It is important that
employees are treated fairly and receive prompt responses to problems and
concerns. For this reason, the University provides a grievance procedure to
promote prompt and responsible resolution of issues raised by staff and
administrators. This procedure may be used freely without fear of retaliation,
and the Office of Human Resources is available to assist throughout the
procedure. The process outlined below should be used if an individual disagrees
with a supervisor’s action including any disciplinary action. If the problem
involves Discriminatory Harassment, Sexual Harassment and/or Discrimination,
reference to those policies should be made to initiate a complaint. When unsure
which policy applies, contact should be made with a Human Resources HR
Consultant or the Office of Institutional Equity for assistance.
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Collective
bargaining generally includes negotiations between the two parties
(employees’ representatives and employer’s representatives). Collective
bargaining consists of negotiations between an employer and a group of
employees that determine the conditions of employment. Often employees are
represented in the bargaining by a union or other labor organization. The
result of collective bargaining procedure is called the collective
bargaining agreement (CBA). Collective agreements may be in the form of
procedural agreements or substantive agreements. Procedural agreements deal
with the relationship between workers and management and the procedures to
be adopted for resolving individual or group disputes.
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This will normally include procedures in respect of individual grievances,
disputes and discipline. Frequently, procedural agreements are put into the
company rule book which provides information on the overall terms and
conditions of employment and codes of behavior. A substantive agreement deals
with specific issues, such as basic pay, overtime premiums, bonus
arrangements, holiday entitlements, hours of work, etc. In many companies,
agreements have a fixed time scale and a collective bargaining process will
review the procedural agreement when negotiations take place on pay and
conditions of employment.
The collective bargaining process comprises of five core steps:
- Prepare: This phase
involves composition of a negotiation team. The negotiation team should
consist of representatives of both the parties with adequate knowledge
and skills for negotiation. In this phase both the employer’s
representatives and the union examine their own situation in order to
develop the issues that they believe will be most important. The first
thing to be done is to determine whether there is actually any reason to
negotiate at all. A correct understanding of the main issues to be
covered and intimate knowledge of operations, working conditions,
production norms and other relevant conditions is required.
- Discuss: Here, the
parties decide the ground rules that will guide the negotiations. A
process well begun is half done and this is no less true in case of
collective bargaining. An environment of mutual trust and understanding
is also created so that the collective bargaining agreement would be
reached.
- Propose: This phase
involves the initial opening statements and the possible options that
exist to resolve them. In a word, this phase could be described as
‘brainstorming’. The exchange of messages takes place and opinion of
both the parties is sought.
- Bargain: negotiations
are easy if a problem solving attitude is adopted. This stage comprises
the time when ‘what ifs’ and ‘supposals’ are set forth and the drafting
of agreements take place.
- Settlement: Once the
parties are through with the bargaining process, a consensual agreement
is reached upon wherein both the parties agree to a common decision
regarding the problem or the issue. This stage is described as
consisting of effective joint implementation of the agreement through
shared visions, strategic planning and negotiated change.
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