Page 16 - July 2017 Newsletter

Committee reports: grievances, unit reps and more
Greetings, everyone. I hope you are having an opportunity to enjoy some of the summer despite all the time-due restrictions.
A Grievance Committee meeting was held on June 22, and we had a very full agenda. There were 41 cases to review, and three ad- ditional officers came in to discuss their cases with the Grievance Committee. These officers were previously sent letters advising the rec-
ommendation of withdrawal of their grievances, and then the officers made verbal requests to appear before the committee in person. In many cases, the officers bring in additional records and information that were not in the original file. It is important that officers are aware of all steps in the process.
At the end of the session, the committee decided to go forward with 13 of the grievances, defer nine of the griev- ances and withdraw 17. The committee does not make these decisions easily; each case is judged on its merits
and debated until there is a majority consensus.
A Unit Rep meeting was held on July 7. The Unit Reps were given informational notebooks containing a wealth of information on the grievance process and procedure, as well as information on Safety Complaints, Award Nom- inations and committees. A total of 64 Unit Reps are out there ready to assist you with your contractual questions. I have talked with many of the reps, and all seemed very
prepared and ready to help.
As mentioned in my article in the May issue, the griev-
ance concerning out-of-grade pay for Acting Desk Ser- geants was defeated at arbitration for a second time. Unfortunately, this means that we must withdraw all the grievances that have been filed concerning Acting Desk Sergeants. I hate to do this (I had my grievances in too), but going forward on such grievances would involve in- surmountable costs as well as certain loss at the end of the process. Contract negotiations will be a much better avenue to deal with the issue.
MICHAEL GARZA
16 CHICAGO LODGE 7 ■ JULY 2017
Financial Secretary’s Report