Inadequate Parking at IU – Grievance Settlement 2024

I can’t think of a better recent example of our union “Working Together as One” than how so many members stepped up when we called on you to provide evidence for our Inadequate Parking at Interurban Grievance. Members working at Interurban submitted over 150 unique complaints documenting issues finding parking. Of these members scores of them were willing to provide direct evidence at the scheduled arbitration. Your colleagues spent hours of their time, many during their Scheduled Development, preparing with our legal counsel. Some of you were even willing to testify from abroad on your vacation.

This is what solidarity looks like, and this is what solidarity can bring when we work together as one for something that is important to us all. My heart is so full and I cannot thank you enough. But I hope you’ll be ready to answer our call the next time, too (like during Bargaining!)

But for now, lets celebrate what we accomplished together!

These are the terms of our settlement, reached on the literal eve of arbitration:

1. By Fall 2024, all staff spaces will be reorganized into P2, P4, P7 & P10
2. Total staff parking spaces will be increased by 25
3. Improved signage & paint indicating which stalls are for staff
4. Enhanced enforcement during September 2024 & January 2025
5. Refund of parking fines paid by members from March 12, 2023 through May 18, 2024, up to a total of $2500
6. Ability to file a new grievance related to insufficient parking at Interurban directly at Step 3

I want to share a phrase from the agreement, “This settlement represents a compromise of disputed claims.” And it does. Part of the challenge both parties faced was the different ways in which we collected, collated, and presented our evidence to the arbitrator. Some important information came out during the hearings that we need to be aware of, should we be faced with having to grieve this again:

1. CCTV footage of any “available” parking is convincing to an arbitrator. We’ll need our own photographic evidence to refute theirs in any future grievance to show that there weren’t any spots available at the same time of our complaints. This counts for staff and public spaces.
2. The number of faculty members who have registered for parking does not exceed the number of stalls. (Yes, this blew our minds, too.) We realize that many faculty park in staff spaces and pay for parking by day to avoid the taxable benefit, but this cannot be tracked or verified at this time.

The employer put a great deal of significance on the fact that changes coming to College would be influencing the demand for parking at Interurban, and if true, along with this settlement, should greatly reduce the difficulty for faculty finding parking. However, if it doesn’t help – or gets worse, we will need to be strategic and methodical in our approach to data collection and enforcement of this settlement.

You’ll hear more from us soon on how to claim your parking ticket refunds and what steps we’ll be taking to track members’ parking experiences this fall.

-On behalf of you friendly Contract Management Committee & Chair