AR Handbook – 31 What steps should be followed in filing grievances? Many problems with contract enforcement can be remedied by prompt, informal action at the building or department level. An alert AR can prevent small violations from becoming a crisis by using his/ her own initiative. If additional action is necessary to protect your contract, steps provided in your grievance procedure should be followed. (Does your association need training in contract enforcement? NJEA offers a training package, available from your NJEA/NEA Regional Office.) Grievances Grievance Authority The contract embodies terms and conditions of employment, and benefits and rights to protect members individually and the association collectively. It is an agreement between the board and the association concerning the rights and obligations of each party within the boundaries established by law. The law which gives public employees the right to negotiate is the NJ Employer-Employee Relations Act, (NJSA 34:13A-1 to NJSA 34:13A-29 as amended through Jan. 4,1990) It provides: A majority representative of public employees in an appropriate unit shall be entitled to act for and to negotiate agreements covering all employees in the unit and shall be responsible for representing the interests of all such employees without discrimination and without regard to employee organization membership. Proposed new rules or modification of existing rules governing working conditions shall be negotiated with the majority representative before they are established. In addition, the majority representative and designated representatives of the public employer shall meet at reasonable times and negotiate in good faith with respect to grievances, disciplinary disputes, and other terms and conditions of employment. Nothing herein shall be construed as permitting negotiation of standards or criteria for employee performance. When an agreement is reached on the terms and conditions of employment, it shall be embodied in writing and signed by the authorized representatives of the public employer and the majority representative. Public employers shall negotiate written policies setting forth grievance and disciplinary review procedures by means of which their employees or representatives of employees may appeal the interpretation, application, or violation of policies, agreements and administrative decisions, including disciplinary determinations affecting them, that such grievance and disciplinary review procedures shall be included in any agreement entered into between the public employer and the representative organization. Such grievance and disciplinary review procedures may provide for binding arbitration as a means for resolving disputes. The procedures agreed to by the parties may not replace or be inconsistent with any alternate statutory appeal procedure nor may they provide for binding arbitration of a dispute involving the discipline of employees with statutory protection under tenure or civil service laws. Grievance and disciplinary review procedures established by agreement between the public employer and the representative organization shall be utilized for any dispute covered by the terms of such agreement. L. 1968, c.303, (7, eff. July 1, 1968, amended by L. 1974, c. 123)4 The local association, therefore, has a responsibility to all members of the bargaining unit to manage skillfully the grievance proceedings to ensure that the rights of members are not compromised. This responsibility is often referred to as a fiduciary responsibility. Additionally, the local association can continually reinforce the confidence of the members in the organization by effective problem solving and grievance adjudication. The responsibilities of exclusive recognition under NJSA 34:13A-1 et seq. are probably more acute in the area of grievance processing than in any other activity of the association. The law provides that the association “... shall represent the interests ...” of all personnel in the bargaining unit. Because of this provision, no decisions relative to a grievance may be made with regard to whether or not the affected employees are members of the association. Furthermore, as a responsible advocate of the interests of its constituents, the association must protect the rights of the individual employees. These individual rights must be weighed with due consideration for the interests of the bargaining unit as a whole. The integrity of the contract must be protected. Most of the time, the interests of the individual are the same as the interest of the group; however, when there is a conflict, it is the responsi
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