FAQ - All About Grievances
Not all complaints or gripes are legitimate grievances. To be grievable, a complaint must be:
If you have a complaint you think falls under one of these categories, you should bring it to the attention of your elected area representative. These can be found by following this site’s link to the BUFA Executive. The area rep will gather information, consult with the various parties involved, and take the concern forward to the Grievance Committee for consideration. If the Grievance Committee believes the grievance warrants union support, it takes it forward to the Executive for formal consideration. If the Executive agrees, a formal grievance is filed. Steps in the grievance process are detailed in Article 6 of the Collective Agreement.
A grievance is a complaint against the administration or the employer. If you have a personal disagreement with another member, it is not a grievance. There may arise member-to-member disputes, which can lead to grievance procedures – but again, the party grieved would be the employer. The Association has what is called the duty to fair representation. Simply put, because you are a member of BUFA you do not have recourse to civil litigation over matters covered by the C.A. The union, therefore, is obliged to represent the interests of all its members. In member-to-member disputes this can become quite messy. The Association must weigh the merits of both sides, but can decide to support one complainant rather than another, depending on the circumstances. Duty to fair representation obliges the Association to give careful consideration to any and all potential grievances, though not necessarily to support them.
Most grievances at Brandon University involve violations or differences in interpretation of the Collective Agreement, although alleged violations of employee rights and the Labour Relations Act have become increasingly common. Past practice can form part of the basis for a grievance, but only to resolve ambiguities in the C.A. To be considered a past practice, the circumstance must have been repeated over an extended time period, and explicitly or implicitly accepted by both members and administration. Violations of members’ rights are cases in which administration treats members unfairly or unequally. These can be hard to win unless documentation is very thorough and the case clear-cut. Generally, where members’ rights are at issue, there are other specific articles and clauses that have been violated.
The Collective Agreement outlines the steps through which grievances proceed. Note that it is important to make a serious effort to resolve disputes short of grievance procedures if at all possible. The grievance process involves a number of required steps, and these take time – unless, of course we are able to reach resolution short of arbitration. If a grievance is going forward on your behalf, then, it is a good idea to keep close watch on the time lines stipulated in the C.A. Administration is not always very attentive to these, but where they fail to comply, the Association can move the grievance to the next step. But again, grievance procedures take time. In some instances, by the time these procedures have run their course the proposed resolution has become somewhat moot. For instance, a Dean recently violated the workload article by removing a course from one member’s load and assigning it to someone else. By the time the grievance process had run its course, most of the course had been delivered. The most we could hope to achieve was an admission that the Dean had in fact violated the C.A., which we eventually got.
Grievances may be withdrawn at any time, "without prejudice." If, for instance, a member moves away, the Association might perhaps elect to withdraw a grievance even though it still disapproves the employer’s action.
When grievance procedures fail to achieve a resolution, the matter may advance to arbitration. (Note, though, that grievances may be resolved and withdrawn at any time in the process. In recent years, administration has agreed to resolution as late in the process as the night before a scheduled arbitration – the arbitrator and lawyers were already in town, prepared to hear the case). Most matters can be arbitrated by a single arbitrator, but in exceptionally serious matters such as violations of academic freedom a three member arbitration panel is required. Recently we have experienced difficulties getting administration to advance names for arbitrators in a timely manner. We have also had difficulty agreeing on arbitrators once names have been advanced. In the last round of negotiations, it was agreed that when we are unable to reach agreement, the appointment of arbitrator will be done by the Manitoba Labour Board. We hope that will expedite things.
Grievances need not be presented to arbitration by professional lawyers (many highly successful labour organizations argue their own grievances). BUFA’s current policy, however, is to rely on legal professionals in arbitration. And it should be noted that our track record is excellent.
You should be kept informed of how the grievance is proceeding at all times. But please appreciate that the only BUFA position that carries release time is the presidency. We will try our best to keep you current. And we don’t mind at all if you call us for the occasional update.
Members are generally advised to ‘obey orders now, and grieve later’ except (important exception) if the order is illegal, unhealthy, or unsafe. Again, consult your area representative if you are in doubt as to how to respond.
People forget. Get things in writing, and help assure that investigation proceeds promptly. If there are witnesses, get written (signed) statements from them. The better the documentation, the stronger the case.
Unions have the duty to fairly represent their members. That does not mean, however, that every grievance must be carried forward to arbitration. What it does mean is that the decision must be taken in good faith. Grievances cannot be declined or dropped arbitrarily or without careful consideration of their merits.
Members of the Executive must be free to express themselves vigorously if BUFA members are to have adequate representation. The Executive has an overriding responsibility to maintain the integrity of the Collective Agreement. That does not necessarily mean their relation to BU administration is an inevitably adversarial one, but it has been so misconstrued by some members of administration.
Those who suggest we are an exceptionally militant or 'active' faculty association when it comes to grievances and arbitrations might find it quite informative to visit, say, the Memorial University web site and peruse their arbitrations schedule. Grievances should not be viewed as purely confrontational, or failures in collegiality (although far too frequently, they are): they are the means by which the Collective Agreement is enforced, but also the means by which its language is clarified when interpretive differences arise. Viewed this way, grievances are the way member's rights are clarified and reinforced during the life of a Collective Agreement. Once negotiations end and a Collective Agreement is ratified, grievances are the mechanism by which fine tuning is achieved.
In all cases, the quality and thoroughness of documentation is crucial to the success of a grievance. So if you have a concern that you think may be grievable, keep careful records: dates, times, sequences – all are important.
The kind of documentation you should collect will vary from from grievance to grievance, but the kinds of questions you need to address are pretty obvious. Who is involved (names, addresses, phone numbers, fax numbers, email addresses)? When did it occur? Where did it occur? Why is this a grievance (exactly what has been violated)? What exactly happened or did not happen? What specific things would, in your estimation, constitute a fair and just resolution of the grievance (come on now, be reasonable!)?
Contact Maureen in the BUFA office.
