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Kat Bristow
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11h • 13 tweets • 3 min read
As people have worked out, I no longer work for GenderGP. This is hard as they provide vital care, but their working conditions were a large part of why I spent most of last year in a nervous breakdown. So, I've decided the harm they've done to me shouldn't be excused. 1/13
First of all, GenderGP considers everyone who works for them as contractors. I was paid £9 a hour, with no holiday pay, no sick pay or any other benefits. I was told this what everyone willing agreed to keep costs low as possible, this is popular lie from management. 2/13
The catalyst for my nervous breakdown was a hit piece by the Daily Mail in February 2021 about being elected co-chair of Green Party women. I thought I would find support at GenderGP, but my political participation just became an greater issue for them as time went on. 3/13
I was made to feel bad anytime GenderGP was mentioned in a transphobic article about me, and made to feel like it was my fault that these things are being published. Around Feb 2021, I also started to need time off for my mental health, but couldn't as it would be unpaid. 4/13
From there, I started struggling to meet my contracted hours due to the nervous breakdown. I was pulled into some meetings for the first few months of this happening, including one where I was told maybe I shouldn't have a job right now, which caused more mental stress. 5/13
This goes on until September when the following linked tweet gets posted. The company reaction was to try to find who was the source for this. A few weeks went by and they seemed to pin it on someone who internally complained about working conditions. 6/13
A group of us inside the company decided to write to Helen. We asked for no action to be taken against the person they were pinning this on, a living wage, holiday pay, sick pay, a support group for trans colleagues and for a senior position to be created for a trans person. 7/13
Most of GenderGP's senior management are cis and are friends or family of one another. I felt troubled for a long time about the nepotism that I felt was happening.
The letter was not well received by management, but no further action was taken against our colleague at least 8/13
Management then started what I felt was a very hostile round of questions to each of us separately, when we asked for a group meeting in the letter. I felt like a lot of these questions missed the point of the concerns that we raised and were there to intimate me. 9/13
One of the questions, which I'll quote in full was "Some of the requests in the letter appear to be asking for different terms and conditions for our trans team members. How does that sit, from your perspective, with the notion of equality with your cisgender colleagues?" 10/13
About a week after this, I was pulled into another meeting about my hours and a performance improvement plan was put in place for the first time. Two weeks later I was pulled into a final meeting after still not being able to do enough hours and was essentially terminated. 11/13
I'm under no illusion why my hours suddenly became a bigger issue for them than before, but I had to speak up for what I thought was right, even if it led to me being unemployed, which it seems like it did. I guess I'm still trying to do what is right. 12/13
I know I'm likely to lose some friends, and not everyone will agree with me posting this. In short, I feel like because I wanted to help people, which GenderGP definitely does for its patients, I was taken advantage of for my labour at the expense of my own mental health. 13/13