Safety and the Grievance Process

On October 19, two track inspectors were killed on the BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) rail system. The accident occurred during a strike called by SEIU 1021 and ATU 1555 after BART’s last best offer included language that would have eroded past practice work rules. The train that struck the inspectors was being operated by a non-union driver trainee, presumably being trained as part of a rumored skeleton crew for the busy trans-bay segment.

The specific causes of this tragedy are still under investigation by the NTSB, but the incident underscores the importance of work rules, especially regarding safety. Ensuring member safety is the most important job of any union, and rule compliance – whether by OSHA, contract or past practice -is the heart of that effort.

The best tool for ensuring work rule compliance is the grievance process. Of course every union local should audit their grievance process periodically, to be sure that members’ concerns are being heard and acted on in a timely manner. The power of the union is eroded where members don’t feel empowered to file a grievance, or where grievances can "slip through the cracks" because of staffing or organizational issues. This can be a challenge, but the heart of the union's value is workers' willingness and ability to effectively grieve their issues.

Locals should also be able to maintain and review real-time summary data on safety related grievances. (Example: how many "fall hazard" grievances were filed at Location 'A' last year? When you break those down to counts by shift and supervisor, does something stand out?)

Step One offers custom applications to make unions effective in addressing their members’ grievances. The applications can be designed to accommodate work rule enforcement, and to warn of approaching filing, meeting or decision deadlines for each grievance. It can also reveal counts by location, department, and other patterns in safety related grievances.