ARTICLE 17
GRIEVANCE PROCEDURE

Section 17.01. It is considered by the parties that all grievances should be presented promptly, discussed without delay and answered within a reasonable time. A grievance is defined as a violation of a specific term(s) or provision(s) of this Agreement or of an established precedent in terms and/or conditions of employment. It is also considered that grievances should be settled whenever possible at the levels where the greatest familiarity with the subject matter exists. Any individual employee or group of employees shall have the right to present grievances and to have them considered for adjustment, provided any adjustments are not inconsistent with the terms of this Agreement and a Union representative has been given an opportunity to attend as provided in this procedure. Therefore, it is agreed that all grievances shall be subject to the following grievance procedure.

Section 17.02. Any employee who believes that he/she has a grievance shall, within one (1) week after the cause of the grievance is alleged or known to have taken place, discuss it with his/her immediate supervisor. The employee may, if he/she desires, have his/her Steward present during the discussion. The supervisor shall within three (3) workdays after the discussion, notify the employee or Steward (if present at the discussion) of his/her disposition of the matter.

Section 17.03. Step 1 If the appropriate supervisor's response does not resolve the grievance, then within two (2) weeks after the cause for the grievance is alleged or known to have taken place, the grievance shall be stated in writing on forms available from the Company or the Union, listing facts, reasons, Agreement provisions in question, and/or established precedent in terms and conditions of employment. The grievance must be numbered (by the Local Union Office), dated and signed and one (1) copy shall be delivered to the Department Head and one (1) copy shall be delivered to Employee Relations and Communications Center. If a grievance is not delivered to the Department Head within two (2) weeks after occurrence of cause for the grievance, it will no longer exist.

Section 17.04. Within one (1) week of delivery of the aforesaid grievance to the Department Head, the appropriate supervisor(s), the grievant, Steward, and/or Chief Steward shall meet to resolve the grievance. Within one (1) week after the meeting, the appropriate supervisor(s) shall give written notice to the Steward, with a copy to the Local Union President, of the determination of the grievance. If the grievance is not resolved, it may be taken to Step 2.

Section 17.05. Step 2 If the grievance is not resolved in Step 1, the President of the Local Union (or his/her designated representative) may, within two (2) weeks after receipt of the written determination in Step 1, submit in writing to the Manager Employee Relations and Communications Center (or his/her designated representative) a request for a meeting to resolve the grievance. Within one (1) week after receipt of such request from the Local Union President (or his/her designated representative), the Manager Employee Relations and Communications Center (or his/her designated representative) shall arrange to meet with the Union's Grievance Committee (grievant, Steward, Chief Steward, and/or Local Union President or his/her designated representative) to resolve the grievance. Such meeting will be held within four (4) weeks of the receipt of the request unless mutually agreed otherwise. The Union and the Company may have present and eligible to participate in the discussion any persons they so desire. Within two (2) weeks after the meeting, the Manager Employee Relations and Communications Center (or his/her designated representative) shall give written notice to the Local Union President (or his/her designated representative) of the determination of the grievance. If the grievance is not resolved in Step 2, it may be taken to arbitration as provided in Article 18.

Section 17.06. Discussions regarding grievances shall be conducted as far as practicable during the employee's working hours. Payment for discussions regarding grievances shall be compensated as outlined in Article 4 of this Agreement. All employees shall first obtain permission from their supervisor to be absent for such meetings and must report to him/her upon returning.

Section 17.07. Grievances relating to matters which extend beyond a single Department, Division, or Group may originate in the Step of the grievance procedure where management authority to settle the matter exists, but no grievance may be taken to arbitration until it has been presented in Step 2, except where time limits as described in Section 17.05 have been exceeded and then only if the party seeking to move the matter to arbitration has not caused or contributed to the time limits being exceeded or except as otherwise provided for in Section 16.05 regarding discharges.

Section 17.08. Whenever a grievance involves a group of employees, a committee of not more than three persons, which shall include the appropriate Steward and at least one of the employees affected, may be substituted for an employee wherever the word "employee" is used in the grievance procedure.

Section 17.09. It is agreed that the grievance procedure or time limits may be varied at anytime by agreement of the parties when such action appears to be necessary or desirable.

Section 17.10. The Union and the Company shall inform each other of persons authorized to represent them in grievance matters.

Section 17.11. Grievances of the Company or Union shall originate in the lowest step where authority to take appropriate action exists.

Section 17.12. The grievance procedure is applicable to all employees in the bargaining unit except as otherwise restricted elsewhere in this Agreement, provided, however, that terminations of regular employees during their first year of continuous service and terminations of temporary employees at anytime may not be the subject of a grievance.

Section 17.13. Failure to comply with the time limit provisions by employees or Union representatives shall invalidate the grievance. Failure to comply with the time limit provisions by Management representatives shall permit the grievance to be advanced to the next Step of the grievance procedure.