11. Regulations
11.01 All regulations concerning employees in the Bargaining Unit shall be supplied to the Union and shall be posted electronically.
12. Adjustment of Grievances
12.01 Should a dispute arise between the Union or an employee and the Employer regarding the interpretation, meaning, operation, or application of this Agreement, including any question as to whether a matter is arbitrable or not, or an allegation is made that this Agreement has been violated, or should any other dispute arise out of the administration of this Agreement, an earnest effort shall be made to settle the dispute in accordance with the provisions of this Article.
12.02 When a dispute involving discharge, layoff, recall, or a question of general application or interpretation occurs, the Union and the Employer shall have the right to originate a grievance and Step 1 of this Article may be bypassed by mutual agreement.
12.03 The employee concerned may be present, if requested by the meeting, at any meeting held in connection with grievances.
12.04 Grievances shall be resolved with the following procedures:
An employee who has a complaint shall first present it verbally to the employee’s Supervisor accompanied by a representative Shop Steward. The Supervisor shall answer verbally within three (3) working days. Should the verbal answer not be acceptable, the complaint shall be considered as a formal grievance and submitted at Step 1 of the Grievance Procedure.
- Step 1: The employee shall discuss the complaint with the Shop Steward. If the Shop Steward considers the grievance to be justified, the employee concerned, together with the Shop Steward, may within fourteen (14) working days after the occurrence of the grievance or the employee becoming aware of the occurrence of the grievance submit the grievance in writing to the employee’s Department Head and a copy forwarded to the Associate Director of Employee Relations. An earnest effort shall be made by all parties to settle the grievance at Step 1; a meeting will be scheduled where required with the parties involved. The Department Head shall render a decision in writing within ten (10) working days of receipt of the grievance.
- Step 2: If the decision rendered at Step 1 is unsatisfactory, the grievance may be submitted in writing within seven (7) working days of the receipt of the Department Head’s response, to the Associate Director of Employee Relations and/or designate. The Associate Director of Employee Relations and/or designate shall render a decision in writing following a meeting of the interested parties, if deemed necessary, within seven (7) working days of receipt of the grievance.
- Step 3: Failing a satisfactory settlement being reached, as provided in Step 2, either party to the Agreement may within seventeen (17) working days of the receipt of the response at Step 2 refer the dispute to arbitration. Either party may, after a dispute has been referred to arbitration, advise the other party of its desire to have the dispute mediated. Mediation shall only be utilized upon mutual agreement of the parties. Discussions at mediation shall be without prejudice and cannot be referenced at arbitration.
12.05 The time limits set forth in this Article may be varied by mutual consent of the parties to this Agreement.
12.06 No grievance shall be defeated or denied by any technical objection occasioned by a clerical, typographical, or similar technical error or by inadvertent omission of a step in the grievance procedure.
12.07 Responses to grievances at all levels shall be forwarded to the Shop Steward filing the grievance, the grievor(s) and the Local Union President.
12.08 A Shop Steward or other employee who is a member of the Grievance Committee referred to under Step 1 or Step 2 of Article 12, or the grievor, or an employee who is subpoenaed by either party as a witness in an arbitration hearing, shall not suffer any loss of pay or any time lost in processing complaints or attending grievance meetings, mediation or arbitration hearings. However, such an employee shall not leave the employee’s regular duties to discuss any business in respect of a grievance without first obtaining permission from the employee’s Department Head. The employee shall notify the employee’s immediate supervisor when returning to duty.