What is a grievance? A grievance is a violation of your Collective Agreement. We can get complaints on every aspect of working conditions in the workplace. Complaints involving a dispute or difference of opinion or interpretation between the Employer and the Union involving the Collective Agreement, is a grievance. There will be complaints that will have to be looked into. These can sometimes be solved without filing a grievance. Some complaints are outside the Collective Agreement. There are several types of grievances: individual, policy/union, and group.
An individual grievance is a complaint that an action by the employer has violated the rights of an individual as set out in the Collective Agreement, law or some unfair practice. Examples of this type of grievance include: discipline, demotion, classification disputes, denial of benefits,etc.
A policy/union grievance is a complaint by the Union that an action or failure or refusal to act by the employer is a violation of the Collective Agreement that could affect all members who are covered by the Collective Agreement.
A group grievance is a complaint by a group of individuals, for example, a department that has been affected the same way and same time by an action taken by the employer.