Feeling down about my reps, just need to vent a bit.
I just need to vent because ultimately I think my hands are tied. This is about my union reps in DC37. For background, been at my job 9 yrs, had my directors and supervisors come and go. This Jan this my temp supervisor at the time & the director gave a written warning, I've never received any disciplinary action whatsoever in the entire time at my job and my annual reviews were always positive. They skip over the verbal and wrote a written. In short this was the issue, the receptionist sent me an email that instructed me to cancel appointments at the request of a client and I did so. The sup talks to me the next day and it turns out there was more the request that was lost b/c the request went through 1 other person before the receptionist then to me. The sup and dir stated blamed me and only me stating I did a disservice to the client though it is normal and expected b/c reception is the 1st contact point by the clients. Reception and my colleagues will also act if I pass on request from a client and verifying it first is not expected or normal.
The next day she gives me a write up and reframed it "improper documentation" . It read like I did some wrong & false regarding documentation without saying exactly what. An outside reader wouldn't know we were talking about appointments that was easily rescheduled and there was no mention of the context.
Because it was so ridiculous and an obvious effort to make me look bad, I wrote a long rebuttal & signed it explaining exactly what this was about, why it occurred and that only I was being blamed for something that was not my doing. And THAT was my big mistake. I should have gone to the union b/c I later learned that despite my explanation, signing it was a fatal error. I can't blame anyone but myself for that.
Then 4 months later the director pulls it again, she surprises me with a final warning with 4 allegations. She urges me to just sign again but this time I sought the union. Since this was a final warning (skipped steps again) the grievance went straight to a step 3. The meeting with my reps, dir and HR was on May 19, I made my case and was able to provide written proof backing me on some of the issues. In the end the 2 union reps recommended all the allegations be dropped or at least give me a minor infraction (not sure why he added that). Overall it seemed to go well.
Then things started to go left. I heard nothing from anyone for 2 weeks so on 5/30 I email my reps and ask for the status of things. No response. A week later on 6/9 I email again and the rep replies and send 2 attachments saying my job is pursuing the write up. 1st attachment is their stating this and he says the 2nd is my dir revising the write up. He also stated things would be sent to the legal dept for consideration for arbitration the next level up.
What I notice on the employer response was that it was written on 6/3, which means he did not have it when I reached out to him the 1st time 5/30. Second thing was the revision, first matter was now vague, 2 others had some language changed and last was dropped. It was the first issue that alarmed me b/c it went from talking about a specific issue to now being vague. It now said the director had "concerns" about my handling of a matter. This leaves me vulnerable to further writes up action or being fired just for "concerns". I thought the rep should have picked on this on. Not feeling good about things now I asked him for a copy of the contracts, he sends it and adds he did not request mediation b/c Trump disbanded the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS) and it no longer existed. The 3 main issues:
FMCS was still open, staffing was reduced due to Trump but it was functioning and still accepting mediation request. But rep had 10 days to request this which already passed. I wanted to know why I was told it was closed and still wanted to pursue mediation since it's not.
Contract said my employer had 5 days to respond after the step 3 meeting, language left no wiggle room, just 5 days. They submitted it 11 days later on 6/3 and my rep accepted it. He should not have b/c the contract was violated. I asked why it was accepted since this hurts me and why I was not informed of this.
My biggest concern was the vague language of the 1st issue that left of open and vulnerable to further action. I asked to grieve the revision since it is not the same document that was discussed on 5/19.
I sent an email asking about these and now there was no answer at all. I followed up with another email asking my that my concern be forwarded to the merits review for them to consider and let them know issue 3 was my biggest concern. Again no response. Last Tues reps sends an email stating legal turned down arbitration but nothing was said about the questions I had. He did not say if he forwarded my concerns for the merit review. I was not surprised arbitration was turned down about given how things have now turned and I also learned it was hard to get even under normal circumstances. So I replied asking for an appeal and got a reply which seems like the president of the local will arrange it. By the end the president was looped into the email chain.
So this is where I am. Not feeling great, I will try my best but honestly don't think the appeal will be approved. What saddens and frustrates me the most is having no recourse to get answers from my reps and even the president is not compelling it. And since it does not look like the rep violated anything in the contract and nothing says they have to give me explanations, it looks like they can keep ignoring my questions.
Despite this, I do believe in and support unions has an organization. I won't blame an institution b/c of questionable actions of a few people. My issues are with the people and not the institution b/c it's the people who are letting me down right now. Thanks for letting me vent guys.