Grievance

Grievance June 2020

By Maripaz Berlin, Grievance Chair

May 2020

Member was notified of a change of assignment via mass email to school staff on May 10. The site admin  did not consult with the member ahead of time. The admin neglected to provide the member with written reasons for the change even after it was requested. The Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources was also not consulted. The admin provided arbitrary and nonspecific reasons for the change during the informal grievance meeting. 

The article violated was: 

11.5 Involuntary Change Of Assignments

 In the event that the site administrator is unable to affect changes of assignments through the voluntary change of assignment procedure described in Section 11.4, the site administrator may involuntarily change the assignment of unit members. At the request of the affected unit member, the site administrator shall give the unit member the reasons for the change of assignment in writing. Before any involuntary change of assignment is implemented, the affected unit member shall be consulted and the change of assignment shall be reviewed by the Assistant Superintendent for Human Resources. 

This grievance reached a Level 1. The Informal Grievance was brought about by the member and their Site Rep. The Grievance Chair, along  with the Site Rep and the affected Member met with the Site Admin and Asst. Superintendent of HR, Andy Garcia on June 1. We received a response on June 5 stating that the member would be moved back to her prior grade level. 

During the informal meeting, the Site Admin admonished the Site Rep for asking clarifying questions and for advocating for the member. The Site Admin told the rep "....the representative for the union is taking notes, but not asking questions; it's usually just the union member. You are here to take notes and to go ahead and provide feedback to ________ but not to be asking me questions, _______.”

 

Please note that as per our Weingarten Rights, OGEA is obligated to duty of fair representation, which includes bearing witness to meetings, taking notes, counseling members of their rights and speaking proactively during those conferences, in any and all of those actions representing our members. Preventing union representatives from exercising those rights can be considered an unfair labor practice.