As such, they often bring severe losses to those engaged in them and
inconvenience to third parties. In some instances, strikes and lockouts disrupt
the provision of products or services that affect the health and safety of the
public. They occasion much discussion by the public, and in some instances much
frustration and anger. The grievance procedure provision is the most common
method for resolving disputes arising during the term of the labor agreement.
Virtually all collective bargaining agreements include some form of grievance
procedure. The purposes of the procedure are: To settle disputes arising
during the life of the agreement. To establish an orderly method for handling
disputes. To provide for the union’s role in processing the grievance of a
single employee. To allow either side to appeal the results of grievance
negotiation step by step until a final and binding decision is reached. The
grievance procedure usually involves several steps, with the aggrieved worker
and representative meeting with the supervisor involved, followed by an appeal
system with strict time limits and ultimately ending in binding arbitration.
When management and the union cannot resolve a grievance submitted by a union,
the union must decide whether to proceed to the final step of the grievance
procedure: arbitration. Arbitration is an adversary proceeding like a trial in
court. An arbitrator’s function is usually to interpret the collective
bargaining agreement between the parties, not to apply his or her standards of
what is right in a given situation. The courts have sought to compel labor and
management to a peaceful resolution of grievances through arbitration. The
Supreme Court has given support to the arbitration process in a series of
decisions, and judicial deferral to arbitration has become a basic tenet of
national labor policy.
Bibliography
Byars, L. L. (1997). Human Resource Management. Chicago, IL: The McGraw-Hill
Companies, Inc. Mills, D. Q. (1994). Labor-Management Relations. Hightstown, NJ:
McGraw-Hill, Inc. Twomey, D. P. (1994). Labor and Employment Law. Cincinnati,
OH: South-Western Publishing Company.
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