GRIEVANCE PROCESS
by Wayne Kubacki, Oct
2007 Beacon
The chain of command for the grievance
process is as follows:
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The member should contact his or her building representative
as soon as possible. They are your first line of defense. The
building rep will schedule a meeting with the supervisor and
all parties will attempt to come to a resolution of the issue.
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If the building rep is unsuccessful, he or she will then contact
the area vice president who will attempt to resolve the issue.
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If the area vice president is unable to reach an agreement
then it will be referred to the grievance officer who will then
reduce the grievance to writing and present it formally to the
supervisor.
This all must take place within 30 school
days from when the member knew or should have known of the act
or condition on which the grievance is based. Timeliness in filing grievances is critical.
If a grievance is not filed in a timely manner the administration
can refuse to entertain the grievance and the association has not
further recourse.
The executive officers of our association have
worked tirelessly on your behalf during the last school year, and
have continued to do the same over the summer, in order to resolve
more problems than I could possibly list here. As a result of their
exceptional dedication and hard work, the BEES did not have to
file a single grievance during the 2006-07 school year. This promises
to be another busy year with the teacher's contract going into
negotiations and all of the other issues that must be dealt with.
Congratulations to the para-educators on the ratification of their
new contract. Please take the time to read your contract. The grievance
articles are in Article 3 of the para-educator's contract, and
Article 13 of the teacher's contract.
