1751 Thrower v. Region 5

Thrower perceived that he was being treated unfairly in regard to job assignments, but in the absence of a clear violation of the collective bargaining agreement, there was no remedy the union could have achieved by arbitrating a grievance over the assignments. Management has the unrestricted right to make job assignments within an employee’s classification. The union pursued grievances for Thrower in connection with the discipline he received for failing to put forward a reasonable work effort, but here again, there is a limit to what can be achieved through the grievance procedure. Thrower received counseling and some disciplinary layoffs in connection with management’s charges, but his employment at the HVC plant was not threatened. The record supports a conclusion that there was some hostility on management’s part, but we do not see what else the local union or the Region could have done on Thrower’s behalf to protect him from the ill will he engendered by his own confrontational behavior.