We recognize the need for our Local to ensure a high degree of consistency in our business operations at the various venues at which we are employed. In addressing this need, we further recognize that the cornerstone of dealing with employers and members efficiently and professionally is the Union Job Steward. It is, therefore, our purpose and aim to provide an outline of the basic knowledge, procedures, special training required to fulfill the role of Primary/ Secondary or alternate Steward for Local 470 to any member interested in accepting the responsibilities associated with the position.
The education of our Stewards is an investment in I.A.T.S.E. #470's future. For this reason this section has been constructed. It is hoped that you will pick up a few of the tips contained herein and be able to better handle the pressures and responsibilities associated with this sometimes nerve-racking job. Good Stewards learn something new every day about how to do the job. Through experience -- problem solving, studying the contracts, talking to members and active involvement in our Union -- you will refine your capabilities and skills. The information provided here is designed to help you along the way. Take it in small doses and be patient. It’s going to take a while to learn all the things that you are supposed to know.
By reading this information carefully and combining its advice with common sense, you can do your job better. A few months from now, read it again, you will find new ideas that you might have missed the first time.
Remember, if you do your job as a Steward well, you are doing the single most important service for the American Labor Movement: keeping it strong and helping it grow.
The Steward structure is the backbone of the Local. Recent research on why members do or don't feel loyal towards a Union indicates that the skill and the availability of the Stewards have a strong effect on member attitudes. If a Union has good Stewards, and enough of them, the member’s attitude towards the Union is positive.
The Steward has a special relationship to the workers. Research studies show that the average worker’s image of the local union, international union, and the labor movement, in general, evolves from the relationship with the Steward. Union members rarely know the president of the international union. Many members do not attend local union meetings regularly and often have no opportunity to develop a relationship with their local president. The Steward is the one person in the union structure with whom the member is in contact. If the union member considers the Steward to be an intelligent representative of worker interests, the member will feel the same way about the union.
A Steward may also exert leadership in other areas. Because the Steward is considered a leader, discussions of the Steward’s viewpoints on political issues, civil rights and community problems will influence people at the work site.
Because we live in a changing world, last year’s answers will not necessarily meet this year’s problems. A Steward must constantly participate in a process of continuing education. Being a Steward is hard work but it can also be rewarding, because Stewards know they are helping others. Even though the pressure can sometimes be quite intense, a true sense of accomplishment can be found when the job is finished. On larger jobs of twenty, forty or seventy or more people the feeling of satisfaction that comes with everyone finishing the job unhurt, the completion of a complex payroll and the pride of the members themselves is hard to describe.
Being a Steward is the best training possible for other positions of responsibility within the union. For the future union leader there is no substitute for the kind of experience acquired as a Steward.© IATSE Local 470 2012
