An arbitrator has upheld Teck Coal’s decision to fire a man who harassed and bullied a fellow employee at Elkview Operations in Sparwood.
Guy Travis’ contract with the mining company was terminated on June 5, 2017, after a series of incidents, the most serious of which occurred several weeks earlier during an argument over a breach of company policy with respect to newspapers and magazines.
According to court documents obtained by The Free Press, the dispute arose about 7:40 a.m. on May 16, 2017, as Travis was clocking off his shift with the road crew and the complainant, Dave Armstrong, was starting his day shift.
Armstrong claimed Travis was angry and his neck, and face “beet red” when he addressed him in front of the entire road crew.
Armstrong said Travis put his finger “in my face” saying: “I hear that you got a problem with (expletive) magazines; don’t go to the (expletive) Company, you come and see me; you (expletive) got that; I’ll tell you what you do with the magazine; you roll it up and take it back where you (expletive) found it; now you (expletive) got that?”
Arbitrator Stan Lanyon found that Travis intentionally harassed, intimidated and bullied Armstrong, and had a history of making “digs” that amounted to harassment.
“The result was that Mr. Armstrong was ‘scared’ to come to work,” said Lanyon.
“I conclude that no one is required to work in fear of his fellow employees, nor does any employee have to ‘put up’ with or accept harassment and bullying as the price of their employment.”
Travis was represented by the United Steelworkers Local 9346, who argued that his conduct was consistent with the blue collar culture at the mine and the conversations were no more than “locker room talk”.
Lanyon rejected the union’s argument and upheld Teck’s decision, therefore dismissing the grievance.
More to come.