STEP III GRIEVANCE
Before I was willing to finish this series, I was waiting for the Union Step lll hearing and arbitration request to finish. IT TOOK THREE YEARS. It was finally heard last month, October 20th. The outcome of that meeting and request for arbitration is not a secret since I talked about it in the previous posting. I found the process, how you're treated by Trimet for speaking out, fighting back and filing grievances a total scam, corrupted and demeaning to the human spirit. The next post will be about the hearing I attended at the Union office to ask for arbitration.
Three years ago, Al Margulies and John Olsen (re: Chris Day) wrote me up to HR. Not together but separately. HR's Peggy Callahan chose to put the writeups together. I wrote about the INTERVIEW , investigative process and the reprimands I received as a result, on a regular continuing basis throughout this site, throughout the years.
WHY? BECAUSE IT WAS MY LIFE, MY EXPERIENCE, MY VOICE, AND I WANTED TO CREATE AS MUCH ATTENTION TO THE PROBLEM AS I COULD SO WHAT HAPPENED TO ME WOULDN'T EVER HAPPEN AGAIN TO ANOTHER PERSON!
Amazingly enough, every time I wrote about my experiences Margulies came back (example below) and kept trying to silence me.
He was bullying and harassing me all the while preaching from a pulpit which stood directly in front of a flag of the United State of America proclaiming Freedom of Speech!
Nevertheless, this hasn't been about him for years because he is who he is and does what he does. No one can change him or anyone else's behavior except employers with policies who are willing to enforce them and lawmakers who are willing to make laws to stop Cyber Stalking in Oregon, that can and will protect us from perpetrators such as Margulies and his followers. The solution lies within protecting your employees not manipulating the system for or against someone because of personality and or Diversity issues. The situation with me ended up evolving into a different but just as concerning problem with Trimet's HR department. Their lack of enforcement of their own policies can break a Respectful Workplace. They manipulate the system which makes them just as guilty of Bullying and Mobbing their own workers instead of protecting everyone equally and equitably - as promised.
I read a post on a Facebook Union only site about an experience another co-worker had with HR. He is being bullied and harassed by a known perpetrator, someone with a history of abusing co-workers - similar to my experiences, although more so through the abusers position of authority and not publicly as I was abused initially. HR blamed him for being part of the problem. What they do, as I found out is use the pain, discomfort, threats the other party is using as a weapon against you and utilize those same methods against you to get you out of their hair. They treat you like you're a non-person - someone not to be believed or tolerated.
Having said that, Callahan accused me of being the problem, protected my perpetrators Margulies and Olsen from HR policies - the same policies she used against Margulies in protecting other co-worker victims from him. She mandated me to a meeting, refused to tell me what I was accused of, threatened to terminate me if I didn't remove something from my Blog but wouldn't tell me what it was. She beat me up so badly I wasn't 'fit' by their own standards to safely Operate a Bus - SOP 584. They refused to accommodate my disability then sent me to Garage Manager Evelyn Warren who expected me to drive because, "we don't have any operators to cover your run". Callahan destroyed my time-slip for the meeting which put me time-loss, then told Leonard Lamberth to sign the reprimands WITHOUT KNOWLEDGE AS TO WHAT THEY WERE ABOUT. Ain't that somethin!
All of it GRIEVANCE WORTHY! I filed several of 'em for giving me reprimands against my First Amendment, my Constitutionally protected rights to write this blog, and Fair use Laws which protect my right to remove and publish images from the internet.
They covered the 3 year time span as the retaliatory treatment against me from Management continued. I was (investigated) after being told I was 'charged' with Insubordination. (from Mark Poulson), Blindsided by an outside attorney they hired to silence this blog, Warnings and accusations of running a red light, honking the Bus horn inappropriately and disrespectful conduct against a co-worker - each of them mandated meetings after which they destroyed my time-slips - again and again. I also filed a Grievance against the reprimand I received for the John Olsen write-up. In all, he's written me up to HR 13 or 14 times, signed 4 and promoted 4 petitions to have me blackballed from ATU, and to boot - I've never had a conversation with him. "Ain't that somethin!
Some of you might want to take note of her new employer.
Well... looks like she's movin on faster then one can check out her resume.
Three years ago, Al Margulies and John Olsen (re: Chris Day) wrote me up to HR. Not together but separately. HR's Peggy Callahan chose to put the writeups together. I wrote about the INTERVIEW , investigative process and the reprimands I received as a result, on a regular continuing basis throughout this site, throughout the years.
WHY? BECAUSE IT WAS MY LIFE, MY EXPERIENCE, MY VOICE, AND I WANTED TO CREATE AS MUCH ATTENTION TO THE PROBLEM AS I COULD SO WHAT HAPPENED TO ME WOULDN'T EVER HAPPEN AGAIN TO ANOTHER PERSON!
Amazingly enough, every time I wrote about my experiences Margulies came back (example below) and kept trying to silence me.
He was bullying and harassing me all the while preaching from a pulpit which stood directly in front of a flag of the United State of America proclaiming Freedom of Speech!
Mr. Transparency
Nevertheless, this hasn't been about him for years because he is who he is and does what he does. No one can change him or anyone else's behavior except employers with policies who are willing to enforce them and lawmakers who are willing to make laws to stop Cyber Stalking in Oregon, that can and will protect us from perpetrators such as Margulies and his followers. The solution lies within protecting your employees not manipulating the system for or against someone because of personality and or Diversity issues. The situation with me ended up evolving into a different but just as concerning problem with Trimet's HR department. Their lack of enforcement of their own policies can break a Respectful Workplace. They manipulate the system which makes them just as guilty of Bullying and Mobbing their own workers instead of protecting everyone equally and equitably - as promised.
I read a post on a Facebook Union only site about an experience another co-worker had with HR. He is being bullied and harassed by a known perpetrator, someone with a history of abusing co-workers - similar to my experiences, although more so through the abusers position of authority and not publicly as I was abused initially. HR blamed him for being part of the problem. What they do, as I found out is use the pain, discomfort, threats the other party is using as a weapon against you and utilize those same methods against you to get you out of their hair. They treat you like you're a non-person - someone not to be believed or tolerated.
Having said that, Callahan accused me of being the problem, protected my perpetrators Margulies and Olsen from HR policies - the same policies she used against Margulies in protecting other co-worker victims from him. She mandated me to a meeting, refused to tell me what I was accused of, threatened to terminate me if I didn't remove something from my Blog but wouldn't tell me what it was. She beat me up so badly I wasn't 'fit' by their own standards to safely Operate a Bus - SOP 584. They refused to accommodate my disability then sent me to Garage Manager Evelyn Warren who expected me to drive because, "we don't have any operators to cover your run". Callahan destroyed my time-slip for the meeting which put me time-loss, then told Leonard Lamberth to sign the reprimands WITHOUT KNOWLEDGE AS TO WHAT THEY WERE ABOUT. Ain't that somethin!
All of it GRIEVANCE WORTHY! I filed several of 'em for giving me reprimands against my First Amendment, my Constitutionally protected rights to write this blog, and Fair use Laws which protect my right to remove and publish images from the internet.
They covered the 3 year time span as the retaliatory treatment against me from Management continued. I was (investigated) after being told I was 'charged' with Insubordination. (from Mark Poulson), Blindsided by an outside attorney they hired to silence this blog, Warnings and accusations of running a red light, honking the Bus horn inappropriately and disrespectful conduct against a co-worker - each of them mandated meetings after which they destroyed my time-slips - again and again. I also filed a Grievance against the reprimand I received for the John Olsen write-up. In all, he's written me up to HR 13 or 14 times, signed 4 and promoted 4 petitions to have me blackballed from ATU, and to boot - I've never had a conversation with him. "Ain't that somethin!
There was a time-line of events - each covered through three inches of documentation:
Trimet protected a co-worker from Al by giving him a 'warning' for posting a Constitutionally protected free-airway dispatch tape of an incident she had in her Bus. Conversely, they gave me 'reprimands' for defending myself from his attacks which were in direct violation of HR 166, 171 and 202. - everything he did against me was against HR Policies but remained uninvestigated, unsubstantiated. Not the first time they've done it.
They pick and choose which employees are worthy of protecting and which aren't then use one against the other. In other words, they protected Monica Fairicy from Margulies even though what he posted about her was perfectly legal and not against policy. Then they used him to go after me having full knowledge that his actions against me on his Blog were not only in full violation of policies but morally reprehensible. HR and Management actions are the same tactics commonly used in Workplace MOBBING.
THE STEP III PROCESS
A Step III includes, on the Union side two Executive Board members as Judges and my garage E-Board Representative. On Trimet's side, two Managers and one Manager moderator. The Union side is coming from the premise of what affects one effects all. If the vote is split you gotta ask the Union to arbitrate. An arbitration costs $5,000. You go there because some part of the working and wage agreement was violated. In this situation it was 'working conditions' specifically my Constitutionally protected Freedom of Speech and Internet fair use laws. I was given reprimands because of what I wrote and images I published on my personal Blog which were in defense of myself since employer Trimet refused to enforce the same policies they used to protect my perpetrator from me and other co-workers from him. In fact, at one point they BLINDSIDED me with an outside lawyer who they paid over $5600.00 to investigate my Blog, just to tell them if 'fair use' laws really existed. Mind you, Trimet is filled with salaried lawyers - all of which are versed in Constitutional Law which is required curriculum. The reality is that Trimet blindsided me with the lawyer in an attempt to silence me.
Joanne Kirkbride
Assistant Manager Powell
7 months at Trimet
When she's worked a full year her salary will be similar to
Mark Poulson's, which was
$68,211.59 (W-2 for 2013)
She sat in-between Evelyn and Jay.
***
The Grievances were about abuse in the workplace.
Unless you're an abuser yourself!
My Rep and I went outside the meeting room while they deliberated. At one point my Rep suddenly got up and went into another room. She came back and said Evelyn had called Shelly Lomax, Executive Director Transportation and Barry Chapman, HR Business Partner to come down to assist in the deliberations. Highly unusual! It was all very sudden and curious. In the meantime one of the Union Judges came out and said to me, "Evelyn's attacks against you were very personal. It was obvious. Do you know that?" Me, "I know."
They got out of being responsible for the reprimands by saying they were given by HR, as a result cannot be grieved. But the reprimands weren't given to me by HR. They were given to me by Leonard Lamberth:
Then, of course REALITY: the politics of the agency:
STEP III
3 inches
In the hearing I had a document to support every accusation made against me. I knew which document and where it was located. I was organized and ready.
Step III Moderator:
Evelyn Warren, Garage Manager Center Street
$$87,628.06
(W2 for 2013)
Judge:
Evelyn Warren, Garage Manager Center Street
$$87,628.06
(W2 for 2013)
Evelyn Warren was tied to my case from it's inception. A confidential exchange in documents revealed she had a part in every step of the HR process including the reprimands. She arranged for Callahan to meet with me DURING my sign-up. She ignored safety by refusing to accommodate my disability after the interview, she didn't do or order a 'fit test' prior to telling me I "had to drive" after the beating from Callahan "cause there weren't any Operators to take my place." She protected and Mobbed (“bullying on steroids,” a horrifying new trend whereby a bully enlists co-workers to collude in a relentless campaign of psychological terror against a hapless target.") Assistant Manager Leonard Lamberth before and after he handed me the reprimands which he admitted he didn't know what they were about. She was copied on to virtually every e-mail and letter which addressed the situation. She had a hand in the writing of the letter of findings from Callahan. She judged the Step ll. She should have recused herself from attending as her presence created a serious conflict of interest to the integrity of the hearing and she openly and relentlessly created a distraction by Mobbing recently hired Assistant Manager Joanne Kirkbride.
Whenever I talked she engaged Kirkbride into conversations. At one point I asked that they listen and she shot back just as snotty as one could, "She asked me a question!" Warren was purposely distracting her, mobbing her to her side. The legal system uses the phrase 'witness tampering'. Same thing only she was doing it openly in the meeting without caring who heard her. Kirbbride sat there smiling, appearing somewhat embarrassed but I don't know. Trimet picks certain personality types for those positions and shyness and embarrassment isn't on the list. But feigning those traits could be. She was fairly new - perhaps just checking things out.
When I brought up different points to my case, Evelyn shot back, "That's not true.", "you're lying." She tried to make a liar out of me throughout the meeting. I presented documents from Trimet Managers on virtually every level of the company to prove each statement I made. When I talked about my sending Leonard Lamberth my personal notes and links via e-mail so as to familiarize him with the case prior to the reprimand meeting and then his sending those notes on to his daughter (who doesn't and never did work for Trimet), Evelyn again stated it wasn't true, calling me a liar again, my Union Rep corrected her by reminding her that she was there and "YES - it was true. He did say it!"
On yet another issue where her Ass't Manager Lilia Montoya accused me of running a red light, couldn't prove it then accused me of inappropriately honking the Bus horn, downtown and in Gresham then she threw my 2 1/2 hr time slip away giving me time-loss for the mandated meeting. Warren then claimed that I "yelled' at another Operator in Gresham which wasn't true. She actually produced 'another' incident report supposedly from yet an additional Operator but refused to show it to us or tell us who it was. It was an incident report that just suddenly appeared. She then agreed to just "forget it". ***Update. It was later revealed by Union Rep Guingerich that Alfonso Clemments (Powell Op) wrote it. He apparently has the reputation of writing anyone up that Evelyn Warren asks him to. He was my leader on this run. He was having a hard time with the schedule and reroutes. 3 days out of 5, I took the lead and ran his and my runs. I was pretty shocked to learn this about him. I was also shocked to learn that he had a difficult time with my race, culture and religion. This all from someone I've never had a personal conversation with.
When the John Olsen reprimands came up I handed out proof where he wrote me up to HR over 13 times.
Evelyn challenged me again, "Ya, but how many times did you write him up?"
Me, "Never."
Evelyn, "That's not true, you wrote him up."
Me, "No."
Evelyn, "Not even once?"
Me, "Not even once!"
All she had to do was make a quick call to HR or look at my or his file. She came to the meeting unprepared and accusatory.
Evelyn challenged me again, "Ya, but how many times did you write him up?"
Me, "Never."
Evelyn, "That's not true, you wrote him up."
Me, "No."
Evelyn, "Not even once?"
Me, "Not even once!"
All she had to do was make a quick call to HR or look at my or his file. She came to the meeting unprepared and accusatory.
Jay Jackson
Manager Field Operations
$98,234.71 (W2 for 2013)
Jackson arrived at the meeting with his Laptop. He sat directly in front of me with it open. It was quite large! He was deeply involved with it - appeared to be reading something. I asked if he was being paid 'overtime' Everyone laughed but I was serious. Either you're here or you're there! It was clear, he wasn't interested or focused. Just a body in a chair doing something else, his mind somewhere else. Insulting to the process, to me and the people (public) he works for.
Judge:
Manager Field Operations
$98,234.71 (W2 for 2013)
Jackson arrived at the meeting with his Laptop. He sat directly in front of me with it open. It was quite large! He was deeply involved with it - appeared to be reading something. I asked if he was being paid 'overtime' Everyone laughed but I was serious. Either you're here or you're there! It was clear, he wasn't interested or focused. Just a body in a chair doing something else, his mind somewhere else. Insulting to the process, to me and the people (public) he works for.
Judge:
Joanne Kirkbride
Assistant Manager Powell
7 months at Trimet
When she's worked a full year her salary will be similar to
Mark Poulson's, which was
$68,211.59 (W-2 for 2013)
She sat in-between Evelyn and Jay.
***
The Grievances were about abuse in the workplace.
When I looked across the table this is what I visualized.
That I was being judged but not heard.
Unless you're a victim of abuse or you've worked with abuse victims you wouldn't understand and would probably be wondering what it was that the person sitting across from you did to deserve what she got.
Unless you're an abuser yourself!
They got out of being responsible for the reprimands by saying they were given by HR, as a result cannot be grieved. But the reprimands weren't given to me by HR. They were given to me by Leonard Lamberth:
The Grievance hearings are a facade meant to comply with the ATU contract. Trimet Managers have no say or power over these hearings. They are told in advance how to vote. Those Managers who comply against a target are assured continued employment.
THE VOTE:
Two union judges voted the reprimands be removed from my file.
and the two Company judges voted they stay.
Next step, ask the Union to arbitrate.
The next posting will deal with John Olsen. The one following will be
my request for Union arbitration.
