Goodtime Food Products Ltd. produces processed foods including pickles, relish and canned vegetables. The production workers are covered by a collective agreement. Six months ago the company discharged Rano, one of the employees in the bargaining unit, after an incident in the plant. She had worked for the company for seven years without incident prior to the date of her dismissal. Rano worked at a packing station monitoring a machine that filled pickle bottles with small cucumbers. Occasionally, when there was not enough work, Rano had been moved to another job inspecting bottles. On the day of the incident, Ed Thomas, her supervisor, decided that another employee should be trained on Rano's regular job so that there would be a replacement available if Rano were absent. Because Rano spoke very little English, Thomas instructed another employee, Lucy Battaglia, who spoke the same language as Rano, to tell her to report to the inspection area when she reported to work. When Rano arrived for work and Battaglia told her she was being taken off her regular job, she became outraged and swore about Thomas. She then walked a short distance to another workstation where Thomas was speaking to another employee and swore and gestured at Thomas with a pair of scissors that were at the workstation. A few minutes later, Rano spoke to the shop steward. The shop steward immediately prepared a grievance. When Rano and the shop steward presented the grievance to Thomas in his office, he crumpled it up and threw it in the waste basket. Thomas told Rano to get back to work. Fifteen minutes later, Thomas went to the inspection area where Rano was working. Rano became outraged. She swore at Thomas, picked up a knife that was on a workbench, shouted and made slashing gestures about three feet from Thomas' lower body. Thomas left the area. The company discharged Rano later that day. The union filed a grievance challenging the dismissal. The matter has gone through the grievance process and is now before an Arbitrator.

Arbitrator's Decision

After hearing the Employer and Union arguments, the Arbitrator in this case ordered the grievor to be re-instated to her job and that the appropriate penalty would be a suspension without pay.

Question 1 There are many factors that Arbitrators consider when reviewing discipline imposed by an Employer. Outline the mitigating factors for this case that led the Arbitrator to that decision to reinstate Rano and substitute the termination with a suspension without pay?