Safeway fired my daddy....

[Mosby]

44. More info, the guy is upset with Safeway and the union

My name is Mary VanGorder. I am Emily’s mom. This is the story of why Emily’s dad, Mike, got fired from Safeway.

Mike VanGorder began working for Safeway’s Distribution Center in Tracy, CA in 1995. The biggest issue at the facility has always been safety. They went on strike in 2000 over safety issues. Safeway has been practicing unsafe working habits for years. Cal Osha recently went through the warehouse again and fined Safeway almost $200,000 for violations. Safeway was obviously aware they were breaking the laws, as they made Osha get a warrant and bring the sheriff to be able to set foot on Safeway’s property. In the United States of America we have the right to a safe working environment. Safeway is not providing their workforce with this. Despite some serious accidents over the years, it’s business as usual for Safeway. Since Cal Osha has walked through, Safeway has done nothing to fix the violations, preferring to play their case out in court instead of putting safety first for their employees. Not only is the union unorganized and divided, they also have done nothing to solve these unsafe conditions.

Mike has been out there since 1995 without being disciplined for not making the production standards. As a matter of fact, Mike is such a model employee Safeway tracked him down to use him in their company powerpoint presentation about the warehouse. Frustrated with everything going on, Mike decided to silently protest at his job. For 3 weeks he went to work wearing a t-shirt speaking out against Safeway and Teamsters. It said “Slaveway & Teamsters, working together to break down working conditions.” On October 13th he was called into the office and told to remove his shirt by his supervisors. He refused, believing Safeway had no right to do so since he was speaking out against unsafe working conditions. At no time was he told he would be fired if he didn’t, they just took his badge and walked him out telling him he was suspended pending an investigation. On October 20 he was notified he had been terminated for insubordination for refusing to take his shirt off.

On October 1st Mike had his meeting with the Union and Safeway. Before the meeting started Safeway offered Mike his job back with conditions-no backpay, he’d be on a final warning (6 months they could fire him for any reason) and he sign an agreement that he would never do anything like this again. Mike declined the offer, he just wants to be made whole, and they wouldn’t have offered him his job back without a discussion if they didn’t know they were in the wrong here. He met with them again on October 8th with no change.

We’re now awaiting arbitration, and the case has been filed with the National Labor Relations Board.

http://www.facebook.com/notes/support-safeway-teamsters/emilys-dads-story/321075611236625

I think he can forget about getting his job back and compensation is completely out of the question. For those that might not know, OSHA has a tip line that any employee can call. The number is posted in every worksite.

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