Was suggested to post this here as this Reddit may enjoy it just much.
Preface: I am a Disabled Adult, what happened at this employer was a culmination of the below plus the last 13ish years working resulting in me giving 0 shits and being an advocate for the disabled as well as fellow workers.
So I work at a retailer that is well known in this Region (upper-midwest) and was hired on in a manager (low level / entry level management) and am working there in this position through the fun (sarcasm) that is Holiday season, and a few months into the new year. my boss at the time was known for having a bad temper and you dont want to be near him when hes having a mood, and he clearly had favorites as well.. one day I get pulled into the office and told I was being moved to a different department, not even as a manager either, but a normal employee based on a BS concern for “stress” (I listen to chillstep, melodic after work and let any work related stuff wash off after im done and dont let it bother me).
I worked in this position for around 8-9 months , during that time my first boss was moved into a position that put him over my manager and thus put him over me , and it didnt take long (about 2 months) before I once again was pulled into the office and told I was being moved to a different department this time.
Then the revenge as I had it with this company and the leadership of my store I did something that me from a few years ago would have never believed I'd do… I found some like minded co-workers and began a Union Organizing Committee. After 2 months we began to make ourselves known and while alot of the other's were subtle I was open to my co-workers of what I was doing. This is were Federal Violation 1 happens as management called my fliers in the break room as “solicitation” and was removing them, I went to the NLRB and filed a charge against my employer. After awhile the charges were found to have merit and the store had to settle with the NLRB.
After awhile I started subtly recording conversations with managers, eventually getting to the point that it was well known that I record (this is legal under the law as my state is 1 Party consent) , to this date I have around 120 ish recordings of things that possibly show violations of the law by the store.
One other thing I noticed was that one of the fire exits would be frequently blocked by stuff and I began making a habit of calling the local fire marshal as a “concerned citizen” about the blocked fire exit.
The 2nd violation came when we were in the department and the topic of wages came up, I freely and openly stated my wage only to be stopped and scorn by a supervisor (note: in the US you are legally ALLOWED to discuss wages), once again this was brought to the NLRB and found to have merit.
One way i've made myself (or tried) to be a headache has been when any corporate folks come I introduce myself as “the Union Organizer” to make sure they know there is an active Union effort here.
If the store's bigboss and my first boss didn't screw me over twice I wouldn't have gone to do all this.
Morale of the Story: Don't piss off 1 employee to the point they go and start a Union and become a pain in your butt.
Accomplishments since starting the effort.
*Management is giving Reviews on a regular basis (before some employees went years with no performance reviews)
*Full time and Part Time have had minimum wage increase.
*Employees are treated generally better as I've educated them on laws, putting management on notice that we know our rights.
*Improvements to food and employee safety are being made , I speak with management once every 1-2 weeks bringing concerns forward.