It is important that members, as well as stewards, understand the importance and steps of the grievance procedure to MCO. Important grievances and arbitration decisions should be discussed at monthly membership meetings and members should be made aware of how the outcome will affect them, directly or indirectly.

The four major aims of the grievance procedure and their importance to the union structure can best be summed up as:

• It protects the members' democratic rights on the job and prevents discrimination or arbitrary action by management.

• It gives the member a voice involving a disagreement with management.

• It gives the contract guts and ensures that the contract is properly applied.

• It gives one member the organized support of all members. Alone, no member has enough strength against the organized power of management. Acting through the grievance procedure, they have the collective support of all MCO members as represented by the full resources of MCO.