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FIREFIGHTERS yesterday turned their metaphorical hoses on bosses for failing to take staff mental health issues seriously.
A motion from the FBU’s Durham branch noted that aggressive bosses were giving workers “warnings about their sickness records and disciplinary sanctions” rather than support.
It instructed the union executive to take immediate action and “create workplace best practice guidance on mental health.”
In a statement read out by a colleague, FBU women’s committee member Helen Tooley said staff who took time off due to mental illness were “looked on as weak and told to get on with it.
“Mental health should no longer be a taboo,” she said. “We need our employers to take it seriously.
“The service broke me recently, I’m fighting back now.”
Black, Asian and minority ethnic committee member Micky Nicholas advised delegates that mental health issues disproportionately affected workers from ethnic minorities.
