I will give you some background...
I am a single mum to a beautiful 4 year old girl, for the last two years I have worked for a national supermarket on a 16 hours per week contract. Last year I started a degree and due to a labour match my working hours changed to three evenings (4-8PM) and a Saturday morning per week. I was able to work these hours because my daughter was in nursery 5 mornings a week and my sister who had just had a baby herself was able to pick her up and mind her for me whilst I was at university and at work.
A year later my daughter is going into full time education and my university timetable is changing, I can still work two evenings a week and Saturday morning. Yesterday I put a letter into my personnel manager requesting that the third evening shift I work be moved to a daytime shift, due to the fact that I can no longer get any childcare for a Friday evening (as my sister has gotten a bar job). My letter was briefly scanned and she said that it was "not possible to work of a daytime on any department within the store and how does my daughter going to school full time affect my working hours?" Also due to another labour match taking place the store want me to move my hours from 4PM-8PM to 5PM-9PM, I do not drive and by the time I have bussed it after working these hours and collected my daughter it would be near to 10pm.
The thought of this is making me feel physically sick, I have tried to talk to my personnel manager in the past and have heard comments such as .."its not my problem, I have a business to run", "it is always you, who has problems with childcare".
What can I do? I don't even know how to approach this without getting myself upset and not being able to get out what I want to say.
I would be grateful for any help and advice anyone can give, I have never felt so helpless as I do right now.
Thanks x
2006-07-22
03:27:48
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14 answers
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asked by
Anonymous
in
Law & Ethics