We are the United Steelworkers, North America’s largest industrial union. We’re 1.2 million members and retirees strong in the United States, Canada and the Caribbean. We proudly represent men and women who work in nearly every industry there is.
Shop stewards even make mistakes. Some of these mistakes are particularly serious. Here is a list of 20 mistakes that shop stewards make. Read them over. Nod your heads. But don't make them again!
Always wait until a workers comes to you with a grievance.
Walk around the worksite with a chip on your shoulder.
Pretend to know all the answers to all problems.
Give out false information or spread rumors.
Fail to keep members posted on disposition of grievances.
Violate company rules.
Violate the contract.
Always try to talk members out of filing grievances.
Present a grievance that isn't one.
Forget to investigate a grievance thoroughly before handling.
Blow up when dealing with the supervisor or workers.
Use profane language to intimidate the boss.
Argue a grievance by taking personal issue with the supervisor and directing personal remarks.
Miss membership meetings.
Bawl out a member in front of co-workers or in front of a supervisor.
Stall when workers call you.
Keep all the information to yourself.
Permit workers to push you around.
Enhance the supervisor's prestige by permitting the supervisor to use you as means of doing his/her dirty work, such as enforcing company rules or calling the workers down for minor abuse of certain privileges negotiated by the union.
1. Miss your deadline. You know what the contract says, but somehow you forget to file the grievance within the specified time. The grievance, in almost every case, becomes history. Two pieces of advice. Keep a calendar diary with dates marked in red so you won't miss deadlines. And if you need more time, ask for an extension from management and get it in writing.
2. Never get back to the grievant. This usually happens when the steward determines that the member has no grievance. Rather than be the bearer of bad tidings, the steward disappears. This is irresponsible. If the issue is not grievable under the contract, see if it can be resolved in another manner. If not, tell the member that the issue cannot be written as a grievance, and give him/her the reasons.
3. Bad mouth the union. If you have a problem with the way things are done or with your leadership, discuss the issue(s) in a rational manner. Get off the soapbox and see if the difference can be resolved. There's plenty of room for discussion and disagreement. But when it spills out on the shop floor or at a meeting when management is present, such disagreements can permanently weaken the union. A house divided against itself will fail.
4. Drop the routine fly ball. You are the steward with responsibilities outlined by the constitution and by-laws. You should not make basic mistakes. Grievances should be written correctly. Information should be shared. You should know your rights. If you are unsure or don't know the answer, ask.
5. Sit down and shut up at meetings with management. In your role as a steward you are the union advocate. This role is an active one. You are the equal of management. You may ask questions, ask for and get records to process grievances, and even raise your voice at meetings when necessary.
6. Lose control. A major no no. You or a member may be baited at a grievance meeting so that you will get angry. A steward who argues out of anger and not facts will lose the grievance. Period.
7. Write long grievances. Grievances should be short and sweet. Management is being paid big salaries to supervise. Don't do the work for them. Your grievances should identify the grievant, outline the problem in a sentence or two, state what article of the contract is being violated, and what remedy you want to make the...
Can Employers Change the Rules in the Middle of the Game?
For years, your employer has allowed you and your co-workers to play radios while sorting packages. But, one day, your boss says: "No more radios!" Your contract does not say anything about radios. Can your boss make this change?
Until recently, your boss has allowed you to stop work a few minutes early so you can wash up. Now, she says you have to stay on the job until your finish time. The contract is unclear about whether you have "wash-up time." What can you do?
You've always been allowed to use three sick days each year to stay home with your children if they are sick. Now your boss says you can't stay home unless you are sick. The contract specifically says sick days can only be used if you are sick. What happens?
In some situations like these, you can fight the actions of employers who change the rules on their own -- thanks to a legal principle called "past practice."
You won't find mention of past practice in any labor laws. The tradition of giving weight to how things were done in the past has been developed by arbitrators who rule on disputes over the interpretation of union contracts.
What makes something a past practice? The practice must be a customary way of doing things in your workplace that, while not spelled out in the contract, has been done for a long time, has been done consistently, and has been done with the knowledge and acceptance of both your boss and the union.
In the "radios" and "wash-up time" examples, the employer knows about and has allowed those activities for years. There's nothing about playing radios, one way or the other, in the first contract. In the second example, the contract is unclear as to whether or not wash-up time is allowed.
In both these situations, you would have a strong case if you filed a grievance against your boss.
It would be much more difficult to win this kind of grievance if the contract clearly prohibited the activity.
Take the third example listed above -- the practice of using sick days to take care of sick children. Here, the contract was clear. It specifically said you could only use sick days for your own illnesses. So, it would be hard to win a past practice grievance.
Cases involving employee benefits or privileges make...
Many stewards do the basic work of grievance preparation. They listen to the grievant, investigate the issue and then decide whether the problem is grievable under the contract.
Once the decision is made to go ahead with the grievance, the steward usually requests a meeting with his or her counterpart in management. The grievance is then presented in an oral or written form.
Here are some hints on what to do prior to and at that meeting.
1. Prepare the case beforehand.
Have your facts down in writing. Organize and understand your notes to guide your presentation. Be confident. Anticipate the company's argument and have your answers ready. Make an effort to talk to the worker alone before you meet the supervisor.
Talk the case over, if necessary, with other representatives, your committee people, or others who might help you.
2. Avoid arguments among union people in the presence of the company.
Once you are in the meeting with management, maintain a united union front. If you have a difference of opinion during a meeting, take a recess and iron the problem out in private. It does not look unprofessional to call a short recess. If the grievant looks as if he or she is damaging the case, stop the meeting and ask for a short break until things calm down.
3. Stick to the point, avoid getting led off on side issues by the company.
Insist on discussing the issue raised by the grievance only, nothing else.
Take notes during the conference.
4. Get the main point of the company's argument.
Try to narrow the area of difference between union and company. Listen intently and look for solutions to the problem that the company may feel it can only reveal by subtle implications, hints, indirect suggestions, or body language.
5. Disagree with dignity.
Avoid getting excited, angry or hostile. On rare occasions, after you have reasoned that there would be an advantage to the union, such behavior may be advisable. The steward is cautioned to keep him/herself under complete control less he/she lose the advantage. Donít get goaded into anger. When the company has no case at all, they may try to provoke you.
6. Avoid unnecessary delays. Justice delayed is justice denied.
If the company asks for more time, try to determine whether it is an attempt to stall or it is based on a sincere desire for more facts needed to settle the case...
As shop stewards we spend a lot of time talking -- preaching unionism; communicating important information about our job; educating members about critical legislative issues; or just telling members what they missed at the monthly union meeting.
We live in a talking culture. We forget to put things down in writing.
That's not what they teach in business school or in law school. Supervisors and lawyers have been trained to put everything down on paper.
It allows them to control what is called the record. If you go into a grievance meeting and your supervisor takes notes, chances are those notes will form what is called the record of the meeting. Your memory and their memory can be faulted. Notes cannot.
That is why it is important to get into the habit of buying a small notebook and using it in all of your capacities as a steward. Most important, use it while you are handling complaints and grievances.
In your interview step with the member, write down what he or she says. Don't worry about spelling. Just get it down. Use your grievance interview sheet to help write down the story.
The very act of writing the member's story down conveys a professional image of your role to the member. And just as important, the member will be more truthful in giving you the whole story -- warts and all.
Sometimes members think they are helping the steward by embellishing a story to make it more convincing. Our role as steward is to get the truth and get the member justice. The act of writing contributes to that goal.
Taking notes in the grievance meetings conveys a sense of no-nonsense and professionalism to your employer counterparts as well.
The employer's paper trail
Let's take this issue of writing a step further. How many of us have been in the situation where the employer has created a paper trail in order to build a case against our member? Verbal warnings and letters may be indicated on some kind of disciplinary sheet in the member's personnel file.
What does the member usually do if they are assessed a verbal or written warning? In all too many cases the member does nothing. Stewards and the local union itself must counsel all members never to accept discipline that the member and/or the local union feels is unjust.
The key to good grievance handling is a proper investigation and that process should start with interviewing the member who comes to you with a problem. Based on this key interview, you will make a number of important decisions such as what to do with the problem, whether to investigate it further, and how to resolve the issue.
We all know that most work problems are not very simple. In order to get at the heart of the matter, the steward has got to speak with the member and find out exactly what happened.
That means we have to develop three critical skills: interviewing, listening and writing.
If a steward is going to follow-up the problem, he or she has to be sure what happened. We must use the same interviewing skills that any investigator -- be it an insurance claims officer or a police officer -- uses. We ask and answer the "five W's":
Who -- is involved? Name(s) of the worker(s) and the basic work information about the member(s) such as department, shift, job title, seniority, employee number. Most of this information will also be needed on the grievance form. You also need to find out some other information: Who witnessed the incident or who else was involved? Who from management was there?
When -- did the incident or condition occur? Get dates and time as accurately as possible.
What -- happened or didn't happen? What did the worker(s) do? What did management do or not do? What happened in the past?
Where -- did the incident take place.
Why -- did the incident occur? In answering this question, you may have to sift conflicting opinion to get at the facts.
More Tips
Do it in person and spend time. Asking the five W's may not be difficult. Getting useful answers is another story. Your member may be so hot under the collar that you may have to wait a few minutes before he or she can settle down and tell you the whole story accurately and factually.
Take notes. Always take notes. You can't remember everything and taking notes conveys to the member that you are taking this issue in a serious manner. The member may also take your concern more...
There is no magic to handling grievances. Your membership expects you to give them a fair shake. That is one of the many functions of the union.
Your ability and credibility are the strongest attributes you possess to doing your job in a fair and professional manner.
To help you keep your eyes on the process and gain justice for your member, Here are 21 key points in grievance handling. Read them carefully and then read them again.
1. Know your membership.
2. Encourage your members to submit all grievances to their representative.
3. Discourage members from shopping around for a representative to file their
grievance.
4. If the member has a complaint, not a grievance, take the time to explain why it
cannot be processed as a grievance.
5. Do not make promises you cannot keep.
6. Know your collective bargaining agreement. Read and reread it.
7. Get all the relevant facts about a grievance and record them.
8. Make sure the grievant knows what the issues are.
9. Be honest with the grievant.
10. Separate personal vendettas from real grievances.
11. Plan your case and prepare at every stage.
12. Keep the grievant informed at every stage.
13. Try to settle the grievance early on.
14. Discourage the member from discussing a grievance with management.
15. Try to retain your member's confidence at all times.
16. Discourage your members from processing their own grievances or settling privately
with management.
17. Listen to the grievant--know when he/she is telling the truth.
18. If a worker has an obvious grievance and won't file it, find out why.
19. Do not take bad grievances.
20. Keep written records of all conversations. You will need them.
One of the most difficult jobs of any grievance representative is writing a grievance. Many of our contracts provide for the steward or representative to write the grievance on behalf of the member. By having the steward write the grievance, the union is better able to track the issue and control the grievance procedure. The member is better represented and the process is used to build solidarity in the local union.
Your grievance form
The first step of the grievance process is an informal meet and discuss meeting involving the member, steward, and first line supervisor. Your goal is to settle issues early. In order to be effective towards this goal you must make advance preparation. Use your investigation form when interviewing the member, and follow the steps in the "Grievance Interview" section. Review the section "A Dozen Points on Grievance Presentation". Take a pad and pencil with you when you meet with the supervisor for the first step grievance meeting, and take notes of each participants statements. If you are unable to resolve the issue at this meeting, let the supervisor know that you will need a verbal response by the second working day after the grievance was presented.
If the grievance is denied, complete the first step grievance form including the company's response and submit it to the Business Manager. Include a copy of the investigation form and any pertinent notes. The Business Manager will assign a number to the grievance and submit a 2nd step grievance form to the company. The contract states that, "If the Union does not carry a grievance to the next higher Step within ten working days after the Company has rendered its decision, the grievance shall be considered settled in favor of the Company." Be aware of timeliness issues and mark deadlines on your calendar for follow-ups.
Be timely
You must be timely in the presentation of your grievance. That means you should file it within the proper amount of time that is stipulated in your contract. Be careful of contract language. Working days and calendar days are different. Filing after the knowledge of the occurrence is different from having to file after the date of the incident.
When you write the grievance, limit the statement to basic information. Provide only enough information to identify the grievance so that management understands what the basic problem is, what violations have occurred and how the problem...
For most shop stewards, the process of handling grievances is pretty routine. We are out there on the property, every day making sure that management holds to the agreement.
And when the member comes to us with a problem, we check it out. We do the proper grievance investigation to determine whether the issue is really grievable under our agreement.
But what happens when we do all we can but the problem is not a real live grievance? It's happened to all of us. Your coworker--someone you've worked with for ten years asks you to file the grievance that just isn't a grievance.
What do you do?
Let's start with what you shouldn't do. Don't file the complaint or issue if you know it isn't really a grievance. If you do, you are transmitting three pretty poor messages.
Wrong Message
First, the member thinks you can actually achieve something with the grievance procedure that it isn't designed to do. The member gets the impression that the grievance is a lottery and every entry has equal weight. That simply isn't true and it is isn't fair to the member or to other members. Besides you raise expectations which you can't fulfill.
Second, it damages your credibility with management. Part of the goal of grievance handling is to resolve problems; and grievance resolution needs the cooperation of both sides. If you go to management with lousy grievances, you will quickly lose the company's respect. Your judgment will be called into question when you present other issues which might be very legitimate grievances.
Lastly, filing frivolous or poor grievances can make management retaliate and poison the relationship with the union on even larger issues.
What should you do?
Tell the member straight out that the problem isn't grievable under the contract. Explain why. Don't take for granted that members understand the union's role in handling grievances and what the repercussions are for filing frivolous ones. Explain what the process can achieve and what it can't. Talk about the bottom line issue of justice for all members.
Don't procrastinate
Don't procrastinate but deliver the news directly and sympathetically. Expect some emotional heat at this discussion, but listen sympathetically so long as you personally don't have to bear the brunt of any outburst.
Too often, a shop steward does not know the answer to this basic question. A member comes to you with a problem. They spell out an incident, an event, or a problem and then tell you to file their grievance.
If you respond immediately, in the affirmative, better read further.
Shop stewards and local union officers are vested with the responsibility of enforcing the contract for everyone in the bargaining unit. That is a right we demand as a union when we organize workers. To enforce the contract, the union negotiates a grievance procedure which is the chief way, but not the only way, we can get justice for our members. According to one survey, some 91 percent of surveyed union contracts include a grievance procedure.
The first question we need to ask ourselves when a member comes to the steward with a problem is, "is this issue a grievance?"
Strategically, we are asking is there any way we can deal with the issue through the official grievance network?
The textbook definition of a grievance is a violation of the terms of the contract or interpretation or application of the contract.
That's a pretty narrow definition of a grievance and one with which most union representatives might feel uncomfortable. But, as we all know, textbooks are not the final word on anything. So let's develop this definition a bit further.
A grievance is more than likely a violation of an employee's rights on the job, a right that is usually, but not always defined by the contract. In seeing a grievance in this way, we can understand better that the best place to look for a way to defend the member is in the language of the contract.
If you have any doubts as to the contract's importance on this fundamental issue, think about how your employer tries to chip away at the contract-- not just at contract negotiations, but every day. The employer knows that if all else fails, it is the contract that protects our members.
So for all practical purposes, every union officer must go back to the contract first when a member comes in with a complaint or a problem. The contract provides us with the strongest ammunition in resolving the issue for our member...
When any local union examines the number of grievances filed in a year, they usually report that most of the paperwork deals with the issue of discipline.
While we don't often challenge the right of management to issue rules, we are more likely to challenge the manner in which management enforces the rules.
In most cases of discipline, members have a right to a fair investigation and a hearing on the alleged infraction.
While details and procedures may differ in certain contracts, there are some basic rules which apply to all disciplinary hearings.
1. The member should always ask for union representation.
First and foremost, if a member is called into any labor-management meeting in which he or she feels that discipline may be assessed as an outcome of the meeting, they should ask for a union steward to be present.
This is right that a local union must make clear to its members.
Contracts and bargaining laws may differ as to how that right should be exercised, but the bottom line is that no member should go into this kind of meeting without union representation.
Few members are well-versed in their contractual rights, work rules, and limitations on managements' rights as a union officer. A steward has protected rights at any labor-management meeting when acting as a union representative. A member does not. That means a steward can say things and act in the kind of advocacy role that a member cannot. And that role is protected usually by law and/or contract.
A steward has two key roles at any disciplinary hearing: (1) to protect the member, (2) to protect the union and the contract. These roles are inter-related.
2. What should the member do if the meeting is not a formal one?
Unfortunately, many meetings which result in discipline do not appear to be formal hearings when they start. A member might be pulled aside by a supervisor who asks, "Would you mind stepping into my office for a minute?"
A member should always question the nature of the meeting. "What's up?" is the usual response. A better answer might be, "I will comply with your request if you tell me what is the nature of the meeting." or "Sure, just tell me what's this all about."
Keep the members informed on union policies and union activities.
Attend union meetings and union affairs. Encourage and bring the members from your department. Don't chide members for missing meetings. Think of other ways to communicate with them.
Meet the new members early, inform them, educate them, help them become members - make them more than dues payers.
Get your location to act as a union - have them stick together.
Act as a leader - do not let personal likes or dislikes prejudice your actions as a grievance representative.
Fight discrimination, whether it be overt or very discreet. Discourage prejudice of any kind.
Keep accurate and up-to-date records. Write it down.
Do not promise, if you cannot deliver.
Know how to refer to the union contract, by-laws, and international constitutions. If you are not sure, seek help so that you can become familiar with the documents.
Encourage and support the union's activities on behalf of organizing the unorganized.
Inform the membership of union services. Encourage them to take advantage of not only the services the union sponsors outright, but those that the union helps subsidize. If your local does not already have a community services representative, encourage the local in creating one.
Fight, whenever you meet it, the anti-union element. You can best do this by being informed and being dedicated to the labor movement.
Do not hesitate or stall. If you do not know, admit you do not know. Then try to get the answer.
Keep your workers informed on sources of information. Give pertinent information whenever a worker wants it.
In dealing with the management, remember that you are the elected or appointed representative of your fellow members. Never consider yourself to be inferior to management representatives. You are always their equal.
Be proud of your position. Remember you are a union representative of your local union which has the full support of tens of thousands of members bound together in an international union, with the support of millions of other union members.
Investigate every grievance as if it were your own. Keep the member...
For new stewards the first few days on the job as a union representative are critically important. You have to demonstrate to the membership that you can get the job done. Your members must feel comfortable coming to you to resolve work-related issues.
For new stewards the first few days on the job as a union representative are critically important. You have to demonstrate to the membership that you can get the job done. Your members must feel comfortable coming to you to resolve work-related issues.
