A Union Grievance and Cultural Shock, Essay Example

Janet should first discuss her complaint verbally with her supervisor. If she is unhappy with the result, she should then put her complaint in writing and submit that complaint to the relevant parties, i.e., Human Resources and/or the union equivalent — the latter especially if she feels the promotion violated an official labor agreement. Management will then acknowledge the complaint and also respond in writing within a reasonable period of time, based on the nature of the complaint. If Janet is still dissatisfied, she can appeal management’s decision. As for going on to arbitration, the likelihood of that option being successful will probably depend on whether the arbiter thinks her complaint constitutes either an unfair labor-practice or a specific contract violation. If Janet’s case does go to that far, she should be prepared to address why she was unsatisfied with management’s initial response, rather than just repeat her first complaint to the arbiter. Her complaint would now be two-fold, and she may have to defend both of her positions.

I talked with an older employee I am acquainted with about the kind of culture shock he experienced when he first arrived in the United States from England about twenty-five years ago. (He has since become a U.S. citizen.) He said that the thing he still remembers the most occurred after he had moved into his first apartment. He noticed that he could unplug the wire leading from the phone-jack to the phone itself. In other words, whenever he wanted to, he could turn the phone off to prevent it from ringing. He tried it, and there was no response from the phone company at all. He said this struck him with real force as an example of work-a-day American elbow-room. He said that in England, you could not unplug your phone. If you left it off the hook to prevent it from ringing, an official from the phone company would bicycle on over, knock on your door, and pointedly ask you why. From that story I learned that it is often the little things that really show how different countries and cultures can be from each other.