Hello Brothers and Sisters of Local 2-232, I hope that you are well.

We have had a few incidents in the past few weeks with management and union members having heated verbal exchanges. This has been a problem in every job that I have ever had, and I know that we are all used to a boss losing his temper; however, in a Union shop it is a little bit different.

In the non-union shops I have worked in, whenever I yelled back at my boss I was the only one who was punished. In a Union shop you pay for representation. You get to tell your side of the story. The catch is that we have to request our Steward.

This is called our WEINGARTEN RIGHTS and this is a law.

“If this discussion could lead in any way

to my being disciplined or terminated,

or affect my personal working conditions,

I respectfully request that my union

representative, officer, or Steward be

present at this meeting. Without

representation, I choose not to answer

any questions.”

Reciting this sentence, or merely saying “I want my Steward,” is the best option for us when we are dealing with stressed out and angry bosses. Don’t get pulled into a yelling match with the boss, they are ready for that. This is not the first time that a boss has used this tactic on a Union member, we have seen this tactic used back through time. It’s one of the reasons that workers unionized in the first place.

It takes a lot of self-control to NOT yell back, but it’s the best thing we can do. State that we want our Union Steward, and stop talking to the boss, it is our best bet. Our Stewards have special legal rights that even a lowly Unit President does not have, they are our representative on the shop floor, so let them speak to the boss on our behalf.

I am sorry that we have to work in such conditions, but we do not have to put up with it like the workers in non-unionized shops do. Ask for you Steward, and you’ll be in a better position.

In Solidarity,

-Brian