HOW TO ORGANIZE THE JOB
BY JACK WAGNER
1942
Jack Wagner was the Business Agent of Pile Drivers Local 34 for over 25 years. He wrote this article during World War II and it is the best description of how a Union Steward should go about his job.
It is dated, but the duties and responsibilities are pretty much unchanged.
Long before the founding of the American Federation of Labor, the right to present grievances was recognized as fundamental to democracy. Back in 1791, the Bill of Rights placed in the Constitution of the United States the guarantee that every citizen should have the right to assemble peaceably and petition the government for “redress of grievances.” According to the constitution, an American citizen has always been privileged to stand up and demand justice for himself and his fellows.
But what was written in the constitution did not make much difference to the average worker before he joined the Union. When he was given a raw deal, he could send a postcard to his congressmen, or vote in city elections. And that was all. When it came to real issues of life, his job, what pay he was to get, what hours he was to work, and what conditions he was to work under – then he had no more to say than the machine he operated.
Some workers did present grievances. Some workers did speak up against inhuman speed-up and low wages. But they spoke for themselves and by themselves only.
As a result, they soon found that the exercise of the constitutional right to “petition for redress of grievances” didn’t apply to ordinary working men.
At the present time, in the construction industry, collective bargaining through the agency of the Union has changed the whole picture. Against the organized economic power of the employer stands the organized united man power of the worker. Now grievances are presented to management and victories are won for the worker. This is true because now demands upon management have behind them the united support of organized labor. Management pays attention to what workers have to say. The weakness of the individual worker has been replaced by the power of united action.
This power of organized labor is brought to bear against management through the job stewards, chief stewards and the officers of the Union, who are elected representatives of the organized workers. On these stewards and committeemen depends the success or failure of organized labor in the construction industry.
But the conduct of negotiations with management is only half the job of these stewards and union officials. Not only must they carry the Union grievances to management; they must insure the continued organization of the men whom they represent.
The best negotiator in the world will not get to first base if he allows the men he represents to fall away from the Union. Without organization behind him and working with him, no steward, no committee, no officer can win victories from management. Unless he speaks for solidly organized workers, he is as futile and helpless as the individual worker back in the days of the open shop.
In other word the, steward has a double responsibility. Responsibility for conduct of negotiations and for the men whom he represents united behind the policy of Organized Labor. He is at once a diplomat negotiating with a foreign power and a general preparing his troops for possible conflict.
RELATIONSHIPS WITH MANAGEMENT
Study your contract
The contract is a constitution governing union-management relationships. No one can hope to handle grievances successfully without full knowledge of its provisions, a lawyer must know something of the law before he is allowed to plead cases in court. You must know your contract and its interpretations before you can successfully handle grievances.
In too many cases, the stewards learn the provisions in the contract from the contractors, and they learn it too late – after the grievance is lost.
KNOW YOUR GRIEVANCE PROCEDURE
Building Trades Contracts set forth many different methods of procedure to settle grievances. Some contracts require that grievances be written out even before they are presented to the foreman. Others do not call for written grievances until an unsettled grievance is appealed to the highest offices of the company.
The procedure in the Piledrivers, Bridge, Wharf and Dock Builders, Local Union 34, is that the member takes his grievance up with the steward first. The steward in turn, takes the grievance up with the foreman. The workers should get in the habit of going to the steward FIRST. The company wants the worker to deal with the foreman first. That undermines the job steward and, in turn undermines the union. Build the union and strengthen the stewards system by always making it a rule to go to the steward first with a grievance. Then the aggrieved worker, together with the steward, negotiates with the foreman.
If a satisfactory settlement cannot be made of the grievance with the foreman, then the grievance shall take the following procedure.
(1) If there is a chief steward on the job, the grievance goes to him for negotiation with the superintendent. If there is no chief steward, then the job steward with the aggrieved worker should take up the grievance with the superintendent.
(2) Upon every failure to secure satisfactory settlement of the grievance, it is moved up the ladder one step and is negotiated by the higher representative of the union and management.
(3) The union should establish its representatives on each job to match the representatives and jurisdiction of all company officers from foreman on up.
(4) Union representatives pass grievances along (when a quick settlement is not possible) usually in the following order.
(a) Job steward (with foreman)
(b) Chief steward (with superintendent)
(c) Business agent (with contractor)
(d) Business agent (with contractor’s association)
(e) Union negotiating committee and international officers (with contractors and their associations).
This is the machinery by which the full power of the Union, the United Brotherhood of Carpenters, the Building Trades Department and the American Federation of Labor can be brought to bear to secure justice for the individual workers they represent. By this procedure, an injury to one worker becomes the concern of all workers and their representatives.
SHOULD GRIEVANCES BE WRITTEN OUT?
No Union can carry on businesslike collective bargaining unless its stewards and representatives are trained to write fully and accurately. The difference between success and failure on grievances which are to be appealed is often to be found in the completeness and accuracy of the facts set down on the grievance blank.
Remember when you write out a grievance, it may be negotiated by the Union representative who will depend almost entirely on the information you give them for a fair settlement with the company. Your facts are their ammunition. Don’t send your negotiators in with wet powder.
Most grievance blank forms call for the following information:
(1) A STATEMENT OF THE GRIEVANCE. Give full facts – the name of the men involved, badge number, job etc. Describe the basic facts in the case clearly and as briefly as possible.
(2) Reference to the clause in the contract that has been violated.
(3) Claim of contract violation.
(4) Request of adjustment of grievance.
KEEP COMPLETE RECORDS
On many jobs, a complete written record of grievance settlements is a tremendously valuable thing. When you have won a favorable settlement of a grievance, try to get the companies signature to the final settlement, or at least secure careful notes of the bargaining conference. (Don’t trust company minutes). This should be done if possible on all important complaints settled by foremen on the jobs.
With this material on file on past settlements, you will be able to settle future grievances of the same kind according to the decisions that you have already won. In this way, your day to day settlement of grievances will build up a valuable supplement to your contract. The contract is your constitution and the settlement of grievances under it are the decisions of the industrial supreme court. A complete record of such decisions is sometimes more important than the contract itself.
It should be remembered that even when the steward settles the grievance orally, the grievance and the decision should be written out and filed for future reference. Unless you keep good records of verbal agreements, the foreman may try to deny the entire matter later on.
RELATIONS WITH STEWARDS
The secret of successful collective bargaining lies in good working relationships between foremen and job stewards.
The best contract in the world may be signed between the Union and the contractors but, unless the contract is enforced and put into effect throughout the jurisdiction of the Union, it is worth a little bit less than the paper it is written on. This is the job of the steward in dealing with the foreman.
Where Union organization is new, the problem of educating the foreman may be one of the toughest jobs that the Union has to face. Before organization came to the construction industry, foremen were little tin gods
on their jobs. They were accustomed to having their orders accepted with no questions asked. They expected workers to enter into servile competition for their favors.
This type of foreman finds his world turned upside down. His small time dictatorship has been overthrown, and he must be adjusted to a democratic system of job government. Naturally, many foreman resent this change and continue a hostile attitude toward the Union even after he has been instructed by the contractor to go along with the Union. This makes the stewards system difficult. He must convert the foreman to the democratic processes of collective bargaining and establish a sound working relationship with him as an individual.
Most inexperienced committeemen and stewards feel the way to do this is to get tough with the foremen, they feel that threats and fisticuffs will do the job for them. Many stewards have attempted this method.
Experience has shown that this approach does not work forever. Stewards, of course, must be prepared to turn the heat on if necessary. But they must know how to approach foremen and other supervisory employees with a reasonable and business like attitude. Patience and a friendly attitude will go a long way toward getting results.
The business of the steward is not to fight with his foreman or the contractor but to get grievances settled to the satisfaction of the men whom he represents.
HERE ARE SOME SUGGESTIONS FOR GETTING ALONG WITH FOREMEN:
Although the foreman is a member of the Union, he temporarily represents the interests of the company as opposed to the workers. He is also a human being and should be approached as one, find out what he is interested in. If he is a baseball fan, a little talk about batting averages won’t hurt anything. Or if he likes fishing, discuss that with him. Occasional talk of this kind will not make it any harder to get down to business on grievances.
Don’t give your foreman reason to believe that you are trying to bluff him. A reputation for honesty and good judgment is essential to your success in collective bargaining.
Hold down on personalities and name calling. It won’t help to settle grievances. And you can be even more forceful, when the occasion demands it, if you have something in reserve. Try to avoid personal spite against a foreman because of unfair policies that he is ordered to carry out by top management.
If a foreman tries to bully you or talk you down, talk back quick and hard, but keep your temper. A lost temper usually means a lost argument.
Various forms of pressure will bring results from foremen who are trying hard. Reports to the business agent, the use of the executive board, reports by the officers of the Union to the contractor will usually bring results.
On construction work where management sincerely desires to go along with the Union, disruptive foremen will be disciplined by the company.
Your relationship with the foreman should be that of equals seeking a resolution to a common problem, but don’t forget: the stronger the organization behind you, the more powerful your argument will be.
Don’t allow the grievance machinery to be short-circuited. Guard against the foreman who encourages the worker to settle the grievance through him directly without going through the steward. Such foremen are seeking to bribe workers away from the Union by offering them special favors on grievances brought up behind the Union’s back. The steward should make it clear to the men on his job that this is an attempt to disrupt collective bargaining and to deprive everyone of the power to secure satisfactory settlements of grievances. He should impress upon them the fact that the man to deal with on grievances is the steward.
When the Union has won sole collective bargaining rights, then the steward can insist that no grievance be settled without him. Under the National Labor Relations Act, the individual worker has the right to present his own grievance. But the company has no right to negotiate and settle with him as an individual.
Try to settle as many grievances as possible on the job with the foreman or superintendent, without allowing them to pass to the higher stages of the grievance machinery. Higher officials will almost always seek to avoid overruling their subordinates. A little more pressure on your foreman or superintendent may win a satisfactory settlement which higher officers of the company would not be willing to give.
Insist that the foreman be authorized to settle the general run of grievances.
The steward system is not provided for in our contract. No general plan for stewards has been laid down by the Brotherhood of Carpenters. Instead, they have left it pretty much to the locals to work out for themselves. However, all of our contractors have recognized collective bargaining and the right of the steward to perform their part of the collective bargaining on the job. Remember, grievances settled with the foreman will not clog up the grievance machinery on the higher levels. This means that your officers will have more time to devote to the major questions that affect your Union and the construction industry. In addition, successful settlement of grievances will build up your authority on the job.
HOW TO HANDLE GRIEVANCES
What steps does an experienced steward take when he is called in by one of the workers on his job to take up a grievance?
The answer to this question depends entirely on the organization of the job, but general principles that can be applied anywhere are fairly clear.
(1) The steward checks carefully on the facts behind the complaint brought to him.
(2) If the facts do not indicate that the worker’s complaint will justify demands for an adjustment, the steward should frankly say so. If the facts do indicate that action is justified, the steward immediately contacts the foreman.
For instance, every job has at one time or another had the case of a man being discharged because of chronic alcoholism, the steward should be careful in such instances. If the member is fired because of discrimination, that’s one thing. If he is fired because he comes to the job drunk, he has no grievance against the company, his grievance is against himself.
(3) The steward argues the case according to the facts, interpreting the contract to justify his demands for action.
(4) If the foreman refuses to settle, the steward reduces the grievance to writing and passes it on to the next step in the grievance committee.
CHECKING THE FACTS
No grievance should be made an issue between the Union and the contractor before complete information concerning the case is available to Union negotiators.
To often, good union people have pounded the table, threatening drastic action on grievances-only to find that their picture of the situation was incomplete and inaccurate. And the contractor has always been quick to swing the ax when the Union’s neck is stuck out.
KNOW YOU GROUND WHEN MAKING DEFINITE DEMANDS ON MANAGEMENT.
Learning the facts does not necessarily depend on getting the full story from the aggrieved worker or group of workers. It involves checking up in every possible way on the whole situation. It means checking to find out if a precedent has been established in handling similar grievances in the past. It means looking through your contract with a fine tooth comb for a clause that will cover the situation.
If you are not sure that you have a complete picture of the situation, then take things easy until you have heard the foreman’s side of the story. For instance, a man may be transferred to carpenter work for a couple of days at a lower scale. Find out if he was transferred to prevent a layoff or whether he was discriminated against.
Don’t open up by announcing that unless the man is transferred back the crew will walk off at noon. You may find out from the foreman that the man was transferred because there was no work at his old job, and that he will be paid the union scale on his new job. Actually, the transfer has saved the man a layoff. If that is true, then you have no reason to take action. There is no grievance. But if your investigation shows that the man was transferred because of his union activity, then you have a grievance.
It should be remembered, of course, that when there is a conflict of testimony – your man saying one thing and the foreman another – the testimony of your man should be accepted as correct. A steward’s job is to represent his man, not act as an informal arbitrator.
WHEN A GRIEVANCE IS NOT A GRIEVANCE
Obviously, when a complaint is not founded on facts, the steward is making a dangerous mistake in trying to make a grievance out of it. By doing so, he damages the Union’s position with the Union’s membership and the contractors. The member has been led to expect results when none could possibly be obtained and the Union’s reliability has been discredited with the contractors.
When confronted with a phony grievance of this kind, the steward’s job is to first explain courteously and fully to the worker(s) why his grievance will not hold water. If the member is still not satisfied that he has been dealt with fairly, he has the right of appealing the stewards decision to higher officers of the Union and, if need be, to the membership meeting in the local Union.
Naturally, the steward should give the member the benefit of the doubt on all border line cases.
INTERPRETING THE CONTRACT
The steward’s greatest difficulty will come on grievances which do appear to be covered by the terms of the contract. On demand for action from a member that is directly contrary to the terms of the contract, the steward has no choice but to say NO. But many cases will arise in which justifiable complaints do not seem to be covered one way or another by provisions of the contract.
In such situations, the steward goes through the contract with a fine tooth comb to find some provision that will cover that particular situation. If the issue is one of any importance, he will get the local Union officers to assist him.
In practically all cases where a worker has a legitimate complaint, it will be possible to find some clause in the contract which, with a little pulling and hauling, can be made to cover the situation. Lawyers have been able to use the Constitution, written over 150 years ago, to cover the complex issues of modern life. A good steward should be able to do just as well with his contract.
With the new situations constantly developing in our industry, cases will inevitably arise which cannot be handled in any way under the contract. The stewards only recourse in such situations is plain common sense. If the issue is an important one, he should appeal to the local for the formulation of policy. Then the issue may be negotiated by the Union and with the contractors for a supplement to the contract covering the new development.
If the issue affects only a small group of workers, an appeal can be made to the company for a favorable adjustment. This appeal can be based upon principles of fair play and the maintenance of good relations between the contractor and the Union.
