Your collective agreement spells out the process for handling grievances in the workplace – a process that both the employer and the union have agreed to. This means unionized workers have a better shot of keeping things fair and proper in their workplace!
In this lesson, you will learn about what a grievance is, and how unions address them with employers.
This lesson in a nutshell:
- Time: about 10-15 minutes to complete
- Text: read the text below
- Videos: TBD
- Optional quiz: Test your understanding!
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Understanding grievances: what is a grievance?
Every collective agreement includes articles that describe your workplace’s grievance procedure. They cover how the procedure is applied, how grievances are interpreted, and how decisions are made about the fairness of workplace discipline or termination.
To CUPE, a grievance is defined as “any difference arising out of the interpretation, application, administration, or alleged violation of the collective agreement or a case where the Employer has acted unjustly, improperly, or unreasonably.”
If the union believes that the employer has violated the collective agreement, the union can file a grievance with the employer.
The grievance is a written document normally not more than one page, that sets out the basic details of the violation the union is complaining about. The grievance may be about a matter that affects a single member – or it can affect the entire bargaining unit. Whatever the nature of the grievance, it must be related in some way to the provisions contained in the collective agreement.
The grievance process
After a grievance has been filed, the union and the employer will meet to discuss the grievance to settle the dispute. This is referred to as the “grievance procedure” and is different from the “arbitration procedure” which will be explained below.
The grievance procedure varies from workplace to workplace. Generally, the union and the employer will hold a series of grievance meetings, starting at the lower levels of management and working up to the highest.
At each step the parties will try to achieve a settlement of the grievance. If they fail to do so through discussion, the grievance can be taken to the next step – arbitration.
Arbitration
If the union decides to proceed to arbitration with the grievance, it informs the employer of this decision. Then a board of arbitration is set up to hear the grievance. Usually, the board is composed of three persons, one representing the union, another representing the employer and the third being a “neutral” chairperson.
The board of arbitration holds a hearing. At the hearing both the union and the employer present evidence to the Board backing up their respective positions on the grievance. The board must hear the evidence and then decide how the grievance will be settled.
If the members of the board cannot agree on the outcome of a case, the chairperson will issue their decision, which is final. The decision is put in writing and copies are sent to the union and the employer.
The written decision, called the “arbitration award”, is legally binding on both the union and the employer. If the employer were to refuse to obey the decision of the board of arbitration, the union would have the right to have the decision enforced as if it were a decision of the courts. This means that the employer could be found in contempt of court and could be subject to fines or even imprisonment. Given the severity of the consequences, employers do not often attempt to ignore arbitration awards. The arbitration award may be reviewed and overturned in the courts but only on very narrow legal grounds.
Enforcing the collective agreement is what it’s all about
The grievance/arbitration system can be used effectively to enforce the rights contained in the collective agreement. It cannot, however, create new rights or help to fill gaps in the collective agreement. Successful grievances start with clear contract language. Care must be taken during bargaining to ensure that the language negotiated at the table accurately expresses the agreement reached with the employer.