Case Study - Fred Cummings

There are 2 major issues in this scenario before us. The first and most importantly is how the Management handled the confrontation and secondly, the initial issue, being the Management giving only certain employee's pay raises.

On the first issue, the Management feels that the grievors were way of out line and they should all be let go for the protection of other employees in the Company. Management feels they should have handled this matter by using the Grieving Process.

The union argued that in whole, this incident was not enough to warrant discharge. This was an isolated incident, not relevant to the grievors good upstanding record with the company. These grievors has no previous records and were considered highly skilled, competent employees of the company. The union felt this incident happened away from the job site and that the employees were not under the supervision of the Management at that time. The union also feels that Management could have handled this incident differently and resolved this conflict in a more professional manner.

Secondly, the overriding issue in this scenario is how the Management handled the matter of raises for certain employees. The union felt the Management decisions on this matter were unjustified and required further explanation as how this decision is decided. The Management stood behind their decision and felt it was handled appropriately.

Management feels the employees need to take responsibility for their actions and they came to the Tavern to start a fight. The Grievors stated this incident was not pre-meditated as they did not know Management was having lunch at the Tavern. As none of the Managers were direct Supervisors of the employees, there is no way they would know that the Manager's were going there for lunch.

The Management felt Cummings' actions were a verbal and physical assault on Management Representatives and there is no need to tolerate this behavior in their company. While this incident was initiated by Cummings, the Union feels that Management handled this matter unprofessionally and participated with enthusiasm. As for the other 3 grievors, they stated they were not involved in this altercation until Scott tripped going outside and accidentally

bumped Richardson. Management felt he bumped Richardson on purpose. The union feels it is irrelevant if Scott bumped him on purpose or not, the Managers should have walked away from the situation at hand.

Management could have avoided this whole altercation if they would have removed themselves from the Tavern as soon as Cummings approached the table. They could visibly tell Cummings was upset. They could have explained to Cummings that this was not the time or place to discuss this and that this would be handled the next day at work. If Cummings continued to want to argue, Management should have immediately exited the Tavern. The same goes for when they finally left. If Scott did purposely bump Richardson, the Managers should have kept walking and avoided the scuffle.

On the second