NSGEU's Bully-Free Workplace Program helps thousands of workers in first year

NSGEU/NUPGE celebrates first anniversary of the popular and highly successful Bully-Free Workplace Program.

The NSGEU/NUPGE's current roster of Bully-Free Workplace facilitators (who are all members working in the public service) celebrate the program's first anniversary.

Halifax (12 Sept. 2011) - The Nova Scotia Government and General Employees Union (NSGEU/NUPGE) is celebrating the one-year anniversary of its popular and successful Bully-Free Workplace Program.

“We launched the program on September 8, 2010 and since have held 191 sessions with over 4,500 participants,” reports Joan Jessome, President of the NSGEU/NUPGE.

“The goal for us as a union, is to make workplaces better and healthier for our members and for workers in general.”

“We developed this program because we knew there was a need. What we are finding out is that this program is a game-changer. It is working.”

The union provides the programming free of cost to the employer. All that is required of employers is the commitment of employee time and a place for the sessions to be held.

Although priority is given to NSGEU/NUPGE employees, the union is committed to delivering the program to any employer who requests the program.

“We know that bullying costs employers and have been working with employers to offer the program at little or no cost,” says Jessome.

“Over this past year, we have worked with employers to bring this program to regional school boards, district health authorities, private industry, home care, and provincial government departments, just to name a few.”

The union has trained members as program facilitators to deliver two-hour awareness sessions and six-hour interactive workshops to interested employers (union or non-union) throughout the Maritimes.

The program has been recognized both nationally and internationally by the International Institute for Restorative Practices and the International Institute for Qualitative Methodology.

NUPGE

The National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE) is one of Canada's largest labour organizations with over 340,000 members. Our mission is to improve the lives of working families and to build a stronger Canada by ensuring our common wealth is used for the common good. NUPGE