Suspended After Management Refused To Let My Union Steward Join An Interview

Location: Pennsylvania

I work at a unionized distribution warehouse in Pennsylvania. Last Thursday a supervisor called me into an office and asked why a loading scanner assigned to my station had been found damaged. I said I did not know, asked whether the meeting could lead to discipline, and requested our union steward before answering anything else.

The supervisor said a steward was unnecessary unless management formally called the meeting disciplinary. He continued while another manager took notes. I repeated my request, but they said refusing to cooperate could itself be insubordination. I eventually explained that the scanner was already cracked when I received it and named the coworker who handed it to me. They had me write and sign that statement.

At the end of my shift I was given a three-day unpaid suspension for damaging company equipment and failing to report it immediately. The notice also says I was “evasive during the investigation.” Our steward was off that day. When I showed him the paperwork yesterday, he said management should have stopped the interview and that the union will file a grievance.

I have texts from the coworker saying the scanner was damaged before my shift, plus the suspension notice. Should I do anything separately from the grievance, such as contacting the NLRB, or should everything go through the union first? I am worried that signing the statement hurt me. This is my first disiplinary issue in six years, and I want to preserve whatever deadlines apply to the occurence.