The Vice-President of the union ‘Movement of United Professionals’ (MoveUP), which works with ICBC driver examiners, says it’s heard stories of employees being verbally abused on the job.
Annette Toth said the union issued a survey after hearing similar stories involving examiners across the province.
It showed that out of 260 respondents, 72 per cent said that they had been either sworn at, yelled at, had objects thrown at them, or had been threatened while working.
“We knew it was bad, we didn’t know it was that bad.”
Toth said the union wants ICBC to put up signs that employees will not tolerate any sort of abuse.
Toth added she’s seen that kind of action prevent abuse in the workplace before.
“I don’t think it’s actually exclusive to ICBC I think that… we see this in other work sites, and other work places as well.”
In a statement, ICBC spokesperson Lindsay Olsen said the corporation will be work with the union to address the concerns highlighted in the survey it just received.
The statement went on to say that the safety, wellness and security of its employees is paramount.
She added acts of violence or any other type of abuse against employees is absolutely unacceptable and will not be tolerated.
Olsen said there are a number of policies and procedures in place to address that sort of behaviour from customers, and that ICBC employees are given training to deal with difficult people.
Olsen said its standards are posted for customers to see by digital signage in driver licensing offices, and that ICBC is committed to a respectful workplace.
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