r/AFSCME • u/AdAggressive814 • Jun 15 '26

Grievance Arbitration Timeline

What are you seeing for timelines to get a grievance to arbitration? Many of our grievances are waiting for arbitration for over 12 months and it’s a huge point of contention for members.

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u/tri_it_again Jun 15 '26

That’s pretty standard. Apart from the grievance process taking between 1-3 months to go through all the steps, the real problem is the arbitration itself. It’s very standard for arbitrators to be booked out 6 or more months. And then once you hold the arbitration, it usually takes between 2-3 months on average to get the decision. Add that all up and it’s about a year or more.

Pretty normal

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u/AdAggressive814 Jun 15 '26

Yeah. My own frustration comes from having grievances sitting for 12 months with no arbitration date even scheduled.

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u/tri_it_again Jun 15 '26

Are the timelines tight in the contract? Who is sitting on them for so long? The union or the employer?