Union Steward would not help me

G

Grace18

New Member
Jurisdiction
Washington
Hi,
Thank you for taking my question.
I was terminated from my job with some fabricated reasons after I started to complain about discrimination. My union representative seemed to have interest in the management rather than help me protect my job. I was finally terminated and am sure he gave them green light. Because he became so unhappy when I was so frustrated and told him he has been non responsive and he literally started to come up with an excuses and put words on my mouth.
Later on I asked him how to go about my termination grievances. He did not say yes or no instead completely ignored me.

I feel so stuck. Any advise would be appreciated.
 
Grace18 said:
Any advise would be appreciated.
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Look for another job.

If you want any useful commentary about your firing, you'll have to describe the relevant facts far more clearly. What does "some fabricated reasons" mean? What was the discrimination and in what manner and to whom did you complain? What doe you mean that your union rep "seemed to have interest in the management"? What makes you "sure he gave them [the] green light"? What possible relevance is it that "he became so unhappy when [you were] so frustrated"? What does "come up with excuses mean? What words did he put in your mouth? Have you gone over your union rep's head to discuss the matter with someone else at the union? If not, why not? If so, what happened?
 
zddoodah said:
Look for another job.

If you want any useful commentary about your firing, you'll have to describe the relevant facts far more clearly. What does "some fabricated reasons" mean? What was the discrimination and in what manner and to whom did you complain? What doe you mean that your union rep "seemed to have interest in the management"? What makes you "sure he gave them [the] green light"? What possible relevance is it that "he became so unhappy when [you were] so frustrated"? What does "come up with excuses mean? What words did he put in your mouth? Have you gone over your union rep's head to discuss the matter with someone else at the union? If not, why not? If so, what happened?
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The discrimination I have been facing is racial discrimination. I complained to the management and was completely brushed off. Then they immediately started to come with various strange requirements to make me fail which then I was suspended for not being able to do certain job. I tried to share all evidences to the union steward. He does not care to read them. I had to repeat myself multiple times. The two times that I met with him he is constantly yawning and looked so bored. Sometimes he denied that I shared certain emails with him until I had to prove him otherwise. However he keeps repeating what the management said to him while I literally give him evidence that shows otherwise.
The reason why I think he gave them the green light is that he was meant to submit grievances on behalf of me for the suspension and changed his mind few hours before the dead line after he had prepared the letter. Had that been filed I would not have been fired. The reason he gave for his last minute change of mind was that he remembered me that I said to him I do not want my job.
 
Explain what is happening that you believe is racial discrimination. It matters to what I recommend.
 
Filing a grievance does not necessarily stay a termination. If the grievance was over a suspension, that wouldn't "undo" whatever it is that eventually got you terminated anyway. Did you say you didn't want the job any longer? It isn't clear why you wouldn't have filed your own grievance. Unions can guide you, but ultimately, it is typically the employee who is responsible for this.
 
ElleMD said:
Filing a grievance does not necessarily stay a termination. If the grievance was over a suspension, that wouldn't "undo" whatever it is that eventually got you terminated anyway. Did you say you didn't want the job any longer? It isn't clear why you wouldn't have filed your own grievance. Unions can guide you, but ultimately, it is typically the employee who is responsible for this.
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Thank you. This is helpful. I never worked under union contract and I have been feeling like if the steward does not do it I would not be heard especially that he has suddenly flipped on me and is literally acting as the management's advocate. He never coached me at all.
I never said I do not want my job. That is why I said he put words in my mouth.
Yes, the suspension though totally irrelevant they have used is to justify the termination.
After I was terminated he texted me sating" Do you want your job back?"Which I replied I was terminated and did not leave my job so why not. Then he ignored my calls, texts and emails. After few days came back to me saying he couldn't file grievances for me again.
On top of losing my job I do not even know what to make out of how he is behaving.
Thank you again
 
cbg said:
Explain what is happening that you believe is racial discrimination. It matters to what I recommend.
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Too many to list but will mention a couple examples. From as simple as giving me broken chair, which was sitting in a storage and the dust kept puffing when touch ed and I had suck it out using vaccum cleaner, while they buy new chair to every other new employee to denying me from participating in meetings and trainings. To give you an example there are two important quarterly meeting which all employees with the same title and almost the same job description participate like me but not me. When I asked why I was told because of seniority and another time I was told they can only send two . Well, they hired a new white guy two levels junior of me and was invited to those meetings automatically.
Thank you
 
Grace18, post: 274458, member: 121675"]Too many to list but will mention a couple examples. From as simple as giving me broken chair, which was sitting in a storage and the dust kept puffing when touch ed and I had suck it out using vaccum cleaner, while they buy new chair to every other new employee to denying me from participating in meetings and trainings. To give you an example there are two important quarterly meeting which all employees with the same title and almost the same job description like mine participate but not me. When I asked why I was told because of seniority and another time I was told they can only send two . Well, they hired a new white guy two levels junior of me and was invited to those meetings automatically.
Thank you [/QUOTE]
Grace18 said:
Too many to list but will mention a couple examples. From as simple as giving me broken chair, which was sitting in a storage and the dust kept puffing when touch ed and I had suck it out using vaccum cleaner, while they buy new chair to every other new employee to denying me from participating in meetings and trainings. To give you an example there are two important quarterly meeting which all employees with the same title and almost the same job description participate like me but not me. When I asked why I was told because of seniority and another time I was told they can only send two . Well, they hired a new white guy two levels junior of me and was invited to those meetings automatically.
Thank you
Click to expand...
cbg said:
Explain what is happening that you believe is racial discrimination. It matters to what I recommend.
Click to expand...

*just to clarify in my earlier reply I meant to say" .....job description like mine participate except me"
 
What leads you to believe it is racial discrimination? If your chair was dusty and you vacuumed it, there isn't anything more they even could do.There are any number of reasons those with different job duties, even if similar to yours, might attend a meeting that you do not. Not attending a meeting is not an adverse employment action (many could argue that it is a bonus not to have to sit through a meeting). Missing out on training could be, if it has a substantial impact on your ability to perform your job. Seniority and limited slots to attend are both pretty common reasons not to send someone. Why do you think it is really your race that is the reason you were denied.

You oddly don't mention what you did that got you suspended or fired. Nor do you explain to who you reported the discrimination or the manner in which you did. That matters. Contrary to popular belief unions aren't just there to fight for employees blindly. They are there to uphold the terms of the negotiated agreement/CBA. If you violated work rules or your performance was not to their standards, you can still be fired and the union can't do a thing about it so long as they follow the agreed upon steps to do it. There is a narrow window of time to challenge any action and it is up to the employee to file the grievance. Miss the deadline and you are out of luck. I'm not sure what you wanted the union to "coach" you on. It doesn't appear you even filed a grievance.
 
ElleMD said:
What leads you to believe it is racial discrimination? If your chair was dusty and you vacuumed it, there isn't anything more they even could do.There are any number of reasons those with different job duties, even if similar to yours, might attend a meeting that you do not. Not attending a meeting is not an adverse employment action (many could argue that it is a bonus not to have to sit through a meeting). Missing out on training could be, if it has a substantial impact on your ability to perform your job. Seniority and limited slots to attend are both pretty common reasons not to send someone. Why do you think it is really your race that is the reason you were denied.

You oddly don't mention what you did that got you suspended or fired. Nor do you explain to who you reported the discrimination or the manner in which you did. That matters. Contrary to popular belief unions aren't just there to fight for employees blindly. They are there to uphold the terms of the negotiated agreement/CBA. If you violated work rules or your performance was not to their standards, you can still be fired and the union can't do a thing about it so long as they follow the agreed upon steps to do it. There is a narrow window of time to challenge any action and it is up to the employee to file the grievance. Miss the deadline and you are out of luck. I'm not sure what you wanted the union to "coach" you on. It doesn't appear you even filed a grievance.
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Thank you for your reply. A couple things :
The chair was broken did not go or up, the back support would not adjust and was in storage. They buy new chairs to other new employees even lower than my position.
They invited a new employee which is two steps below my position.
These are just examples.
I was suspended because they made a requirement of doing the job in certain way which I was not capable to do and said I was refusing.
I was not coached on anything. The information you gave me way more than I got from him.
I never expected them to fight for me blindly but also no to act like they are there to blindly accept what management says.
 

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