Our member, Jim Lane, a job steward at CalOES, was putting up union flyers one morning when he discovered a few hours later that someone had torn them down. Later that day, as Jim was returning to his office suite with a coworker, he encountered an individual holding more of the flyers he had posted earlier. Jim introduced himself and asked why the flyers were being removed.
The individual, who identified himself as a manager in the department, immediately became hostile and rude towards Jim. Shocked by the interaction, Jim turned and noticed his coworker witnessing the incident. Unaware there was another employee present, the manager shouted profanities at Jim before leaving the area.
Following the incident, Jim acted quickly to document what happened. He contacted security to preserve footage of the interaction and brought the information to our union, SEIU Local 1000. With documentation and witness support, our union was able to report the incident as a violation of CalOES’ Workplace Violence Prevention Zero Tolerance policy.
If you are experiencing any workplace violations, contact our union. As Jim put it, “This demonstrates that with the proper documentation and by following the correct process, we can have our legitimate concerns about management misbehavior addressed. The system can work, and accountability does exist. This also demonstrates that SEIU Local 1000 has the back of the workers it represents and will follow through, when the member does their part to document and step forward to confront mistreatment from management.”