" Informal" meeting

[Blazee]

Here goes...

 

My son works for a national construction company as a trainee site agent. ( 2+ years). He was sent to a site as basically the site agent...

 

Since august he has been asking for a laptop charger and a work mobile phone ( he's had these on every other site) Within the last month he has emailed his manager and told him he will no longer be using his phone minutes or his data and personal email for work... He was called in for an " informal" meeting about his conduct today ( letter he had said as our discussion on wednesday ( it was tuesday)!!

 

At this informal meeting was his manager and the pa to the director she was taking the minutes.. During this meeting she chimed in gave her opinion and said she agreed with the manager!!

Is she allowed to do this?

 

Would a grievence be appropriate against her and the manager? there have been no problems with my sons conduct until he said he was no longer going to use his phone/'data/email.

 

He has emails going back to at least august asking for a charger and phone so he can do his job.

At the meeting today he was told the charger was at another site so he needed to go there for it and the p.a would chase up a working sim!! Whilst they decided what to do with him!

 

sorry little bit annoyed.. any advice appreciated.

Edited November 14, 2016 by honeybee13
Paras.

[unclebulgaria67]

Here goes...

 

My son works for a national construction company as a trainee site agent. ( 2+ years). He was sent to a site as basically the site agent...

 

Since august he has been asking for a laptop charger and a work mobile phone ( he's had these on every other site) Within the last month he has emailed his manager and told him he will no longer be using his phone minutes or his data and personal email for work... He was called in for an " informal" meeting about his conduct today ( letter he had said as our discussion on wednesday ( it was tuesday)!!

 

At this informal meeting was his manager and the pa to the director she was taking the minutes.. During this meeting she chimed in gave her opinion and said she agreed with the manager!!

Is she allowed to do this?

 

Would a grievence be appropriate against her and the manager? there have been no problems with my sons conduct until he said he was no longer going to use his phone/'data/email.

 

He has emails going back to at least august asking for a charger and phone so he can do his job.

At the meeting today he was told the charger was at another site so he needed to go there for it and the p.a would chase up a working sim!! Whilst they decided what to do with him!

 

sorry little bit annoyed.. any advice appreciated.

 

Sounds like the manager is acting unreasonably and a minute taker should not really comment.

 

Perhaps your Sons emails were misunderstood to be rude and he was demanding something, rather than pointing out an issue. He could have been perceived as saying he would not do his job, if the items were not provided.

 

Your Son should apologise if his emails were not received in the way he wanted, but he was simply pointing out that he was having to use his own private phone to be able to work. Also he thought that the company would prefer work business to be conducted using work equipment and email facility.

 

Can't see anything will happen, but he needs to tread carefully as the construction industry is not known for good employee/employer relations. Better to try to mend bridges as if he ever left, he might want a reference.

[Emmzzi]

Is he clear o what he wants to achieve?

 

If so, what is that? As it will determine the approach he should take.

[Blazee]

Thanks for the replies..

He wants to keep his job and be able to do it.. He went armed with emails etc to the meeting and had a pad to take notes all of which surprised his manager, He let his manager talk and then responded, and mostly his manager didn't respond and went quiet which is when the p.a chimed in..

All of this has happened since he said he will no longer be using his own equipment.. The fact that his has missed training as he was told he had to cover, has paid all his own travel for 2 + years, bought a fridge on a site as it was needed for a customer moving in, tries to fix or get fixed.( he gets on very well with the trades) problems when those higher up couldn't get it done, being sent from site to site to cover holidays etc When according to them he is only a trainee..( was sent a letter saying he would get 3k bonus, then told no as only a trainee) seems to count for nothing.

I have worked on a site with this manager.. the newly appointed site manager there used to say I'm getting no support, I need help etc his immediate manager was my sons manager ( i know a lot of managers)

He got his charger today... shame they didn't do this 4 months ago... we will have to wait for the outcome of the meeting.

Not to worried about referees... he knows plenty of site managers who would willingly give him a reference and a job if he was closer..

[ericsbrother]

is he at collge day release to do his LIOB/AIOB exams? If so, who is paying as the company may have a term in that contrcat that says he has to pay back the money if he leaves before qualifying. If he isnt doing the day release then he should be looking for work with someone who gives a damn about the professionalism of their staff.

[Blazee]

Hi,

No day release, it is in house training that he had to do every 6 weeks for a week, with extra training ( scaffold appreciation etc), the thing is as a trainee he gets around £22k and a company car so it's quite a good job especially for around here though he does travel over 90 mins to get to various sites.. He doesn't want to lose this job but after asking countless times for the things he needed it wasn't until he "stamped" his feet that all of a sudden there was a problem with him!..

We shall see how this plays out over the coming days

[ericsbrother]

he should contact the CITB and ask about formal qualifications via on the job training.

 

The building trade likes to complain to government that there arent enough qualified people in the industry but then does everything it can to make things worse for itself. That is one of the reasons why this country is seen as a soft touch byn the rest of the world, we dont appreciate training and industry doesnt want to pay for it. Degree courses in vocational subjects are mostly a joke.

 

Bring back technical colleges and be proud of HNC's BTEC's etc.

Edited November 16, 2016 by honeybee13
Paras.