I will preface this with the fact that this guy is very immature, friends with the current supervisor (a new supervisor is taking over next week.) He constantly has his tablet watching games on the shop floor while we are actively working, meanwhile others will be singled out for having phones out while there is down time. not wearing ppe properly and he has even blocked my car in several times at the end of the shift when it is time to go home. I don't know why he does this, I guess because I'm relatively quiet and “different”. Anyway, here is the chain of events.
I washer trying to do my job efficiently to achieve two results
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Keep the receiving line full to more quickly free up space to allow the presses to be emptied and refilled quicker.
- Empty the receiving table quicker allowing me to flex to help co-workers or enable me to loosen the next set of molds without falling behind and leaving the separation table without work.
A co-worker who I have not wronged intentionally staggered the boards on the receiving line keeping me from doing my job to the best of my ability and filling the receiving line.
I then told him to stop on two different occasions.
I was ignored.
I did not argue with him.
I raised it with the supervisor who is known friends with the co-worker who was causing the problem.
He went and then spoke to him and made him stop, allowing me to resume my job normally.
As soon as the supervisor walked away to perform another job duty, the co-worker resumed intentionally staggering the line.
When I once again told him to stop, he ignored me.
When there was an opportunity to close the gap and resume my work efficiently, he not only ignored me once again, but smiled, knowing he was causing a problem.
I once again did not argue with him.
When the supervisor returned from his other duties, I let him know that the co-worker was continuing to intentionally cause me to slow down. Again, the supervisor and co-worker are known friends
The supervisor tried to get him to stop, they shouted for a moment, then walked off together.
I then learn that they went to speak with the plant manager to report this incident.
Why I wasn't asked to go as well, I do not know.
The supervisor told me the solution was to move me to another spot, which I gladly complied.
Because I was not there to tell my side of what was going on, fearing their friendship might bias they way they reported the incident, I went to speak with the plant manager as well to make sure I wasn't dragged through the mud, or made to seem unreasonable due to their friendship and possibility of them covering for each other.
I was then told that the new supervisor would be down momentarily, to resolve it.
The new supervisor pulled the co-worker, supervisor and I aside. He told us “he doesn't tolerate bullshit. ” the co-worker and I were both threatened with being sent home and termination.
How is reporting an issue preventing me from performing my job to best of my abilities grounds for termination?
Is this retaliation? I did nothing wrong.