One Grievance, Two Grievance, Old Grievance, New Grievance.

Over the past five years, we have heard about our school district and our teachers being involved in numerous grievances, but what is a grievance and how do these affect our school district? 

A grievance is filed when there has been a violation of the Collective Bargaining Agreement, commonly known as a contract, a violation of a past practice, or for just cause. The union or the district can file a grievance for any of the above reasons. It is most common for the union to file a grievance. Each union has a grievance procedure outlined in its contract. For the purpose of this blog, we will use the process that is found in the CATA Contract. 

In the CATA Contract, there are five levels to the grievance procedures. The Grievance Chair for CATA fills out a Grievance form. The Chair then begins the procedure starting with level one. 

Level one - informal meeting with the immediate administrator- This is where the CATA Rep, the grievant or the grievance chair inform the building principal that the grievance procedure has begun. If the grievance cannot be resolved at this level, then it is moved to the formal procedures and level two. The informal procedures must be concluded with in 20 school days to proceed to level two. 

Level two - The grievance is reported to the building level administrator and the director of Human Resources. The administrator must respond to the grievance in writing within 5 school days as to if the grievance will be resolved or denied. If denied the grievance chair will then move the grievance to Level 3. 

Level three - CATA has five school days to notify the Director of Human Resources that CATA desires to move the grievance to level 3. At this level, the Director of Human Resources has ten school days to respond to the grievance. The Director of HR is to meet with representatives of CATA in an effort to resolve the grievance. (THIS MEETING HAS NOT HAPPENED IN THE PAST 5 YEARS) If the grievance is not resolved at this level, CATA may notify the President of the school board in writing the intent to move the grievance to level 4. 

Level four - The school board President has 10 days after the submission by CATA to resolve the grievance The School board may meet with CATA to discuss the grievance. CATA may also request this meeting. The Board agrees to act reasonably in responding to such a request. If the grievance is denied by the Board, CATA has 15 school days to move the grievance to Level 5. 

Level five Arbitration- The arbitration is where a neutral party hears both sides of the grievance and then renders a decision. The arbitrator is mutually selected by the district and CATA. Although the contract has a time limit for an arbitrator to render their decision, decisions often take much longer. The decision of the Arbitrator is to be binding, although the district has the right to appeal the decision. 

Now that you know the process here are some more facts:

• The District pays splits the cost of the arbitrator with the union- the average cost is $5000. This mean the district pays $2500 and the union pays $2500.
• The District has an attorney represent them at the arbitration. Currently the Levin Legal group has represented the district. This costs the district the hourly rate of the attorney for however many hours it is to prepare and argue for the arbitration. The union does not pay an attorney as this is part of the membership dues.
• An Arbitration can last anywhere from one hour to several days.
• Since the 2014-2015 School year CATA has filed 78 Grievances - in the same time period Downingtown School District has filed 3.
• Out of the 78 Grievances files, 12 have gone to arbitration: the others have been settled between the district and the union- it should be noted most settlements have included the Levin group, therefore the district has had to pay lawyer fees for these settlements.
• Two grievances were settled but the district and the union still had to pay for the arbitrator since the settlement came too late to cancel the arbitrator
• The union and the district are currently waiting on three decisions
• Eight more are in the process
• Of the above eight decisions, six are currently at the arbitration level, one has a future arbitration date set, and one is at the school board level.
• 7 out of the 12 arbitration decisions have gone in the favor of the Union.
• At any time in the grievance process, a grievance can be discussed and settled. 

Looking at these statistics, it appears we have an excessive number of grievances, and that many of these grievances are not being resolved during levels 1-3 when doing so could be both easy and cost-effective. First, we would encourage the board and administration to look at root cause - why are there so many grievances? Why is the contract between the district and the teachers routinely being violated? School board members should be familiar with the contracts they approve, and be thoughtful about how policy changes, adjustments to the structure of the school day, and movement of personnel to new roles may have the potential to violate those agreements unless negotiated in advance.

And then second, when a grievance does happen, since a legal agreement governs how the two parties should act, why isn't there a simple fix during the first three levels? Why is CASD's HR department not filling its essential role during level three to resolve disputes and avoid board involvement or arbitration?

Finally, members of the public should be asking how much the district has spent on legal and arbitration fees related to these grievances, and whether all of this could have been avoided in the first place. The statistics seem to say that it could.

Written By: PSEA Member