EMPLOYEE REPRESENTATIVES 1. The University shall recognize UPTE designated employee representatives who are members of the bargaining unit. The function of the UPTE designated employee representative shall be to inform employees of their rights under this Agreement, to ascertain that the terms and conditions of this Agreement are being observed, and to investigate and assist in the processing of grievances.
2. For the purposes of receiving paid release time as provided in this section, UPTE may designate four (4) unit employees as "UPTE designated employee representatives" at each campus/hospital/LBNL. Additionally, in the event a campus/hospital/LBNL has more than two-hundred (200) employees, UPTE may designate one (1) additional UPTE-designated employee representative for each additional one hundred (100) bargaining unit members thereafter, up to a maximum of seven (7) UPTE designated employee representatives. UPTE shall not designate more than one (1) UPTE designated employee representative per department of 100 employees or less. For each additional one-hundred (100) employees, or fraction thereof, in a department UPTE shall be allowed one (1) additional representative in that department.
a. The total cumulative use of paid release time for the UPTE designated employee representative shall be limited to ten (10) hours in any one (1) month. University-convened meetings pursuant to Article 10 - Grievance Procedure, shall not be deducted from this block of time.
b. The use of the maximum of ten (10) hours shall be for health and safety or grievance-related activities such as:
1) Review and discussion with employees and management regarding health and safety issues;
2) the initial hand-delivered filing of a grievance and the retrieval of University documents provided pursuant to a written request for information related to a grievance;
3) one-on-one meetings with a grievant concerning a filed grievance, or an alleged violation of this Agreement which is at the Informal Review stage of Article 10 - Grievance Procedure;
4) meetings with the University representative to whom written grievances are presented or to whom documents related to filed grievance(s) are presented/signed or with whom time limit agreements are achieved;
5) Informal Review meetings held pursuant to Section E. of Article 10 - Grievance Procedure;
c. A request for release time will be made to the UPTE designated employee representative's supervisor prior to the activity. Such approval shall be granted solely on the basis of operational needs and shall not be denied unreasonably.
d. At its sole discretion, the University may authorize use of release time for more than ten (10) hours in a month per department. The exercise of this discretion and/or the enforcement by the University of the ten (10) hour maximum shall under no circumstances establish a precedent for the UPTE designated employee representative or department involved nor shall the allowance of greater than ten (10) hours in a month for an UPTE designated employee representative have any effect or bearing on the ability of the University to enforce the ten (10) hour maximum on any other UPTE designated employee representative.
e. Should a question of possible abuse of these release time provisions arise, the University will so notify UPTE, and the parties will attempt to resolve the matter. If a question remains, the University may take corrective action when warranted.
f. In the event that release time granted under Section C.2.a. above is not sufficient for the representative’s duties and additional time is not granted under Section C.2.d. above, the employee representative may elect to use vacation time in accordance with Article 43 - Vacation, or leave in accordance with Article 17 - Leaves for Union Business.
