Stewards

Strategic Grievance Handling

Imagine a doctor who tells every patient to take aspirin no matter what the aliment, or a carpenter whose only tool is a hammer. Rather than "prescribe" a written grievance for every problem your co-workers encounter on the job, or view every workplace issue as a "nail" that needs pounding, you can be more thoughtful and strategic - and strengthen your union and its ability to fight for the workers - by asking and answering questions like this:

What is the source of the problem? Let's say you are about to file your umpteenth grievance over an incident where a member curses out a supervisor - a supervisor who routinely provokes these incidents by "forgetting" to talk to employees with the proper respect. Does one more grievance challenging the discipline do anything to attack the source of the problem? A more strategic approach might be a group grievance about the supervisors' unacceptable behavior.

STEWARD TIPS !

Negotiating in the Grievance Process

The real skill involved in grievance meetings - apart from preparation - is negotiating. Every steward should aim to become a shrewd negotiator - because every meeting with management about grievances is a kind of bargaining. You are trying to resolve the meaning of the contract in a particular situation as well as trying to demonstrate how management may have violated the contract. And you want the best possible settlement for the grievant and the union.

Goals of a Union Steward

The following twenty-five items will serve as a checklist for you. Refer to them as a guide in fulfilling your obligation as Union Steward.

Keep yourself informed on union affairs.

Serve as an example to your members.

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.

Encourage political action on the part of your members. See to it that they are registered and vote.

Be an active politically. Encourage members to exercise their right to vote, and to vote for labor friendly candidates.

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.

Wear your union button and encourage your coworkers to wear it.

Investigate every grievance as if it were your own. Keep the member informed. Make sure you keep your deadlines. There is no excuse for missing a time limit. Research every grievance as if it were going to arbitration but try to resolve it at the lowest possible level. Keep your local union informed of the status of each grievance.

Attend and encourage attendance at any labor education program that might be available to you and your members.

Remember your goal is to be the best union representative you can be. Always strive for this goal. Excellence has no substitute.

Movies That Motivate

How hard can it be to find a good labor film? Sometimes, too hard! Here’s a handy guide to “movies that motivate,” a film list that you can take to your local video outlet or use to order by phone or on the Internet. There’s nothing like a good labor movie to get yourself energized, to use as a draw to get people to a union meeting…or both. Here are a few:

· Norma Rae, 1979. Based on a true story, this is the gold standard in many ways; we see how an unusual team of leaders – big city organizer, small town gal who gets around – win a recognition vote by defeating apathy, favoritism, racism, company-police coziness, and just about everything else.

· Matewan, 1987. Based on the West Virginia Coal Wars after World War I, local miners learn that in order to win a strike they must accept into their ranks the Italian immigrants and African-Americans who have been brought in to scab.

· The Grapes of Wrath, 1940. It’s a Hollywood black and white classic that has never gone out of style: it exposes the cooperation between farm owners and sheriff’s lackeys and points to the need for solidarity among the migrant workers of the 1930s, as Henry Fonda brings John Steinbeck’s hero Tom Joad to life.

· Silkwood, 1983. When Karen Silkwood was killed in a car crash at the age of 28, she may have been the nation’s first nuclear martyr. She was a union activist for the Oil, Chemical, and Atomic Workers (OCAW) in a Kerr-McGee plutonium-processing plant in Oklahoma. Her particular concern as executive officer of her local union was health and safety; the company regarded her as a troublemaker. Because of the nature of the work at this plant – plutonium is made into pellets, then welded into the rods that become the integral part of breeder reactors – the danger of worker contamination was very high. Even the smallest contamination may cause cancer.