A Grievance is the subject of a complaint filed by an employee to be resolved by procedures provided in the employee contract. Within the public sector an industry has grown to deal with a grievance. There are people who administer the grievance. There are people who make sure the grievance is administered correctly. There are people who scrutinise the people checking that the grievance is administered correctly. There are legal firms with a no win no fee approach who look after those making the grievance. There are legal firms who help make sure the organisation responsible for the grievance don't get hoodwinked by the legal firms looking after the person who made the grievance. There is only 1 group of people who pay for this the council tax payer. The mis-use of the public sector grievance costs the tax payer £000000s. A cause of a grievance can be traced to 1 of 4 sources:

• Political correctness;
• Health & Safety;
• Crap management;
• A belief that you are good at your job when you are not.

So here are 3 stories of grievances from local councils in the UK.

(i) The Bomb Squad

This council's canteen is segregated along racial lines. The council involved was given a 4* excellence rating by the CPA and preaches multi-culturism. In the last local election the BNP acquired a seat. At lunch time the Hindus sat together while the Muslims kept themselves to the themselves. The Hindus would watch the Muslim chaps go for a walk together around the council grounds. The strap line was 'there goes the bomb squad'. A senior Manager who was white had a quiet word to politely ask the Hindu chap involved to refrain from commiting islamaphobia. He didn't listen so the manager complained and raised a grievance. In response the Hindu chap raised a grievance accusing the white British manager of discrimination because he let the Muslim chaps take a break for prayers and told him off for taking excessive cigarette breaks.

(ii) Hangover

IT project managers love their alcohol and normally keep a good supply of paracetamols for the day after. On this particular occasion the project manager involved did not have any. So he went around the office asking for pills. His manager a right jobsworth spotted a member of the team handing over a couple of pills. She said it was against health and safety policy as someone could go around the office to collect pills, take an overdose and the company could be liable for their demise. The rules were there to prevent IT project managers inadvertently committing suicide and to protect the council from the costs of challenging a subsquent litigation. The members of staff involved ignored the request to refrain from issuing 2 tablets and the senior office put in a grievance citing insubordination and their authority not being recognised.

(iii) Manual Handling

Manual handling is the term to used to describe techniques for picking stuff up and moving things around without causing yourself an injury. This council opened a new Community and Sports Centre and employed a maintenance man. The union insisted all staff attended a manual handling course. A couple of weeks before the centre opened the General Manager Asked the maintenance man on his first day to walk around the centre and identify all the maintenance jobs that needed to be done. Some of these jobs involved moving a couple of fridges and installing a couple of dishwashers. No different from the type of equipment you find in any home. The maintenance operative put in a grievance on the grounds the General Manager asked him to do stuff that involved moving heavy stuff around.

I say send in Terry Tate Office Linebacker to end this stoopidness http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17jplpjCaec