CWA 1180 - Stewards' Corner

Tips for Stewards

Know your co-workers
Know the contract and the grievance procedure
Get the facts
Inform and educate
Involve as many people as possible
Ask for help

Know your co-workers. Maintain frequent personal contact with everyone you represent in the shop. Hold shop meetings regularly.

Know the contract and the grievance procedure. A big part of being a steward is helping people when they’ve been wronged. You don’t have to memorize the contract cover to cover, but you should familiarize yourself with the parts that are used the most. Grievance procedures often have deadlines; for instance, a grievance usually has to be filed within a certain number of days after the event occurred. Make sure you know these details.

Get the facts. Who’s involved? What exactly happened? When? Where? Why? Before you file a grievance or confront the boss, make sure you know exactly what’s going on. Talk to everyone involved, find witnesses—be a detective.

Inform and educate. Hold regular shop meetings. Make sure to pass on information from the union office to all the members in your shop. Welcome new members. Ask people if they have questions.

Involve as many people as possible. Our power as a union comes from the involvement of the members. Leadership is not about doing everything for everyone; it’s about getting everybody to stand up for themselves by standing together. For instance, if you are filing a shop grievance, you might also want to get everyone in the shop to sign a petition to the boss; that way everyone has played an active role, its’ not just you filing that grievance for everyone else.

Ask for help. No one expects you to know the answer to everything. If you don’t know, don’t make it up and don’t blow it off—call your staff rep and ask her or him to help you.

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