UNION UNFAIR PRACTICES; DUTY OF FAIR REPRESENTATION – Mode or Adequacy of Representation/Advocacy

Single Topic for Decision 1918S


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800.00000 – UNION UNFAIR PRACTICES; DUTY OF FAIR REPRESENTATION
800.05000 – Mode or Adequacy of Representation/Advocacy

Union stewards made a rational determination that the Department's concerns regarding an employee’s productivity were a peripheral issue only brought to the forefront by the Department's other concerns with his behavior. The charge does not demonstrate that the Union's failure to file a grievance and advice to concentrate on correcting those issues which it believed were more likely to affect the employee's probationary report were devoid of honest judgment. An employee’s allegation that the Union violated its duty of fair representation by not filing a grievance against the Department when it denied him union representation during an investigatory meeting is dismissed. The charge does not demonstrate that the collective bargaining agreement includes a provision regarding the right to union representation in investigatory meetings and therefore does not demonstrate that filing a grievance regarding this issue was even possible. A Department received recurrent complaints about an employee and the charge reflects the Department provided the employee with consistent justifications for its actions including specific examples of the types of behaviors that were at issue. Therefore, the charge does not demonstrate that a union steward’s advice to resign rather than face termination was without a rational basis or devoid of honest judgment.