We have evidence of bullying, says union

UNITE, which says it represents 2500 faith workers, will tell the Define Bullying event in St Augustine’s, Queen’s Gate, London, next Thursday, that it has received “about 50” emails and phone calls in the past two months. The contacts have come in the wake of the case of the Revd Mark Sharpe, an Anglican incumbent who said that he had been the victim of a four-year campaign of harassment (News, 18/25 December 2009). Rachel Maskell, national officer for the union’s not-for-profit sector, said: “We have had an upsurge of calls from clergy and from members of other denominations telling us about heart-rending stories of bullying and other forms of abuse, such as sexual harassment and intimidation.”

Strike on for next week in NCIs

PCS union members employed in the Church of England’s National Church Institutions (NCIs) have voted by 61 per cent in favour of a half-day strike next Friday afternoon (News, 26 February). Some of the union’s 118 members in the NCIs will picket Church House, Lambeth Palace, and other buildings. They are angry that there will be no annual increase in their pay. Those who voted for the strike receive between £17,000 and £40,000, “with the majority in the lower part of that configuration”, said Paul March, a union organiser.

St George’s Crypt ‘Best of Show’ in Design Week

ST GEORGE’S Crypt, Leeds, a Christian charity that supports hundreds of people in need in Leeds, has received awards at the 2010 Design Week awards at the Park Lane Hilton Hotel, London. It won the Best Annual Report for its ability to appeal to donors, and it won the Best of Show award for its “blend of great design and storytelling” in its exhibition of its work in the Design Week’s Hall of Fame.