A grievance occurs when your union local maintains that its contract with the university has been violated by the university's administration. The most common violations are lost pay and lost reappointments.

Once you inform us of a possible violation, we assign a steward to investigate, and if necessary plan a meeting with university officials. Often several meetings, formal and informal, are needed to resolve the issue. Our stewards work in close contact with you, and with advice from the UAW.

At times, the issues involved in a grievance could have an impact on our contract. In the most significant cases, we file for arbitration.

During arbitration, we present our position to a neutral arbitrator in a formal setting, as does the university's administration. Both sides can present documents and other materials, and in many cases both sides provide direct testimony from witnesses. At any time, both sides can agree on a settlement of the difference, ending the arbitration.

After listening to all testimony, the arbitrator decides whether a misdeed occurred and how to correct or compensate for it. The arbitrator's decision is final; it can be appealed only under very limited circumstances, and we cannot go to court to try again (in the contracts we negotiated, we and the universities' administrations agreed to submit disagreements to an arbitrator for final and binding resolution).

See also: Your Rights >>

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