GRIEVANCE FREQUENCY ASKED QUESTIONS

What is the grievance process?

Grievances are a tool to enforce our contract and resolve conflicts.  Any time there is a perceived violation of the CBA, the union or an individual can initiate a grievance. The grievance chain starts with an informal consultation; this step is intended to bring people together to discuss the alleged violation. (And remember, even though this step is informal, you can still have Union representation with you in any of these meetings!) If the issue can be resolved at this step, then the complaint ends.  But if the people involved cannot reach a satisfactory resolution, then we move to Step 1; here the parties again meet, except this time with legal representation. If there is not resolution here, then we can go to arbitration. This involves bringing in an independent party to professionally arbitrate the situation.

The answer here is simple: NO!  In fact, this is clearly spelled out in our CBA, Article 14.1.2, which explicitly states that "the parties further agree that no Lecturer Faculty shall be subject to reprisal for using the Grievance Procedure or for participating in the resolution of a grievance."

UNHLU-AAUP is the union for lecturer faculty at the University of New Hampshire. The views and opinions expressed are those of UNHLU-AAUP and do not imply endorsement by UNH.