Hey iam new to this. Has anyone ever gone to arbitration? If so what is that all about? What to expect? My union wants to go this far with my case.anyones info is helpful.
It's a long, drawn out process, and very frustrating.
from start to finish, it all goes like this.
step one, meeting with store manager. your union rep will be there, and basically, try to get the store manager to decide the case isn't worth going any further, and get you un-suspended.
rarely works, because if the manger wasn't pretty set on getting rid of you, they wouldn't suspend you in the first place.
on rare occasion, thou, it all stops there.
it took two weeks for me to get my step one meeting
step two, is you and your union rep, vs the store manager, and the zone manager.
this also is normally a waste of time, because unless it's a obvious shut and dry case, the zone manager is going to side with the store manager, right or wrong.
this took a month after step one for me.
step three, is you, union rep, vs store manager, zone manager. and a rep from human resources supposidly neutral, but normally, on kroger's side.
This is the first REAL chance you have, because human resources doesn't care about anything but facts, personal grudges and stuff won't fly with them.
this was 3 months after my suspension, before i got this far.
then comes arbitration.
basically, the union goes back and forth with kroger. it's a who blinks first deal. if kroger blinks, because they don't want to waste more tme with this, and risk court, you win. if not the union will only hold out for a while, before they throw in the towel.
Kroger does NOT want it to go to court, so a lot of times they will give in, cutting their losses. the most frustrating thing, is you won't hear much of anything during this time.
you have to badger your union rep non stop,to hear anything and will usually just get" wer'e working on it"
I was in arbitrition for 3 MORE months, and heard from my union rep TWICE, counting the time they said case lost, we give up.
but as misrible as it sounds, still go for it. you have nothing to loose, and might just win. be warned thou. management will get real nasty during meetings. i was insulted many times, and it wasn't even stuff related to the suspension. They WANT you to get frustrated, loose your temper, or give up.
wow..thank you..after my meeting my rep said he felt that they could not get me for what I was accused of but the company is taking its sweet time..my rep stated that we should take this to arbitration if possible.which in away makes me feel good that good people can see right through the bs im been accused of.
during the time I was thinking of applying for unemployment but rather go back top work.
Barada is not faroff on that. Only thing is that it could take up to a year on some. But if the union is encouraging you to go for it then they do feel confidant that they can win. At this piont there is several thousands of dollars at stake with the loosers having to pay the entire bill for the arbitration.
Our local is just a smaller one in the kroger land with about 700 meat members. last year the got back about $50,000 out of kroger for its members and that included 3 unjust terminations. Only one wnt to arbitration and was won.
