Common use of Use of Official Time Clause in Contracts

Use of Official Time. A. Local Officials 1. Upon request and approval in advance, a reasonable period of time in an on-duty status will be granted to accredited representatives of the Union to perform the duties of their office which are consistent with the Statute and this contract. Reasonable time, including the form it will take (block, percentage, number of hours, etc.) and whether a Council Officer may be eligible to use local time in addition to Council time, may be negotiated in a supplemental agreement. Local Presidents or their designees will normally be released to perform appropriate labor relations duties, subject to local workload requirements. In making this determination, local management will be sensitive to the obligation under Article 6 of this Agreement. Time used to perform approved labor-management functions shall be recorded on the time and attendance report. Official time will not be used for internal Union business, which shall be charged to leave without pay or annual leave. 2. When a representational activity is held at a particular time, the participants will be scheduled to be on duty during that time. 3. A Local Union President or his or her designee may be granted up to two (2) hours travel time for the purpose of traveling to represent a grievant at any worksite within the Sector where there is no local Union ▇▇▇▇▇▇▇. 4. Union officers and stewards will be authorized official time for all matters relating to the administration of this Agreement and labor-management relations matters, such as-- (a) investigation, preparation, and representation in regard to discrimination complaints and appeals; informal employee or labor-management complaints; unfair labor practice complaints; grievances/arbitrations under the negotiated grievance and arbitration procedure; and statutory appeals. (b) preparation and representation of the Union in labor-management meetings. (c) representation at adjustment of grievances, adverse action and EEO matters that affect bargaining unit members. (d) attendance at committee meetings as the designated Union representative(s). (e) review of and response to memoranda, letters, and requests from the Employer, as well as review and dissemination of instructions, manuals, and notices which affect personnel policies, practices, or working conditions. (f) preparation for labor-management meetings; Local Presidents or their designees will be granted two (2) hours of official time for such purposes prior to each meeting with management. (g) serving as technical advisor or assistant employee representative in hearings; there shall be a limit of one representative so designated at a proceeding. (h) attending hearings or meetings in the capacity of an observer where bargaining unit employees have elected to pursue a grievance without Union representation. Approval of official time for appropriate Union representational activities other than those specified above will be subject to review at the regional level. In this instance, time that is questionable will be discussed with the submitting Union official. If disagreement remains, the payroll records will be adjusted, with notification of the adjustment to the official. The action may be grieved beginning at Step 3 of the negotiated grievance procedure. 5. All official time for local representational activities shall be requested in accordance with the following provisions: (a) Local Union officials will give advance written notice to Management in accordance with (b) below. The requirement that the written notice be made in advance shall not apply in cases where such advance written notice would be impractical. Local Union officials will inform the immediate supervisor or designee on the appropriate form of the items to be performed (A.4(a) through (h) of this Section) and estimated amount of time to be used. If the immediate supervisor or designee is not available, the written notice may be submitted after the official time use. (b) The Employer will furnish the form which shall be used to request official time. (See Appendix VI) The Union official will prepare the form pursuant to this Article and submit it to the appropriate supervisor. The supervisor will endorse the form in a timely manner indicating approval or denial, retain one copy and return one copy to the requester; if the union official is not provided an answer to the request prior to the time requested, he or she may assume it is approved. If the request is approved, the Union official will advise his or her supervisor, either orally or in writing, as to the date and time of his or her return to duty and total number of hours used. The supervisor will then note his or her copy of the original request to reflect the total time (hours/dates) used and insure that such time is appropriately recorded on the Union official’s time and attendance report. The supervisor will also, at that time, forward a copy of the form to the appropriate Servicing Human Resources Office (LMR). (c) The Union official and employee involved shall also obtain approval in advance from the employee’s supervisor for any meeting during the employee’s duty time which removes the employee from duty.