In all seriousness
Jul. 15th, 2014 02:08 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kaberettwho the hell am I supposed to contact given:
... because this isn't actually sustainable. I can't do my job without entering the building; I can't enter the building without getting poisoned, and if I were actually on a contract I'd be seriously thinking about constructive dismissal, but that's not how PhD stipends work.
(No, really, at least two hundred metres of corridor and the entire central stairwell are currently not actually usable by me without causing damage. The only mostly-safe route to my areas of work has no working lifts. I literally cannot get to my desk +wheelchair without exposure, or to my lab at all unless I time breathing very carefully. As for getting to my desk without chair, it's about six flights of stairs, which isn't sustainable given my joints. It is shit.)
- smokers are (illegally!) rendering my building so toxic that I can't actually enter/exit it without rendering myself unable to breathe
- an initial e-mail 4 months ago to disability services & building manager has resulted in no useful follow-up, and nor have the two most recent chasing e-mails
... because this isn't actually sustainable. I can't do my job without entering the building; I can't enter the building without getting poisoned, and if I were actually on a contract I'd be seriously thinking about constructive dismissal, but that's not how PhD stipends work.
(No, really, at least two hundred metres of corridor and the entire central stairwell are currently not actually usable by me without causing damage. The only mostly-safe route to my areas of work has no working lifts. I literally cannot get to my desk +wheelchair without exposure, or to my lab at all unless I time breathing very carefully. As for getting to my desk without chair, it's about six flights of stairs, which isn't sustainable given my joints. It is shit.)
(no subject)
Date: 2014-07-15 01:51 pm (UTC)It doesn't matter if she herself is a smoker. It might matter if she is one of the people who are causing the problem, because she might get defensive about it instead of doing her job.
However. It is part of her role to ensure that you can get your work done and that reasonable accommodations are made for you. "Ensuring people obey the law about smoking in enclosed public space" isn't even an accommodation, it's what the organisation should be doing anyway. Fixing the broken lifts is the barest minimum of reasonable accommodation.
Politeness doesn't really come into it - you have tried to sort out the problem yourself, you are meeting resistance, she is the appropriate person to escalate to in the first instance.
To me, HR and/or union are who you go to if your supervisor fails in their duties towards you. I personally wouldn't go to HR yet. I think it wouldn't hurt to contact the union safety rep and ask their advice, letting them know that you are escalating to your supervisor in the meantime. I also think it is fine if you don't feel up to that at this stage.
With my personal hat on:
The smokers I know who actually take account of other people's needs/preferences not to breathe in tobacco smoke are some of the best people at policing other smokers. A sort of "stop making us look bad" approach.
(no subject)
Date: 2014-07-15 01:57 pm (UTC)I think I'm also feeling a bit twitchy about the amount of pastoral work supervisor is having to do? But thank you -- this is all really helpful.
(no subject)
Date: 2014-07-15 02:08 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2014-07-15 02:44 pm (UTC)I know you know this, but... not your problem, not your problem, NOOOOT your PROOOOOBLEM. Sometimes I have one student at a time having a meltdown/crisis/pastoral issue, sometimes I have four or five of them at once. I *don't* get mad at the ones who happen to have their time-when-they-need-something-sorted coinciding with other people's: if I have too much to do in the way of pastoral duties, that's between me and my employers, *not* the students' faults.
(no subject)
Date: 2014-07-15 03:42 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2014-07-16 01:47 pm (UTC)