I have no problem posting about it
Alright here goes, might be a tad long...
So as you all know, I was working at CN as a conductor, and was training down in Vancouver. We did 3 weeks of classroom training where i was 3rd out of 18 ppl, then we did two weeks of in the field training. This is where alllll my problems started. At CN, they are the only railway in North America that allows their employees to get on and off moving equipment, at a max speed of 5MPH. So they tested us on this. I wiped out haha, cuz my pants got stuck around my workboot and i bailed. No biggie I wore different pants the next day and did it no problem. It's funny though, they made us get on and off moving equipment, when in their rule book it states that it is not a requirement, but if you do it it cant be any faster then 5mph. Anywho. I got through the first week and onto the second. In the second week we moved cars, did some switching and tied on handbrakes (the big wheels on the rail cars that apply a set of brakes for the specific car). I had one stiff brake, applied it, wasnt tight enough, so I had to go up and tighten it, big deal. Anywho after the second week of on the job training, I went home (which is 4 hours away) for the weekend. I came back to Vancouver for the monday, expecting to do the rest of my classroom training. At lunch time, the superitendent of the terminal (who was never there at the on the job training) came in and took me aside. He said that 5 trainers had come up to him and said they were concerned for me (which is an outright LIE, I only ever worked with 3 trainers, the others were on the OTHER side of the yard with the other group,they never saw me). He said that they said I had problems with handbrakes (oooooh big deal i had problems with one sticky brake....wooptie doo) and i had issues with aligning drawbars (those are the parts that attach the cars together and weigh about 300 pounds) I only had problems because I had NEVEr done it before and wasnt sure on the proper way to align my body to do so, once a trainer showed me i had NO problems. UGH. So all in all he said he had to let me go. needless to say i was PISSED. They coudlnt have told me on the friday before I drove home and drove back!? And here is the kicker, the manager in charge of TRAINING was too much of a sissy to come and talk to me, he went and wined to the superintendent, when HE is the one who is supposed to be in charge of training. The guy is an outright P*ssy. Sorry. lol. Anyways I was outside having a smoke after i packed up my stuff, trying to calm down before I drove home, and one of the trainers comes up to me and says"I'm sorry to see you go, you were doing well, maybe if you just lose some weight, try and apply again". I was absolutely and totally blown away. Where does he get off telling me that!!!!!! I know guys that work with pete that have such a HUGE beer gut that they have to swing their leg out to get on a car. And he was HIRED at that weight! Just cuz I have a few extra pounds, im descriminated for that! I had a physical by a doctor as part of their screening process, and he said I was in perfect condition. I called the union rep right away. After I got home, he did some more digging over the next few weeks. He said that 4 other women, just in the month of october, in vancouver, were let got for the EXACT same reason as me. and when he looked at the people who were fired out of training across the system, over 50% of the ppl who were fired were women. Here are some numbers for you. Only 2.8% of CN's workforce are female. that is a LARGE percentage of women fired. The union rep talked to a lawyer with my case and 3 other womens cases, and she said, make a claim with the canadian human rights commission. The union has also filed a stage 3 grievence against the company, so we are just waiting for an arbitration board to be available, and im definately fighting this to the death. wow, that felt good to get off my chest
So wish me luck everyone!!! I'm gonna need it for sure!
