What Can We Grieve?

By Diane Walsh, Vice-President, Grievances

The KFA is charged with the responsibility, as representatives of the membership, to defend our working conditions. Filing and pursuing grievances is an important part of that mandate. When there is a difference between treatment of faculty and what we believe is correct according to our employment rights, then we follow the grievance processes under our Collective Agreement.

We can grieve the provisions of our Collective Agreement (of course) and we can also grieve all of our other employment rights, job rights and other rights under the law that are related to employment.

This includes our Employer’s written policy.

This also includes any unwritten workplace practices that have come to be relied upon by faculty members.

This also includes provisions of provincial and federal law that pertain to employment rights, such as the Labour Code, Human Rights legislation and the Charter, and the Employment Standards Act. (Where our rights under the Agreement are superior to the Employment Standards Act, our Agreement supersedes it.)

In summary, we can grieve:

• A direct violation of the Collective Agreement
• A wrong interpretation of the Collective Agreement
• A violation of University Policy
• A violation of past practices
• A violation of law including federal or provincial laws that concern our employment rights

One or more of these must be violated in order for the KFA to be able to file a grievance.

Finally, if there is doubt whether an issue is grievable or not, we consult our professional advisor, our Staff Representative at the FPSE.