Library Grievance Announcement
The first grievance filed under the CBA has been resolved prior to arbitration. This grievance began when the administration attempted to include holidays with the unpaid working days that librarians are entitled to in the contract. We got that part resolved through discussions; however, we disagreed over whether librarians (or any 12-month faculty) were entitled to the personal holiday that is established in RCW 1.16.050. Despite the fact that Human Resources documentation on the CWU Web site provided that the administrative interpretation of this statute did include 12-month faculty, the administration, effective March 3, 2006, maintained that the statute did not apply to faculty. So, we opted for arbitration.
In the last few days, we've agreed that the librarians will continue to get the personal holiday for the life of the contract. In future contracts, we will have to negotiate the item if we choose to.
This is a good win for us and the grievance process as well. We were well supported by our UFWS organization members throughout the process. We're very happy to have a favorable settlement sparing the expense of arbitration for such a straightforward matter, but would have done so had the administration continued with their action.