STEWARD SKILL TIPS

In order to carry out the trust which your Union has placed in you as Steward and to meet your responsibilities to the members in your charge, you will need to acquire certain skills which will make your job easier and bring greater satisfaction to yourself and the members who you are working with.

1. An interest in people. You should be a good "mixer" so as to help the members in your charge become better acquainted and work together as a Union. Avoid personalities. It is not who is right, but what is right. Recognize that the other person has a right to their point of view.
2. A capacity to be firm, positive and persistent. Stick to what you know is right. Be able to cope with management who try to bluff or side track you. If a member doesn't have a grievance, be able to explain concerns.
3. The Intent to be a Leader. You should be able to get people to act. Don't attempt to do it all yourself. As a leader you should work to develop teamwork and cooperation and discourage factional bickering. Lead instead of Drive. Don't "Micro-Manage".
4. The habit of being prompt. Lead by example.
5. The ability to be a good listener. Listen with patient interest even when you think the aggrieved member is wrong. Encourage them to talk so that you can find out what is really bothering them. Some of the force and power behind their feelings will disappear in the process of expressing them.
6. An interest in I.A.T.S.E. #470, and its craft, background, history and policies. You should have an enthusiasm, which is contagious and will cause others to follow your example to become more active in our Union.

Leader

The steward must take the leadership role in his/her department. He/she must set an example for other workers to follow. The steward must make decisions which uphold the terms of the collective bargaining agreement and the union constitution and bylaws. Listed below are the things the steward should do and know to fulfill the role of leader and suggestion as to how to do them:   

How You go about it

1. Know the facts, write them down, and talk them over.
2. Keep the people who are being affected informed on the course of action.
3. Give credit where credit is due.
4. Ask for advice and help. You can't know everything.
5. Keep your word and deal fairly and impartially.

Principles of Leadership

A leader is a person who empowers people collectively and individually to think and act in positive directions. Leaders are enthusiastic, modest, focused, generous, and competent in their work. They are attentive to the needs and interests of the people they lead, and they nurture leadership growth in others. They share information and take responsibility for their actions. They are accountable for the things they do and say.

IATSE Local #470 stewards are leaders among the members they represent. They believe in their union and support workers’ rights and interests. They are clear communicators and great listeners. They are decisive, collaborative and credible.

Leadership rests on a foundation of principles. Principles are general ideas that guide us in the way we work, the way we play, and the way we interact with other people. Principles are not laws, but rather statements of belief that help us make decisions and plan for the future.

Listening to Others

Listening is a skill. Unfortunately, we are far better talkers than we are listeners. But you can't be a good speaker without being a good listener. One skill relies on the other.

In every workplace, nearly every worker can become frustrated, depressed, and angry or alienated—depending on the atmosphere at their place of work. When the quality of the work atmosphere deteriorates, then the quality of work itself can suffer; people can become distrustful of one another; efficiency can sag.

The steward is the key link between union members and the union officers and staff. It’s the steward who can keep other union leaders informed about members’ problems and concerns.

When stewards don’t listen to what people are upset about, the union gets out of touch and loses the confidence of members. Below are some key points to keep in mind.

1. In grievance handling or documenting complaints, the IATSE steward needs to be able to listen and watch the member. Much of what you need to know may be conveyed to you through body language or inference, not in direct speech. Here are some pointers on how to become a better listener and observer.
2. Stop talking--you can't listen while you are talking.
3. Empathize with the other person--try to put yourself in his/her place so that you can see what he/she is trying to get at.
4. Ask questions--when you don't understand, when you need further clarification, when you want to show you are listening. But don't ask questions that will embarrass or show the other person up.
5. Don't give up too soon--don't interrupt the other person; give him/her time to say what he/she has to say.
6. Concentrate on what is said--actively focus your attention on the words, ideas, and feelings related to the subject.
7. Look at the other person--face, mouth, eyes, hands will all help to communicate with you. Helps you concentrate, too. Makes the other person feel you are listening.
8. Leave your emotions behind (if you can)--try to push your worries, your fears, your problems, outside the meeting room. They may prevent you from listening well.
9. Control your anger--try not to get angry at what is being said; your anger may prevent you from understanding what is said.
10. Get rid of distractions--put down any papers or pencils you have in your hands; they may distract your attention.
11. Get to the main points--concentrate on the main ideas and not the illustrative material. Examples, stories, or statistics are important, but usually are not main points. Examine them only to see if they prove, support, define the main ideas.
12. Share responsibility for communication--only part of the responsibility rests with the speaker; you as the listener have an important part.
13. React to ideas not to the person--don't allow your reactions to the person influence your interpretation of what is said. The ideas may be good even if you don't like the person.
14. Don't argue mentally--it is a handicap to argue with him/her mentally as he/she is speaking. This sets up a barrier between you and the speaker.
15. Use the difference in rate--you can listen faster than he/she can talk, so use this rate difference to your advantage by: anticipating what he/she is going to say, think back over what he/she has said, evaluate his development.
16. Speech rate is about 100 to 150 words per minute, thinking is 250 to 500.
17. Listen to what is not said--sometimes you can learn just as much by determining what the other person leaves out in his/her discussion as you can by listening to what he/she says.
18. Listen to how something is said--we frequently concentrate so hard on what is said that we miss the importance of the emotional reactions and attitudes related to what is said. Attitudes and emotional reactions may be more important.
19. Don't antagonize the speaker--it may cause the other person to conceal their ideas, emotions, and attitudes. Try to judge and be aware of the effect you are having on the other person. Adapt to him/her.
20. Listen for their personality--one of the best ways of finding out information about a person is to listen to him/her talk; as he/she talks you can begin to find out what he/she like and dislikes, what his/her motivations are, what his/her value system is and what makes him/her tick.
21. Avoid jumping to assumptions--they can get you into trouble. Don't assume that the speaker uses words the same way you do; that he/she didn't say what he/she meant, but you understand what he/she meant; that he/she is avoiding looking you in the eye because he/she is telling a lie; that he/she is distorting the truth because what he/she says doesn't agree with what you think; that he/she is unethical because he/she is trying to win you over to his point of view. Assumptions like these may turn out to be true, but more often they just get in the way of your understanding and reaching agreement or compromise.
22. Avoid classifying the speaker--too frequently we classify a person as one type of person and then try to fit everything he/she says into what makes sense coming from that type of person. He/she is a whiner. Therefore, our perceptions of what he/she says or means are all shaded by whether we like or dislike whiner. People have the trait of being unpredictable and not fitting into their classifications.
23. Avoid hasty judgments--wait until all the facts are in (or at least most of them) before making any judgments.
24. Recognize your own prejudices--try to be aware of your own feelings toward the speaker, the subject, the occasion, and allow for these pre-judgments.
25. Identify the type of reasoning--frequently it is difficult to sort out good and faulty reasoning when you are listening. Nevertheless, it is so important a job, that a listener should bend every effort to learn to spot faulty reasoning when he/she hears it.
26. Evaluate facts and evidence--as you listen, try to identify not only the significance of the facts and evidence, but also their relation to argument.

THINGS TO REMEMBER:

• Arrive early to check your people in and introduce yourself to the Stage Manager, Production Manager or Foreman.
• Bring all needed paperwork such as jobsheet, contact sheets, contracts, invoices, incident reports, accident reports, warnings etc.
• Bring calculator
• On non-departmentalized shows speak with production manager early about how many people he will need in what department before they come up to you and say ‘I need 8 electricians right now’!
• Inform production manager of any upcoming overtime or penalty situations 15 minutes before they occur.
• When calculating your payroll: DOUBLE CHECK YOUR MATH!
• All invoices for Alliance Incorporated MUST be signed by the vendor!
• Do not lose your temper.
• Do not threaten.
• Listen carefully to what others say and make notes.
• Do not argue with a worker in front of management.
• When dealing with Incident Reports; be concise and stick to the facts.
• Submit Incident Report to Business Agent IMMEDIATELY upon completion.
• Submit paperwork to Alliance Incorporated IMMEDIATELY upon job completion.
• 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 to meetings. Don't chide members for missing meetings. Think of other ways to communicate with them.
• Meet the new members early, inform them, educate them, and help them become members - make them more than dues payers.
• Get your location or venue 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 or complaint representative.
• Fight discrimination, whether it is 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.
• 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 IATSE Local #470 which has the support of tens of thousands of members bound together in our international union, with the support of millions of other union members.
• Wear your IATSE #470 tee shirt and encourage your coworkers to wear them.
• 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.

Rewards of Stewardship

• Representing the interests of working people is a privilege, and defending the rights of workers is an honorable and democratic way of participating in your union. Unions have a long history of obtaining better salaries, working conditions and benefits for their members and in this respect IATSE Local #470 has been very successful. In addition, unions have always spoken for those who cannot speak for themselves.
• Stewards often gain valuable skills and training in communications, dispute settlement, and leadership that can serve them in their current union and work roles and also in their futures.
• Stewards recognize that when problems arise in their work areas, they are part of the solution.

© IATSE Local 470 2012