Air carrier Maintenance Technician reported being harassed by company representatives for reporting aircraft maintenance discrepancies.

Narrative

On the night of DATE and DATE1 I; NAME; at the direction of level 6 manager; NAME 2 and level 7 director; NAME 3 to my crew chief both nights; have been assigned 'hanger clean-up' duties as a punishment and an intimidation and scare tactic to put pressure on me for aircraft discrepancies that I have documented and helped work. On the night of DATE 2; I was assigned to out of service Aircraft X. While some of my coworkers on the same aircraft were working to install pressure panels in the XXX wheel well that had been removed on a previous shift; I accomplished a walk-around of the aircraft per the parking program job card on our bill of work due to the plane being on the ground for over 5 days. On my walk-around I found a nose tire worn beyond limits per our Procedures Manual as stated in the step to check the tires; the XX XXX steering actuator had evidence of leaking hydraulic fluid; in the XX main wheel well the hydraulic system B pressure module had evidence of a hydraulic leak; the XX inboard flap had a dent near the trailing edge; and the hydraulic line for the XX main gear shimmy damper had a notch chafed into it from a blue flexible line that was routed near the rigid line. I was notified by my crew chief; NAME 4; that management was not happy about the discrepancies and were questioning why the issues were only just now being found when the aircraft had been on the ground for more than 5 days. Managements displeasure with the discrepancies is outside of my control because I can only perform a walk-around inspection the best way I know to do one. I can't control what other mechanics may have missed; or what may have began leaking especially since the aircraft had been sitting stationary for several days. I witnessed NAME2 and NAME3 inspect the chafed shimmy damper hydraulic line many times throughout the shift. My coworkers and I continued to work the items on the aircraft we had been assigned for the night; as well as getting the nose gear tire changed. We accomplished as much as we could until turnover time at the end of the shift.The following night; DATE 3; when I arrived at work I looked up the Aircraft X in our online maintenance site called and saw that the chafed hydraulic line had been signed off. I investigated further because I was curious about what action had been taken and saw that a first shift supervisor signed off the discrepancy saying he had inspected the line and it was within limits. However; the reference he used for the inspection was clearly labeled that it was not to be used for hydraulic tubing. Due to the aircraft being in-flight to ZZZ at the time of discovering the improper inspection sign-off; I filed a safety of flight [report] through the company website and contacted the company MOD (Manager On Duty) to have the issue addressed as soon as it landed. The aircraft was taken out of service upon arrival and returned to service the following morning at XA:43 after having the hydraulic line replaced. The level 6 manager and level 7 director are aware of and monitor progress for all out of service aircraft at ZZZ each day. The same night; DATE 3; I was assigned to accomplish a service check on Aircraft Y with two other mechanics. One of the mechanics assigned with me; NAME 5; had found a massive amount of hydraulic fluid coming out of the XX main gear well. After taking a considerable amount of time cleaning up the large quantity of fluid from inside the gear well; we were able to accomplish a check to determine the source of the leak. We found the leak to be coming from a loose union and b-nut at the yellow system HP port of the hydraulic PTU (Power Transfer Unit) and the b-nut connected to the lower half of the PTU isolation coupling mechanism. Immediately after determining the leak source; NAME 5 and I went to look up the manual references for the correct torques and procedures that we needed; and the o-ring part number for the loose union. The references were difficult to find and we had to e-mail our engineering department to find one of the torques. During the time of our research our crew chiefs; NAME 4 and NAME 6; first notified us that management was watching us on the hanger cameras and questioning why we were not at the airplane. After ordering the o-ring we needed and finding the reference material we could (still waiting for a reply from engineering); we notified our crew chiefs and supervisor; NAME 7; of our progress and then took our lunch break. Before our lunch break was over; our crew chief came to us again notifying us that management was watching us on camera and questioning why we weren't at the aircraft. Just after that we received a response from engineering with a reference for the last torque value we needed; but we required more clarification from the reference they sent; so a reply was sent asking for more help. While waiting for another response; NAME 5 and I began gathering up the tools we needed and began working on the lockout-tag out and deactivation procedures required for the task. We finally got clarification of the torque we needed and began fixing the leak. We were able to replace the o-ring and torque the union and b-nut for the HP port; but we didn't have a wrench or crows foot big enough for the b-nut at the isolation coupling. By this time it was extremely close to the end of the shift; so we went into the office to give a turnover of our progress and document the maintenance we performed. NAME 5 and I clocked out 15 minutes late after working the leak all night. When we had gone into the blockhouse to give our turnover and document our work; our crew chief; NAME 4; told us that the supervisor; NAME 7; told him that during the shift there was a meeting with the 'higher ups' and that NAME 5 and I; had our names brought up and there was discussion about 'taking us off of airplanes because we write up too much stuff'.The next two nights; DATE 4 and DATE 5; were my scheduled days off. I came back to work the night of DATE 6; and the level 6 manager on duty was NAME 8; I don't believe the level 7 director NAME 3 was on shift. NAME 5 and I were assigned to work Aircraft Y with multiple inbound write-ups and bill of work items. We worked the transit check and 3 inbound write-ups for the nose and main landing gear struts being flat/low. With the addition of changing the #4 tire after finding a leaking valve stem during the transit check; we completed our assignments and received no questioning or pressure from management. On DATE 6; NAME 9 was the level 6 manager on duty again; and I don't believe NAME 3 was on duty again. NAME 5 and I were assigned to out of service Aircraft Z to complete engine runs for an operational check of the temp control system after a bypass valve had been changed on the previous shift. We were able to complete our assignment and get the aircraft returned to service and received no questioning or pressure from management. DATE 7; level 6 manager NAME 2 and level 7 director NAME 3 were back on duty and NAME 6 was the level 4 supervisor again. NAME 6 told my crew chief; NAME 4; that NAME 5 and I were to be assigned 'hanger clean-up duties'. After pushing back against the directive; NAME 4 agreed to comply. When NAME 4 presented us with our assignment for the night he explained to us that it was because he had been given the directive from the level 6 manager; and that when he asked supervisor NAME 6 why this was happening; NAME 6 admitted to him that it was because 'we write up too much stuff'. NAME 5 and I complied with our assignment and began to make sure ladders and equipment not in use were in their designated storage spots; pick up loose trash; and dispose of oil/chemicals that had not been disposed of properly. After we finished a detailed walk around of the hanger we took our lunch break. At the end of our break; NAME 4 came out and told us that he was informed that we were being watched on camera and that there were a couple of things that still needed to be picked up. An hour or so later NAME 4 told us that NAME 6 said we needed to be going around picking up trash; despite the fact that there was no more trash to pick up. This made it pretty obvious that our directed assignment was a loop-hole form of punishment and we were getting an 'I'll show them who's boss' type of treatment. That night we discussed the events with our union representatives so that they were informed of the situation. DATE 8; NAME 2 and NAME 3 were on duty again; and our level 4 supervisor was NAME 10. Again; the crew chiefs; NAME 4 and NAME 9; were given the same directive to have NAME 5 and I assigned to 'hanger cleanup'. DATE 9; NAME 5 and I were assigned to work Aircraft A. According to our crew chiefs; NAME 4 and NAME 9; this was only because they had to ask for permission to assign us an aircraft. We worked our assigned job and were told that we were being watched on camera. NAME 3 also came and stood in front of the airplane watching us while we worked twice during the night that I personally witnessed. From everything we have seen and heard from our crew chiefs; NAME 5 and I have been subjected to harassment; bullying; and intimidation all in an effort to make us second guess aircraft maintenance discrepancies that we are finding and documenting and working and signing off. Only the two of us have been targeted with this treatment; and nothing has happened to the other mechanics that have been assigned to the same aircraft as us as it relates to the events leading up to the harassment and bullying we have received. Neither NAME 3 or NAME 2 have had any conversation with NAME 5 and I about anything regarding this issue; which even further demonstrates the questionable ethics in their treatment of us. This is a completely unsafe work practice as well as a grossly unethical work environment to create for aircraft maintenance; and it creates a trickle-down effect because the rest of our coworkers at Hanger 4 see what has been happening to us and could potentially make them not want to document problems with aircraft for fear of ending up in the same situation. As aircraft mechanics; we shouldn't have to come into work and wonder if we are going to get in trouble for finding something wrong with an aircraft. This ultimately leads to potentially unsafe aircraft for our passengers and crew if the mechanics working on them are afraid to document problems.