The administration and the union have been going back on forth on whether or not “academic matters” can be arbitrated or not. Here’s an interesting story in the Chronicle from a few years back about a professor from Alaska who lost a grievance. His union apparently had the right to appeal the general counsel’s decision to arbitration, but decided not to. Thanks to a reader for the tip. 4/17/2013.
It is often the case that when public employees enter into a collectively-bargained employment contract, they cut a deal that exchanges their individual rights to litigate employment-related disputes for a collective right to grieve/arbitrate such disputes. However, the collective right to arbitration can only be exercised by the union, not the individual employee. And, if the union chooses not to arbitrate, that’s the end of the matter — the employee has no further remedy under law.
So when does this become a problem? When a union’s priorities diverge from an individual member’s interests. It is inevitable that such circumstances will arise. The question is whether the trade-off is worth it. For the under-represented employee, probably not. But, the whole point of collectivism is that the individual’s interests, on occasion, must give way to the collective’s priorities.