Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
A DOWNER EDI employee who still works for the company yesterday told a coroner’s court that he, too, was bullied in the workplace.
Jason Gallagher was giving evidence at the inquiry into the death of Bathurst teenager Alec Meikle before deputy state coroner Paul MacMahon at the Glebe Coroner’s Court.
Mr Gallagher said when he started at EDI in 1994 he also suffered workplace harassment from his supervisor.
Mr Gallagher said that up until the time Alec left the company in 2008, he had never seen the company’s occupational health and workplace and anti-bullying policies.
Mr Gallagher told the inquest it took him a long time to summon the courage to speak up and even when he did a manager at the plant didn’t believe him.
He said the situation was so bad it nearly drove him off the edge.
“I didn’t know what to do,” he said.
He told the hearing his supervisor would yell and scream at him.
“He’d crack it ... go off. Throw nuts and bolts at me or kick empty paint tins at me, tell me my prep work wasn’t good enough.
“I felt useless.”
Mr Gallagher said the bullying started early on in his employment.
He said he documented everything that was happening and then approached the union for advice.
“They told me to write a letter about everything he was doing and present it to management. I gave a copy to the union, a copy to [the manager] and kept one for myself.”
Counsel assisting the coroner, Stephen Kelly, asked what the manager said when he received the letter.
“He said that can’t be true, a supervisor wouldn’t do that.”
Mr Gallagher said he was then moved away from the supervisor into the paint bay, where he remained for a number of years.
Mr Kelly asked him in his time of employment had he seen EDI’s policies and procedures on OHS and harassment in the workplace.
Mr Gallagher said he had seen none at all and he didn’t know they existed until after Alec’s death.
Commenting on the policies he has seen in the last three to four years, Mr Gallagher said the Bathurst plant was so far behind the other plants “it’s not funny”.
Mr Gallagher told the hearing that since Alec’s death he had heard about “what the boys did to him, how they treated him”.
Mr Kelly asked him if, as an employee still working with the company, he was concerned about giving evidence.
“Very much so, because of the boys’ club structure,” he said.
The hearing continues today.
RELATED NEWS