I'm going to talk to a union rep tomorrow. Essentially, my supervisor is not working up to standards and management is attempting to pass some of her tasks onto myself and my coworkers. This is a common theme in my workplace where if you display incompetence or have a full adult tantrum, you will be rewarded by not having to do certain parts of your job. It is easier to give in to the employee opposed to fighting with them.
I can't work that way. I am getting better at my boundaries, which is why I'm talking about this situation so I can get a better grasp of it. A few months ago I was asked to take on a part of a task that falls in line with my role. I believe someone in management did it previously, but not my supervisor. When I was given the task by management, I was asked to ensure X, Y, and Z were done. These things could only be completed by my supervisor and I did not and could not have access to do so. So I was being asked to double-check my superiors work. I opted not to do that and did the part that I could control as this was a performance issue between my supervisor and management.
Last week I find out from my other supervisor that management wants me to take on a task that previously has only ever been done by supervisors. This tasks is also something that was only done by supervisors/management/designated trainers in all of my previous jobs. Without it being explicitly stated, it is because management is unhappy with supervisor A's reliability and would rather someone they can trust take it on.
While it can be a compliment, I have had similar things happen in the past and it is much more likely because I am seen as a hardworker who says yes. It is easier to pass it on to someone who won't refuse than deal with the problem. I have already taken on other tasks from my colleagues and have a comfortable workload. Just recently I had to ask for help reviewing said workload because it was getting heavy and was not spread out evenly amongst the team. Supervisor B was very receptive to this and assisted in rearranging tasks to make it more balanced.
I am concerned that I will not be allowed to refuse this task. Please note that it does not come with a raise or anything. There is no benefit or anything for me to gain to take on this task. Where I work, taking this on will not get me a “foot in the door” anywhere. It is an easy task that I can do, but even if I did have time in my workload, I feel it is unfair to pass it onto someone who is paid less simple because the person who is paid more is not reliable in management's eyes.