Common use of Release Time for Union Activities Clause in Contracts

Release Time for Union Activities. A. Consistent with staffing needs of the Employer, the Employer agrees to allow stewards or local Union officers the use of compensatory time, annual leave, and/or leave without pay for local Union meetings, Union conferences, Union training sessions and State or International conventions. Employees absent from work pursuant to this Article shall continue to accrue seniority in accordance with the Seniority Article of this Labor Contract. B. Consistent with staffing needs of the Employer, leaves of absence without pay may be granted for the purpose of engaging in Union activities in accordance with the leave of absence rules of the Personnel Advisory Board. This leave may be for periods of up to 1 year. Requests for extensions of these leaves of absences will be considered on a case by case basis. These requests for absences, when possible, must be submitted 30 days prior to the requested absence. C. Employees shall retain and continue to accumulate seniority in accordance with the Seniority Article of this Labor Contract, while on approved leave of absence to engage in Union business. D. On the effective date of this Labor Contract and the beginning of each twelve month period thereafter, the Employer shall credit the Union’s release time account with 1200 hours per period. The 1200 hours must be used within the twelve month period and any remaining balance shall not be carried over to the next period. Union representatives shall be allowed time off with pay charged against the account consistent with the operational needs of the Employer only for Union business such as preparation time for negotiations and union officers and stewards training. No one employee will receive more than 20% of the Employer’s hours allotted. E. Notice for approved Union activities listed above shall be provided to the Chief Negotiator at least twenty (20) days prior to the release time to be used. Such notice shall include the name(s) of the employee, work location, and dates and time of such activity. The Employer shall respond within ten (10) days of receiving the representative’s notice. Such time off will not be detrimental in any way to the employee’s record and will be specifically taken into account when applying performance standards relating to quantity and timeliness of work. Time may be used in one (1) hour increments. Time off with pay will not be unreasonably withheld. F. Access to this release time shall be only by written request to the Chief Negotiator from the AFSCME Council 72 Director/President or his/her designee.