COLDWATER, MI (WTVB) – A number of contract grievances involving five employees that have been filed by the Branch Intermediate Organization against the Branch Intermediate School District may be heading to arbitration.
Several staff members squeezed their way into the small meeting room at the BISD offices for Wednesday’s Board of Education meeting.
Branch Intermediate Organization President Larry Loviska said that four grievances have been filed and none have been resolved. He asked the board to take them seriously and do their research on them. He also asked board members to tour the district facilities and look at both sides of the issue.
Superintendent Joe Lopez said they were in the third step of the grievance process. If the matter has not been settled after that step, then it goes to arbitration and a mediator is hired. The side that loses has to pay for the attorney and mediator fees.
Lopez says there have been what he called three good meetings between the two sides. The exact nature of the grievances was not revealed during Wednesday’s meeting.
