An active union leader loses his job: disloyalty to management was costly

Diana Kietienė, president of one of the two unions working at the Rokiškis Social Support Center, joined the union of civil servants and employees of public and budgetary institutions.

“We have an active and demanding union president at the Rokiškis Social Support Center. She is a true trade unionist and, as far as we know, a good professional, hardworking, department head, very fighter for the women who work there. As a result, she is not a favorite director of the center now, nor has she been a favorite of previous directors.

The then head of the institution found a weightless reason for Diana’s dismissal. The director’s order for a prior medical examination was simply not followed. Rokiškis SPC employees are required to undergo health checks every two years. Diana Kietienė had to do it in 2017 in April, and the director wanted it done in March. He did not comply with the director’s order, he did not review and that was the reason for his dismissal, ”said I. Petraitienė.

Then, D. Kietienė applied to the court to return to his previous position.

“The former director left his job, a new director came to the organization. The conflicts started again because Diana is demanding. It demands that employees have the necessary means to provide them with normal working conditions, ”said I. Petraitienė.

Another union was established in the institution.

Artūras Černiauskas, former president of the Lithuanian Trade Union Confederation, which represented D. Kietienė in labor disputes, explained that less than a couple of years ago, the unit led by D. Kietienė split in two. One was responsible for home help services, the other for daycare services.

D. Kietienė remained the head of the home help unit, and another head was appointed to lead the other unit.

“The next manager, at the initiative of the director, established another union in that institution. There are currently two unions in the institution, one loyal to the director, the so-called “yellow union”, and the other more representative of the employees. It is inappropriate for the director.

A collective agreement is being signed with another union, with which no one is even going to negotiate. Then we go to the Labor Disputes Commission. At first, they did not want to deal with the complaint, then they did. A peace agreement is being signed in the commission, because the director has promised to comply with all the requirements: sit at the negotiating table, sign a collective agreement, ”said A. Černiauskas.

Decisions happened

According to the union representative, that was not the end of the problem.

“Then it was necessary to designate which union would represent the employees as the Labor Council. The director called a pseudo assembly and appointed that union loyal to himself. We appeal again to the Labor Disputes Commission. There, the decision is recognized as illegal.

That process continued and then in the summer there were job changes for staff and department heads. As D. Kietienė does not have a driver’s license, without changing his own functions, he established additional requirements for his position to have a category B driver’s license. We have clarified with the Labor Inspection, the Ministry of Social Security and Labor that if functions do not change nor can the requirements change. We asked that the requirement be lifted, then the Labor Inspectorate intervened, which ordered the deficiencies to be corrected. The dismissal of the employee after changing the job requirements was unsuccessful, ”said A. Černiauskas.

According to him, later the director submitted an application to the Rokiškis Municipal Council and changed the regulations of the department. In the past, the structure was approved by the Council, and after this decision, you can make internal adjustments yourself.

Then, in July, they decide that the units that have been separated by workload should be merged and a manager appointed, and during the information consultation procedure, Diana will be fired as of November 4 and another chief professional of that unit. President of the Union.

The administration contacted the Labor Inspectorate. The Labor Inspectorate, without giving reasons, gave its consent to the dismissal. Such things clearly show that structural reorganization makes it possible to push an uncomfortable person, and there is no way to defend that person. There will continue to be lawsuits, we will appeal the decision of the Labor Inspectorate, illegal dismissal ”, said A. Černiauskas.

Feels like a mobster

D. Kietienė herself stated that she felt constant harassment from the management of the institution.

“They didn’t take me to other cities to learn good practices, at first they didn’t allow me to train. I had no furniture for almost nine months, the files were placed on the floor. Then I asked for the old furniture to be returned, I brought only part of it. He was in control, he was not allowed to go anywhere, he was told to write complaints to customers, explanations were given to employees, although the complaints themselves were not shown to my entire department, they were simply broken. In terms of health, that situation was really unenviable, ”said the woman.

He said that he had repeatedly approached the Commission on Labor Disputes and had signed a peace treaty twice.

“We thought it would end well, but we got it the way we did. She was even more furious. She ordered union members to withdraw from this union and join another. Not admitted to working groups where a unionist must participate. Then in 2019. in April He hired a legal specialist and stated: “I did not hire a legal specialist to be there, but to fire a person without any problem,” said D. Kietienė.

The woman has now received a notice that her position is being abolished. According to her, she was offered a job as a visiting social worker.

“I am the head of the department, who has a master’s degree. I offered a position as my employee. Everyone is aware that this is a way of dealing with it,” said D. Kietienė.

The manager said she strives for quality of service.

Jolanta Paukštienė, director of the Rokiškis Social Support Center, denies that there is a conflict between her and D. Kietienė.

“I myself have been working at the institution, in a managerial position, since 2018. August 18. Before that, for ten years I worked in the same institution, in a department, in positions similar to Diana Kietienė. We had no conflict then or now, “J. Paukštienė told Delfi.

The manager said that when he became a leader, he first reviewed services and decided to separate a unit.

“It was precisely the department that D. Kietienė ran. There, at the beginning, two services were combined: day welfare and home help. There was a large influx of customer complaints, we complained about the services, we even had unpleasant cases when the relatives of the customers went to the relevant instances for allegedly not being properly supervised by the employees. So I decided to separate the services to refine them. There was a distinction between day social assistance plus comprehensive help and help at home, which was left to D. Kietienė, ”said J. Paukštienė.

The Director explained that the agency was involved in a European project to improve the quality of services, and in 2021. expects an external audit from Brussels to verify its progress towards the targets.

“When I separated these units, the quality of services jumped throughout the center, but the complaints from clients of the unit where home help is organized continued. We conducted a survey. After consulting with the municipality representatives, it was decided to merge the separate units. Not only I, but also the municipality, we receive complaints from customers. With the approval of the Council, I would change the regulations of the institution, ”said J. Paukštienė.

The director said that the decision to merge the units was made after examining examples from other social service centers operating in Lithuania.

“I went back to the previous model. As head of the institution, I have a job function: I have to review all the services in the institution that we provide to the residents so that they are of high quality. I decided to merge the departments to improve the quality of services.

There is no conflict here, there are two unit chiefs and both are union presidents, what can I do? I don’t mess with them. For me, they are completely the same. But I cannot fire one because it is protected by the Labor Code. She has a child up to three years old, ”said J. Paukštienė.

The director of the institution classifies the accusations of psychological harassment as a lie. He also denied that he had just mentioned to D. Kietiene when he came to office that he would have to leave office.

“She’s lying, I couldn’t say that. When she got to the office, D. Ketienė began to explain that she worked with a higher workload, I have to pay her something. She talked about former managers, I was in no rush to pay anything, I explained to her To not make mistakes.

I can’t judge why he says that. (…) I don’t see any mobbing. Nowhere did the Labor Inspectorate discover that he had been the victim of harassment. Then he turned to a union. The committee wanted to challenge him so that he would not be fired. He handed me a letter, I filed a lawsuit. The court did not even examine it, rejected it and wrote that it is enough that if the head of the Labor Inspectorate has assessed that the employee agrees with the dismissal, then other matters will no longer be examined. I don’t like to hear such things, “said J. Paukštienė.