Welfare Note #3
Another offering in a series of "Welfare Notes" that has been created by the Welfare Committee which are intended to ensure that all members of the Faculty Association are educated, informed, or updated in terms of welfare-related concerns and their rights contained within the Contractual Agreement.
Know the Procedure!
To put the Grievance Procedure of our Contractual Agreement in perspective, it may be helpful to consider the following:
- The Grievance Procedure of the Negotiated Agreement protects those rights, that you enjoy as a member of the Faculty Association, which have been won through our collective bargaining efforts and detailed in the Negotiated Agreement.
- The definition of our rights as faculty at College of DuPage involves primarily the contents of our Negotiated Agreement, and in some cases, "past practices" here at College of DuPage. It is appropriate to problem-solve informally with our administrator when we believe there has been "an alleged misinterpretation or misapplication of a specific article or section of [our Negotiated Agreement]." Though not required by our Negotiated Agreement, informal resolution is an option to be encouraged.
- In any event, the Grievance Procedure is our (the Faculty Association's) problem-solving tool or technique and can be very helpful in seeking resolution of disputes about what has been agreed to by the Faculty Association and the Board through the process of contract negotiations.
- Only grievances between a member(s) of our Faculty Association and the Board (or its agents: the Administration) are recognized by and appropriate to our Grievance Procedures in our Negotiated Agreement.
- You can only grieve something once it has occurred.
- The timelines detailed in the Grievance Procedures (Section E 1 of the Negotiated Agreement) are very important. It was frequently stressed at Grievance Training: The view taken by most arbitrators is "If you snooze, you lose!"
