Editorial: The University needs to translate employee grievance documents

On Jan. 29, The Daily Tar Heel published a letter to the Editor from the Workers Union at UNC, UE Local 150 which poignantly illustrated the need for, and demanded the addition of, employee grievance documents in Spanish, Burmese and Karen so that UNC employees can more easily voice their workplace concerns. 

The letter also listed demands such as making these documents more widely accessible on campus, extended time limitations for filing and detailed explanations of labor laws and workplace protections be included in UNC vendor and contractor job orientations. 

We stand with the demands of this workers union, and believe that these demands are not only reasonable, but feasible and necessary for the protection of the rights of the workers who are the lifeblood and foundation of this campus. 

We have personally read over the grievance documents and, frankly, they are difficult to interpret — even as native English speakers. 

That said, in order to demonstrate that this University has the capacity, and ethical obligation, to translate these documents into the aforementioned languages, we set out to attain as many translations of the opening sentence of the grievance documents as we could. As a rag-tag team of Editorial Board members we were able to throw together the following list in just a few days: 

“In order to be eligible for consideration, your completed “SHRA Grievance Initial Filing Form” must be received by the Grievance Officer in the Office of Human Resources within 15 calendar days of the event(s) or your knowledge of the event(s) being grieved.” 

पूर्ण रूप से भरा हुआ एस.एच.आर.ए. प्राथमिक शिकायती पत्र, ह्यूमन रीसॉर्स (मानव संसाधन विभाग) के शिकायत अधिकारी के पास घटना के होने या घटना के आपकी जानकारी में आने के पंद्रह दिनों के भीतर पहुँचने पर ही आपकी शिकायत/अर्ज़ी पर विचार किया जाएगा। 

Para ser elegible para consideración, el Oficial de Quejas en la oficina de Recursos Humanos debe recibir su “formulario de presentación inicial de quejas de SHRA” en el plazo de 15 días de los eventos o de su conocimiento de los eventos en cuestión. 

Als u wilt vergoeden worden, dan moet u de  "SHRA Grievance Initial Filing Form" ontvangen worden binnen 15 calender dagen bij het Bureau voor Personeelszaken (HR) na het geval of uw kennis van het geval. 

Чтобы быть приемлемым для решения, ваш полный “SHRA Grievance Initial Filing Form” должно быть получено “Grievance Officer in the Office of Human Resources” 15 календарных дней после дня события или после того, как вы узнали о события, о котором вы написали заявление.

Ut possis audiri, vestrum expletum “SHRA Documentum Querelae Primum” suscipiendum est Custodi Querelarum in Officio Humanarum Opum infra quindecim dies eventi, aut cognitionis eiusdem. (That’s right, we could even translate it into a dead language.)

As a University with classes in over 25 languages, it’s a little absurd to think that it would be such a task to translate a few documents into a handful of languages — especially when the result is the empowerment and support of those who feed us and keep our campus pristine. 

If undergraduate students can compile this list in under one week, we know that those located in higher positions in the University bureaucracy can certainly meet the demands of their employees. We urge the administration to accommodate the needs of our employees in a timely manner.

We stand with the employees who are an integral part of our University community, and give you our greatest thanks for the work that you all do that often goes unnoticed. 

(Footnote: We would also like to give a huge thanks to the faculty members and students who assisted with translations and made this piece possible.)