The Grievance Committee gives confidential help to dues-paying union members facing workplace challenges, including issues with supervisors, investigations, discipline, and disputes about working conditions. They can also offer advice to union members on work-related topics like shared governance, tenure and promotion, leaves, retirement, and more.

Our colleagues on the Grievance Committee accompany union members to meetings that could lead to discipline to make sure the contract is being followed. They communicate with UF officials to resolve issues informally, and if that doesn’t work, they assist union members through filing formal grievances. If necessary, they petition for legal assistance to bring the case before a neutral (non-UF) legal official in a process called arbitration.

A grievance is a formal complaint that UF violated the collective bargaining agreement. Grievances enforce our contract and defend our rights, both for individual faculty members and for the entire bargaining unit. Some examples of grievable actions include incorrect annual evaluations, significant changes in workload assignments, failure to follow tenure and promotion procedures, improper layoff, or infringement of academic freedom.

Most issues are resolved amicably before a formal grievance is necessary. With your approval, the Grievance Committee will first communicate with UF officials and try to find a resolution informally. If the issue is not settled, a formal grievance is filed. There are three possible escalations to find a satisfactory grievance resolution: Step 1 is a Grievance Hearing with the Dean; Step 2 is a Grievance Review with a representative of the Provost; and Step 3 is Arbitration before a neutral (non-UF) legal authority, who makes a final and binding decision. This grievance procedure is defined in Article 28 of our contract.

We are committed to protecting your privacy. If you’re a union member seeking help, you can rest assured that your discussions with grievance officers will always be confidential. The contract and labor law protects grievants from retaliation.

No. Under state labor law, the Grievance Committee is unable to represent faculty who were not already dues-paying union members at the time of the grievable incident or dispute – that is, before they received a notice of investigation, notice of discipline, or before an event or omission occurred that violates the contract. The Committee’s communications with non-members are not protected by confidentiality. Assurance that you can get help if you need it is one of many reasons to join UFF-UF today.