Bullying cases come to Flanders
Following a serious case of workplace bullying in a factory in Soignies in Wallonia, a similar case has emerged in Flanders. Last week, two employees of the Arcelor Mittal steelworks in Ghent were sacked after claims that they had harassed another employee working under them for more than a year.
The bullying ranged from ridicule and mockery to forcing the man to drop his trousers and draw on his private parts with a marking pen. "We absolutely cannot tolerate bullying," a spokesman for the company said.
Meanwhile in Ghent a widow has begun a judicial procedure after her husband was allegedly driven to suicide following a long campaign of bullying by two fellow employees of the city's cleansing department. Patrick Coppenolle left details of his suffering in a suicide note to his wife. She took the note to the Ghent prosecutor and began a case against five people, three of whom had charges dropped. The two other men in question are still in work. The city of Ghent said it had known nothing of the situation at the time and would now wait for a verdict from the courts before deciding on disciplinary measures.
Last week, two members of the federal parliament called for hearings on the issue of workplace bullying. "We want to evaluate and amend the anti- bullying law because evidently it's not working well enough, and the barriers for victims are too high," said Open- VLD member Gwendolyn Rutten, who was joined by party colleague Maggie De Block. Among other changes, they want to double the length of time after which prosecutions can no longer be brought, raising it to 10 years.
