their letter, the
Unison submission contains a selection of views from
its members working
at the assembly, rather
than one single response,
and that not all members would agree on every point raised
"In an organisation of more than 40 people it is inevitable that there are individual and different opinions on how it operates.
"All of those are important to us."
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Saturday 11 February 2012
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