4/18 between 10 am and 11 am

I confront Andy(Boss1) and Sean(Boss2) about the gas leak on the dryer.  They agree that they smell it too.  Jim(Boss3) comes in and he smells it too. 

4/19 8:30am

I arrive in the morning to see the dryer is turned on.  I go up to clock in an immediately go to Andy about it.  I tell him it shouldn’t be turned on.  He says he thought I could print some numbers over there.  I tell him I would rather not work over there if there is a gas leak on the dryer. He says that Jim turned the valve off and it doesn’t leak when the dryer is running.  A few minutes later he shuts it down.  Andy tells me that Friday we have a lot of work to do. 

2:00pm

Andy turns the dryer on later in the day.  I tell an employee aloud that I might as well put a gun to my head.  Andy buts in … and asks what I said.  I tell him its suicidal working down here. Andy fusses and walks away. My co worker just laughs.  Later Andy turns the dryer off.

4/20 9:15am

An employee asks why we don’t use both presses today to get the work done.  I tell her that there is a gas leak on the dryer and we shouldn’t be using it.  She says she would rather not work around it.  I tell her she should go tell Andy.  At this time the dryer is turned off.  About 15 minutes later Andy comes down and turns on the dryer.  The employee comes to me and says that Andy turned on the dryer and that she was scared.  I tell her that I will talk to him about it.  As Andy walks past the darkroom (where I was working) I stop him and ask him if the dryer had been looked at and if it was safe to operate it.  He says that it was fixed.  I ask him for the paperwork from the company that came to fix it. He says he has it and walks into the bathroom and closes the door.  I ask him to see it while he’s in the bathroom then walk away to return to my job pin holing screens.  Andy comes out of the bathroom and I approach him again.  He starts to walk away to go upstairs.  I raise my voice to say that, “all four employees down here have a problem with this dryer being on while there is a gas leak. “ He stops and I get closer to repeat myself and Andy saying that he’ll get someone in there to fix it.

9:30am

Later an employee approaches me saying the dryer is turned off and being fixed.  The guy Andy said was from the pipefitting place down the street.  He did some work on it for about 10 minutes then left.  Andy goes upstairs and as everyone is around I sing a little bit of Solidarity Forever. I then go into a small bit about how our interests as workers are different then our bosses.

9:45am

 I come out of the darkroom to see a man on top of the dryer rattling the gas pipe while the dryer is still running!  I ask him what he’s doing and he says he’s here to fix the gas leak.  He then asks us for a lighter.  We answer that we don’t have one.  As he walks around I ask him what company he is with and for his business card.  He says he is a plumber and works for him self.  I walk away to attend to something and when I look around the guy is on top of the dryer and there is a fire.  He yells to get a fire extinguisher so I run over and get it and place is by the dryer.  An employee and  this guy smother it with t shirts and myself and the two others walk outside.  I then run upstairs to tell Andy and he comes down. Minutes later the other employee walks out too.

10:30am

After about a half hour of us ranting and raving and the smoke clearing out of the shop

Andy assures me that it is safe to work and that the fire was just burning t - shirt fuzz. He says that Jim called him in to fix but that he already called somebody.  We all go back to work.

2:30pm

An employee that works upstairs makes a joke, saying that he smells gas.  I start too laugh and he laughs.  Andy looks upset and calls him a Nascar Hillbilly. 

3:30pm

The employee then tells me that the gas leak had been like that for a long time and that’s why he didn’t want to work down there anymore.

5:00pm

At end of my shift I am finishing up a job and Sean is nearby.  I ask him if he knew about the shop fire today.  He says that he did and that it was just a small fire and was no big deal.  I tell him I thought that no fire was too small and that a fire was a fire and it could have spread quickly down here.  He asked me why I didn’t stop him from getting up there.  I tell him that I didn’t know who had approved this guy to work on the dryer.  I tell him that My co worker and I asked him who he was but he wouldn’t tell us and the next thing I know there was a fire.  He says that an employee said that I was inducing panic down here.  I tell him there was a FIRE!  I tell him that it is his business and he has to maintain safe working conditions whether at this shop and at the new shop.  It is a federal law.  I tell him I like to print shirts but this is ridiculous. 

Sean tells me that if I don’t like it I can put my two weeks in and look for another job.  I tell him that this isn’t a personal issue and that everyone working down here thought it was unsafe to work around that dryer.  I tell him that I wasn’t going to quit.  He then says he’ll just fire me.  I said your going to fire me for addressing safety issues in your shop. He says no I’m going to fire you for poor performance.  I reply that he just told me last week that I was doing a good job and that he likes that I take pride in my work.  He says he’s going to look in my file to see.  I ask him to see the employee file and he says I’ll have to show you on Monday.  He then says he’s going to be watching me and then says I’ll be fired for inducing panic too.  I tell him there was a fire and I repeat that he was going to fire me for addressing safety issues in the shop.  I reiterate that this is his company and he is responsible for maintaining a safe work place.  He says that the shop is safe.  I tell him that its not when you have a gas leak, broken flash units, rigged electrical sockets, etc.  He says the gas leak has been fixed.  I tell him that I don’t want to see people get hurt or even killed down here.  I tell him that it’s a federal law through OSHA. He says the best thing to do would be to be quiet, finish the job and go clock out.  He then walks away and I continue to work.  He then comes down when the job is ready and runs the job with me. I don’t say a word to him.  When the job is through he asks if I can stay to help run one more.  I tell him no that it’s past 5:00 pm and I have to go.