ARTICLE 7.
LOCAL AND AREA GRIEVANCE MACHINERY

Section 1.

  (a) Provisions relating to local, state and area grievance machinery are set forth in the applicable Supplements to this Agreement.

Each Supplemental Agreement shall provide for a Regional Joint Area Review Committee.  The Committee shall review and consider any case deadlocked by the Regional Joint Area Committee.  The Regional Joint Area Review Committee shall consist of the Freight Coordinator from the applicable Region or a designee of the TNFINC Chairman and a designee of the Executive Director of TMI.  The Committee shall have the authority to resolve any such deadlocked case either by review of the evidence presented to the Regional Joint Area Committee or by rehearing the case.  The decisions of the Committee shall be final and binding.  In the event the Committee is unable to resolve the deadlock, the case shall be referred to the National Grievance Committee.

Unless otherwise indicated in writing to TMI and TNFINC by a Supplemental Negotiating Committee prior to ratification of this Agreement, there shall be no arbitration of discharges and suspensions.

  (b) All grievances arising under the provisions of the Master Agreement (Articles 1-39) shall be filed directly with the appropriate Regional Joint Area Committee.  The Regional Joint Area Committee shall have the authority to render a final and binding decision or direct the grievance to the appropriate lower level committee for hearing if the grievance is not properly claimed under the provisions of the Master Agreement.  The Regional Joint Area Committee must hear and decide such cases within ninety (90) days of the filing of the grievance.  Grievances arising under Article 9 - Protection of Rights, Article 29, Sections 1 or 2(a) and (b) - Substitute Service and Article 32, Subcontracting shall be expeditiously processed and may be heard at either regularly scheduled or specially called hearings.  A grievance may be filed by any Region whose members are adversely affected by an alleged violation of Article 32, Section 4(b) occurring within its jurisdiction.

  (c) It is mutually agreed that the procedures for processing complaints concerning matters of highway and equipment safety shall be incorporated in the applicable Supplemental Agreement, in accordance with the guidelines established by the National Master Freight Safety, Health and Equipment Committee provided for in Article 16.

Special Joint Area Committees shall also be created in compliance with the provisions of Article 35, Sections 3 and 4.

The procedure set forth in the local, state and area grievance machinery and in the national grievance procedure may be invoked only by the authorized Union representative or the Employer representative.  Authorized representatives of the Union and/or Employer may file grievances alleging violation of this Agreement, under local grievance procedure, or as provided herein, unless provided to the contrary or otherwise mutually agreed in the Supplemental Agreement and/or respective committee rules of procedure.  Time limitations regarding the filing of grievances, if not set forth in the respective Supplemental Agreements, must appear in the Rules of Procedure of the various grievance committees and shall apply equally to Employers and employees.

The Rules of Procedure of the various committees established under the Agreement shall be subject to the review and approval of the National Grievance Committee.

Section 2. Grievant’s Bill of Rights

All employees who file grievances under this Agreement and its Supplemental Agreements are entitled to have their cases decided fairly and promptly.  In order to satisfy these objectives and promote confidence in the integrity of the grievance procedures, all employees who file grievances are entitled to the following Rights:

  1. Grievants and stewards shall be informed by their Local Union of the time and place of the hearing.

  2. Grievants and stewards are permitted to attend, at their own expense, the hearing in cases in which they are involved.

  3. The Employer shall provide any information relevant to a grievance containing specific factual allegations within fifteen (15) days of receipt of a written request by the Local Union, steward or grievant.  The Local Union or grievant shall provide any information relevant to such a grievance within fifteen (15) days of receipt of a written request by the Employer.

  4. All cases involving a discharge or suspension shall be recorded, except for executive sessions.  Transcriptions of these proceedings shall be prepared in response to written requests by the Local Union at the reasonable cost of transcription.  No recording devices shall be used in any grievance committee proceeding except as specifically authorized under the Rules of Procedure or by mutual consent of the co-chairpersons.

  5. All Employer and Union panel members for each case shall be identified prior to the hearing.  No Employer or Union representative who is directly involved in a case may serve as a panel member except at a local level committee where there is only one Local Union subject to the jurisdiction of the committee.

  6. A grievant or steward may request permission to present evidence or argument in support of the case in addition to the evidence or argument presented by the Local Union.

  7. All grievance committees shall, upon request, issue a copy of the grievance decision or transcript pages containing the hearing proceedings and the decision to the grievant and/or a Local Union.

  8. The Local Union and the Employer may postpone a case once each, and any further postponements must be approved by the co-chairpersons of the grievance committee.  In those areas where there are presently local grievance committees, each party shall be entitled to one additional postponement at the local grievance committee level only.

  9. Unless mutually agreed by the Local Union and the Company, Local Unions shall file all approved grievances with the appropriate grievance committee or association for decision no later than thirty (30) days after the date the Local Union receives the grievance.

  10. A copy of the grievance committee Rules of Procedure, including the Grievant’s Bill of Rights, must be provided, upon request, to the grievant prior to the commencement of the grievance hearing.

Section 3.

All Local, State and Area Grievance Committees established under Supplemental Agreements shall revise their Rules of Procedure to include the “Grievant’s Bill of Rights” set forth in Section 2 above and shall submit their revised Rules of Procedure to the National Grievance Committee for approval no more than ninety (90) days after the effective date of this Agreement.  The National Grievance Committee may revise, delete or add to the Rules of Procedure for a Supplemental Grievance Committee in any manner necessary to ensure conformity with the purposes and objectives of the Grievant’s Bill of Rights.  The decisions of the National Grievance Committee in this regard shall be final and binding.

Section 4.

Discharge cases shall be docketed and scheduled to be heard at the next regularly scheduled Joint City/State/Supplemental Committee meeting.

Section 5.  Timely Payment of Grievances

All monetary grievances that have been resolved either by decision or through settlement shall be paid within twenty-one (21) calendar days of formal notification of the decision or date of settlement.  If an Employer fails to pay a monetary grievance in accordance with this Section, the Employer shall pay as liquidated damages to each affected grievant eight (8) hours straight time pay for each day the Employer delays payment, commencing the date the grievant(s) notified the Employer of such non-payment.

Section 6.

In view of the new Federal Regulations (383.51) pertaining to a driver’s overall record, when presenting a case involving discharge and/or suspension for an accident(s), the Employer may request on the record at the Regional Joint Area Committee that the driver’s accident record for the past three (3) years be considered.  The respective Chairmen of the Regional Joint Area Committee may consider the employee’s accident record within the past three (3) years when assessing disciplinary action if the Employer can present evidence showing that:

The driver who is subject to discharge or suspension was convicted of any of the following within the past three (3) years:

  A. being at fault in an accident involving a fatality or serious bodily injury;

  B. being at fault in an accident resulting in property damage in excess of $50,000.00;

  C. leaving the scene of any accident of which the driver is aware; or

  D. using the Employer’s commercial motor vehicle to commit a felony.