Starting about a month back out of the blue, I was scheduled for no hours whatsoever. This was the first time I'd not gotten any hours, but in some previous weeks they only had me for one or two days. Talking with my supervisor, apparently the schedule was very different prior to a manager above him changing it. I was annoyed, and even more so because the three people below me in seniority got at least a single day that week including someone who hadn't even been working there a week yet. My supervisor told me that they might be thinking of moving me and another person below me off of the Stock Grocer position(night shift), though I reminded him that I worked third shift because it was the only way for me to get reliable transportation.

So that weekend I end up hurting my ankle rather badly to the point I could barely walk, it still isn't fully healed and I might have to get it looked at by a specialist. Point being I check my schedule and they had me on second shift, Front End. Not really an issue at the time, given that I couldn't go into work anyway. Between then and now I've not worked a single day, though they had tried to schedule me one or two others weeks and it was always for second shift.

Got in touch with the manager who deals with scheduling, after I'd been told I couldn't come back until I was given a no restrictions doctor note, and asked them what was going on. A 'unanimous decision' was made by all the managers to move me to Front End, and this was prior to the Store Manager that had been there my entire ten months being moved to a different store. While obviously I could see the change in schedule and position online, I asked him why I wasn't directly contacted by anyone as they do have my phone number. "Well you were gone for a while." Was the only excuse he gave, which made me think he might be a two year old in a grown man's body.

I'll need to get in touch with the new Store Manager, and the other manager I spoke with said he'd try to talk with my former supervisor about all of this. But quite simply, once my ankle is healed and I can work on my feet again, I cannot work the shift they changed me to. Really I'd not intended to stay around for much longer, given that I've got plans for getting into an apprenticeship, but this has all just left a sour taste in my mouth and wondering whether I should even bother.

The suddenness was what got under my skin I think, with the only real warning being a "maybe, might, who knows" sort of thing from my supervisor. It almost feels like the union we've got isn't worth a damn, especially considering so many of the perks of being in the union didn't even apply when I was working night shift. (For instance, alternating weekends. There was one guy who'd been there 5 years that always got Fri-Sat off. Why? Because when they hired him, he just didn't come in when they scheduled him those nights and eventually they just made them his nights off. The rest of us though, well we were lucky to see a Saturday off.)

I've already tried to seek some help elsewhere, and after looking over what happened someone told me:

"Let me get this straight: Pay cut to be moved to a position you don't want to be in at a time you can't work, while people below you in seniority get more hours? 

 Yeah, you need to file a grievance. You pay the union dues, you have the right to use them in cases like this. Even if you're leaving soon, it might make things better for someone else."

Anyone have any advice for me? Stock Grocer was the position I applied for, as it was the only way my ride could be reliable in getting me to work.

-- Edited by Arthil on Tuesday 25th of February 2014 09:08:04 AM