The issue started several months ago, but I have been harassed (on and off the clock) by my department back-up. In my opinion his most inappropriate remarks were made after a loved one of mine was murdered and I took a two days off of work because it affected me and my family. During my second call-off he called me up from work to yell and argue (my wife could hear him on the phone from the other side of the room) about how I 'had no reason to call off', I 'should just forget about it since there's nothing I can do and I needed to get myself back into work that night', I did not and continued to spend time with my family who were still grieving with me. And then again two days later on a night I wasn't even scheduled to be in, he called me up again with the same basic argument about having no reason to be off and I needed to come in to make up for hours I had missed last week from the two call-offs. I am a part time employee and I wasn't trying to get any grievance pay or special time off, I knew the call-offs would count against me but I was in good standing with the company at that point, counting those 2 call-offs would total 3 call-offs I had ever had with the company.
It has even got to the point where my dept. back-up told me I'd get fired if I kept complaining about his actions/language/behavior. I tried to call my union rep on multiple occasions, leaving voice mails and detailed contact information so I could be reached at home or at work (including times I can best be reached at both). After weeks of multiple attempts at contacting my rep with no response, I was told by co-workers that my back-up had been complaining to them that I had called the union on him, even though I never had direct contact with my union as my rep never returned my calls or contacted to me in any capacity. Seeing as my back-up eased up from his derogatory comments and behavior, I had assumed something was done (my mistake). After a few weeks his remarks/behavior started again, which ranged from: threatening to cut my hours, to outright saying that I'm dumb and trying to belittle me in front of other employees or threatening I would lose my job because I was trying to follow company policies that often get ignored for the sake of getting the job done faster albeit less safe.
After a certain point I directly went into my union's office and directly addressed the issue with the "rep of the day"(union rep on hand for emergency issues) and was told that because my dept. back-up was the issue of concern, nothing could be done because he is also covered by the union at his level and that my rep had more people than any other rep in the union (like that is supposed to excuse him not responding to my many calls and complaints). Trying to swallow my pride and keep my job, I continued to go to work and little by little I started having anxiety attacks which has lead me to be unable to even go to work. At this point I understand that I'm not in good standing anymore as I am having to wait for a psychiatric evaluation to justify to the company why I'm unable to attend work. A few days ago I received a letter from the company explaining I had 72 hours to return to work or I would be fired. After calling my union about this issue I was told by my rep (finally) that he would assist me in this and try and allow me to transfer to a closer location (I moved in the middle of this situation), because he says that I am in the right to complain and file a grievance against management (who was first informed by me about the issue(s) immediately after they occurred), but his help is limited because he's only finding out about the issue after the fact and if any other issue comes up I'm expected to continue trying to get a hold of him even if it means calling him over and over again until I get a hold of him. This, among everything else, has exacerbated my condition because it shouldn't be after the fact and I don't know how many times am I supposed to call and address issues before I should expect a response (I thought letting him know once about an issue was enough). All of the issues had been reported, several times, since shortly after I was told by management that it was inappropriate of me to be complaining in such a way about my back-ups behavior and that it was expected of him to try and get as much work out of his subordinates as possible.
Is there any action I should take regarding my reps lack of response until my job was on the line or am I in a position that would best be resolved by me quiting and trying to find new employment? Please cite answers if appropriate.|||You need to get a grip on reality. A union rep is a person who is elected by the majority of a work force to represent them with management.
He has no special powers and no the boss does not run upon him walking in the door. I find it amusing that your boss is the one causing you grief yet you want to take legal action against the union rep. The union rep does not run the business. All he can do is listen to your problem and then work as a go between for you and management.
In the example you speak about, the bullying from your manager. You need to gather evidence.
But even then, while its cold and uncaring of someone to speak to someone as he spoke to you, its not illegal. Yet lets say you had a dozen recordings of such behaviour, are you serious in thinking the company will sack him for that?|||yes get to your leader|||yeah, seeing those union dues ripped out of your part-timer's paycheck is REALLY paying big dividends, huh?
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