Union Steward and You

[Music] [Applause] [Music] phil what the heck is this i've been hearing about a new policy on tottenham you haven't mentioned a word to me about it and you know you can't announce a new policy when we haven't even discussed it i mean after all those guys out there want to know what's going on who is this man [Applause] so the union steward is first of all an employee he's expected to do the work of his regular job during working hours except when he's engaged in authorized activities on behalf of his fellow workers but the steward has another job also he's chosen by the union to assist and represent his fellow employees in grievances and other dealings with management he has a vital role to play in looking after the interests of the rank and file workers and acting as their spokesman this carries a good deal of responsibility within the framework of the labor management agreement the regulations and common sense he must see that employees get help in solving their problems either directly from himself or together with a supervisor where matters of personnel policy or working conditions are involved this man is the supervisor his responsibilities are numerous as you well know among many other things he must know the labor agreement he must operate within its framework maintaining efficiency and control but always striving for fairness of course the supervisor should also know a great deal about the people who work for him their skills interests and attitudes and even something of their family background he should know them as distinct individuals just as the steward does because if employees are known and respected as individuals a foundation for sound employee management relationships has been established part of the job of a supervisor such as yourself is to learn to work with the steward in your area to do this successfully there are a few things you should keep in mind for example to ignore or look down on the steward is a good way to buy trouble that's easy to see but there are other ways too bill yeah i've got something to tell you oh yeah what's wrong come here well what is it listen jerry cook has really steamed about that official reprimand you gave him and i don't blame him it's a raw deal he wants me to find grievance and take it to arbitration oh wait a minute hold it a minute let's not get a sweat over a simple librepro man look i've been thinking next week i have to send two men up to the admin building on a nice soft job how are you and jerry be interested in that huh yeah that's real interesting i thought you'd be interested yeah i'm interested all right to find out what kind of guy you think i am look you can keep that soft job and you can expect that grievance appeal first thing in the morning in order to establish a successful working relationship with the steward you do not need his love or his gratitude but you must earn his respect here's something else to bear in mind it never helps to lose your temper even when the steward is out of line suppose you're a supervisor in this machine shop and you notice the steward has been away from his job for some time talking to another employee hey ken you've had plenty of time to think about this come on how about letting me sign you up as a member well i've got nothing against the union dick but at this time i'm still not sure as a supervisor you know the steward is not supposed to leave his job without permission and he's not supposed to talk union business during working hours but is this the way to react dick you know you're not supposed to be leaving your machine on union business during working hours man i'm sick and tired of you breaking the rules you've got no right to yell at me in front of my men they're my men too and i'll yell steward was technically wrong but has the supervisor really gained anything by losing his temper in front of the other employees well as they say on tv let's run that play again on isolated camera and see how the supervisor should react to this situation on the isolated camera we see the supervisor is not visibly upset excuse me dick can i see it for a minute oh sure okay stay in a privately you'll be able to tell the steward what you think of his breaking the rules but even then a cool manner will be more effective than hot words dick you know you shouldn't be interrupting anybody's work by giving them a sales pitch or talk about any other kind of union business either i'm sorry but i've been after this guy for weeks to get him signed up and i just got tired waiting hey i'll watch it okay hey incidentally while you're here have you seen the latest change in regulations of hazard pay here's another pointer don't give a flip answer or a hasty decision on a serious inquiry oh come in rule mr harris i'd like to ask you a favor what is it ruth well my vacation begins on the 15th but it looks as if i'm going to need to leave early you know we can't make any exceptions ruth everybody in the section would be in here asking for a change in their leave schedule but i've never asked for anything before i'm sorry ruth the answer has to be no well i'm going to see the shop stewart then very well you've made a quick decision without looking into the facts and this is the result the steward comes in to see you cal i think you've been unfair in the case of ruth malone unfair yep i just told her i could make no exception you know how people feel around here about their leave schedules just tell me one thing from the workload standpoint could you get by without her that week well possibly but then in that case just let me tell you what it's all about it happens that her mother was taken to the hospital like yesterday oh ruth is an only child and the doctor wants her to fly to denver as soon as possible to be with her mother it's pretty serious i didn't know you didn't give her a chance to tell you you tell ruth i'll okay her extended leave and joe tell her i'm sorry i was abrupt with her i told her you'd be fair about it once you knew the facts of course every supervisor knows there are times when an employee makes a request that should be turned down in those cases you should again avoid a hasty answer and see if you can work with the steward in resolving the situation for example an employee and the steward come in to ask about overtime hey frank you got a minute to talk to george now george asked me to talk to you about giving him more overtime i told him that affects other people in the shop too but at least i'd take it up with you you see my old lady you mean your wife yeah my old lady i call her some other things too i mean anyway she just cracked up our car for the third time frankly i need extra money and uh i was wondering if you could arrange some more overtime for me at this point the supervisor could say i suggest you buy your better half a bicycle and stop wasting my time but what he should do is something more like this well as your steward says george the question of overtime does affect the whole shop and i'm sure he reminded you that the distribution of overtime is governed by a contract so you see i can't ignore that or i'd really be in trouble old victory blow the whistle on me himself yeah but i haven't had much overtime all year i think i've had less than anyone else well what i can do is look up the records i'll tell you this dick and i will look up the records and if you've been shortchanged in any way i'll take corrective action as overtime work comes in okay thank you that's about the best he can do george and uh george yeah if i were you i'd keep my wife away from the car i just bought her a month's supply of bus tokens of course working with the steward is always a two-way street the supervisor can't make a success of it all by himself if you happen to have a steward to deal with who is invariably calm reasonable and responsible you are fortunate indeed the fact is stewards tend to be very human complete with various human faults and imperfections yes joel now look cal i don't care what the regulation says i want that time off and if i don't get it i'll go all the way to the top look joe we have some good friends in congress you know until we renegotiate this contract we have to work by it you know you management clowns are always trying to take it out on the little guys you're always scheming you're always trying to pin the blame on somebody else but all the time you're the ones who are wrong listen friend you're just gonna learn to play ball with our union or we'll make it mighty rough for you around here we'll file so many grievances it'll take you years to dig yourself out no hold on these are not typical attitudes but they illustrate the kind of problem a supervisor may face from time to time what's the answer there's no magic solution tact and patience are needed sometimes and a straightforward business-like approach on the part of the supervisor is bound to influence the conduct and attitude of the steward and another thing that will help is making sure the steward is kept informed dick just had a management meeting ceo just told us about a big workload boat's coming up next month he's meeting over there now with the union officers are getting the word what's the story frank well next month's schedule is extra heavy because some of these workload shifts the boys back in washington have made i think in our section here we're gonna have to go on weekend overtime maybe even get into a two-shift operation for a while well let's take a look at the contract and review what it says about shift changes exactly when is this workload supposed to hit us well the union steward is part of the picture you can work with him if you keep him informed if you recognize his responsibilities and if you exercise your authority firmly but fairly if you earn his trust and respect you have a chance to establish a sound working relationship otherwise it will be nearly impossible remember the supervisor who suddenly announced a new policy on tardiness he was wrong and the steward can't be blamed for having called him on it for good supervisor steward relations here's the way that incident should have gone on instant replay no fumbles please hi charlie yeah sit down i want to talk to you a minute we got a problem what's it all about we've been showing a bad record on tardiness in this section as you know i'm thinking about putting out a memo saying that any tardiness over a certain number of minutes will be caused for a charge against a man's leave i see have you got the tardiness right today and how many minutes did you have in mind well i haven't decided yet but before i do i want to get your ideas on the best way to handle this situation very good very good you can count on me anytime good charlie okay dealing with your steward in this way will promote employee management cooperation where it really counts right in your department or shop and if you have good ears you just might overhear a comment like this sometime when you're leaving your office you know he expects a lot but he really tries hard to be fair even the steward will tell you that and he ought to know [Music] you