1733 Turner v. Region 1

The parties to the national agreement, working jointly through the NTC, have developed an extensive program for training union and management representatives to evaluate and train Team Leaders as well as to investigate circumstances that warrant the removal of a Team Leader. There is sufficient protection against arbitrary or improperly motived decisions built into the Team Leader selection process to make access to the grievance procedure unnecessary.  The record demonstrates that the review process put in place by the parties was followed prior to the removal of Mark Turner from the position of Team Leader.   There was no substance to Turner’s complaint about a hostile working environment.  The Selection Committee member’s interrogation of Turner did not constitute harassment.  This was Turner’s opportunity to reassure the JTLSC about his competence as a Team Leader and to explain the circumstances that may have prompted the complaints against him.  Instead, by his own account, he became belligerent and combative during the interview and threatened to post derogatory information about the company’s dock operations on the internet.