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The services performed by City employees included herein are essential to the public health, safety and welfare. The Union and the City, therefore, agree there shall be no strikes, no interruption of the work for any cause whatsoever, nor any work slowdown or other interference with the delivery of services to the public. For the purpose of this agreement, a “strike” means, concerted action in failing to report to duty; willful absence from one's position; stoppage of work; slowdown; or abstinence in whole or in part from the full, faithful, and proper performance of the duties of employment for the purpose of inducing, influencing, or coercing a change in wages, hours, terms and other conditions of employment. Stoppage of work by employees in good faith because of dangerous or unhealthful working conditions at the place of employment which are abnormal to the place of employment shall not be deemed a strike.
Employees may be required to go through picket lines where an emergency requires them to do so to protect the public health, safety and welfare; but only after proper arrangements have been made so as not to cause the employee(s) to be considered strikebreakers and to properly protect them from any possible bodily harm.
The City will not engage in a lockout of the employees during the term of this Agreement. For the purpose of this Agreement, a “lockout” means preventing an employee from performing their regularly assigned duties as a means of bringing pressure on the employee or an employee organization to compromise or capitulate to the employer's terms regarding a labor relations dispute.
GRIEVANCE PROCEDURE
It is the mutual desire of the City and the Union to provide for the prompt adjustment of grievances in a fair and reasonable manner, with a minimum amount of interruption of work schedules. Every reasonable effort shall be made by both the City and the Union to effect the resolution of grievances at the earliest step possible. Grievance awards that specify the individual(s) to be paid and the amount shall be issued by the next full pay period after the award date. An award may be made in compensatory time at the employees discretion if so specified in the grievance.
(a) The recognized levels of management under the grievance procedure are as follows: the operational unit (Fire Communica tions or Police Communications), the Department (Fire or Police), and the Department of Human Resources.
(b) Definitions. Disputes involving interpretation, application, or enforcement of the terms of this agreement shall constitute a grievance under the provisions set forth herein.
For the purpose of this section, the term “days” is defined as Monday through Friday, excluding holidays. Appeals and responses at the various steps shall be considered submitted or received on the actual date of receipt, unless sent via U.S. mail in which case the date of posting shall be considered the date of receipt.
(c) Grievance Steps
STEP 1: When a dispute arises from action taken at the operational unit level, the employee and the Union representative shall discuss the matter with the responsible supervisor within seven (7) working days after the existence of the dispute is known to the employee. The responsible supervisor may respond within seven (7) workdays of the discussion. If the responsible supervisor fails to respond in the time frame allowed, the employee has the right to proceed to Step Two. Each operational unit will designate in writing to the Steward and Chief Steward the position(s) to whom grievances are to be presented at this step. Once designated by the operational unit, it is the Union's responsibility to advise new Stewards of the designations. The Union representative presenting the grievance will be immediately advised if the discussion of the grievance needs to occur at another supervisory level. So long as the grievance is presented to the designated operational unit representative in a timely manner the grievance will be considered timely.
When the dispute is resolved at the operational unit level, the responsible supervisor and the Union representative shall reduce the grievance and answer to writing within five (5) working days. Both the responsible supervisor and Union representative shall sign the grievance report.
STEP 2: When the dispute is not settled at the operational level, the Union representative shall reduce the grievance to writing and submit it to the chief of the department or his/her designee who has jurisdiction of the alleged infraction within ten (10) working days after the answer at the operational unit level. The grievance shall be submitted on an approved form and must specify the section of the contract at issue, how the section has been violated, and when the violation occurred. The chief or the designee thereof may at his option conduct a hearing on the grievance. If so, the hearing will be scheduled within ten (10) workdays with a decision required in ten (10) workdays following the day of the hearing. If there is no hearing, a decision shall be issued within ten (10) workdays of the submission at the second step. The grievance shall be returned to the Steward with the decision.
STEP 3: A grievance which is unresolved through steps one and two shall at the instance of the Union be submitted in writing to the Department of Human Resources within ten (10) work days of the decision in Step 2. The assigned hearing officer shall contact the Union's Chief Steward within ten (10) workdays of receipt of the appeal with dates for scheduling a Step 3 hearing. The hearing shall then be held within thirty (30) workdays of the date the Step 3 grievance was submitted to Human Resources. A written decision to be issued within ten (10) workdays thereafter, except where the parties have agreed to forego a hearing. If no hearing is set, a decision shall be issued within ten (10) workdays of the agreement to forego a hearing. A copy of the decision shall be submitted to the Union hall, employee's steward, divisional steward and the employee. The failure to submit a copy to any party except to the Union hall, or the failure to do so in a timely fashion, except to the Union hall, shall not constitute a violation of Section 2115.25, “Failure to Answer or Appeal”.
(d) General Provisions
A grievance may be advanced to any step of the grievance procedure up to and including arbitration by mutual consent of the parties.
When a dispute arises from action taken above the operational unit level, the Union shall reduce the grievance to writing and submit it to the level of management where the dispute occurred. Said dispute must be brought to the attention of the responsible level of management within ten (10) workdays after the date the Union has gained knowledge that a dispute exists. A hearing to resolve said dispute will be scheduled within ten (10) workdays with a written decision required in ten (10) workdays following the hearing.
The Union has the authority to attempt settlement with the City at any step of the procedure and any settlement reached shall be binding upon all parties.
(a) If it is the decision of the Union to submit the grievance to arbitration, then the Union shall notify the Department of Human Resources in writing within fifteen (15) workdays after the final answer of the City has been received by the Union. All such appeals shall be submitted to the Labor Management Forum under paragraph B unless the parties mutually agree otherwise.
Within seven (7) calendar days after this notification, the Union or the City shall provide written notification to the other if the use of expedited arbitration under Section 2115.24 is desired. The parties will confer within seven (7) calendar days thereafter to decide if the expedited labor arbitration process is to be used, as set forth in this contract. If neither side requests expedited arbitration or the parties do not agree upon same, then the following process is to be followed.
(b) Two (2) representatives from the Union and two (2) from the City shall meet on a bi-monthly basis to discuss grievances appealed to arbitration since their last session and any other matters mutually agreed upon. Where more than two (2) representatives are needed to effectively deal with items on the agenda, up to two (2) more may attend from each side provided two (2) days advance notice is supplied of this need. The meetings shall serve as a forum for discussing the potential for resolving pending disputes. Information exchanged or positions taken may not serve as admissions in any later arbitrations or other legal proceedings.
Grievances not resolved in the forum may by mutual agreement still be submitted to Expedited Arbitration under Section 2115.24, or may be submitted by the Union to binding arbitration pursuant to part (c) of this section. The Union must confirm in writing within thirty (30) calendar days from the date of this labor- management forum that the grievance will proceed to arbitration; otherwise, the grievance will be considered as resolved based on the City's answer to the grievance.
(c) A list of seven (7) arbitrators shall be requested from the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS) or another mutually agreed source. Unless otherwise agreed, any list from FMCS shall be requested from the Northern Ohio and Michigan Sub Regions. After receipt of the list, either party may submit a written request to the non-moving party to strike a panel. The City and the Union shall alternately strike one (1) name from the list. The side to strike the first name shall be chosen by lot. If the non- moving party fails to strike the panel within twenty (20) workdays of receipt of the written request, then the moving party has the right to submit its preference in accordance with federal FMCS policies. The non-moving party shall have fourteen (14) calendar days to respond to the moving party's preference.
(d) The Arbitrator shall conduct a hearing within a reasonable time of his selection, at a time, date and place mutually agreed to by the parties. The Arbitrator shall render a decision within a reasonable time of the conclusion of the hearing, unless the parties agree to an extension. The Arbitrator shall not amend, add to or delete any of the provisions of this Agreement.
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