A special “hotline” set up for workers at Heathrow and Gatwick airports has revealed a “horrifying culture of bullying and abuse”.
According to the online news provider Ananova, the hotline, which ran for two weeks during July, received more than 150 calls from workers complaining about harassment. The union Amicus reportedly said that most of the callers were from ethnic minorities and that many concerned racist behaviour.
Ananova states that one woman said she was locked in a cold store for 15 minutes “to teach her a lesson” after she complained that a co-worker had touched her inappropriately, while another claimed to have been asked: “Don’t they teach you to read and write in the jungle?”
Gordon White, Amicus national officer, is quoted as saying: “Bullying is a disaster for morale, attendance and productivity. We are calling on employers to get their houses in order for the sake of their staff and businesses. We will be writing to employers and we expect them to work with the union to boot the bullies out of the airports.”
Report by Tim Gillett, News From Abroad Ltd
