Wisconsin
State Employees Union
Stewards' Corner:
December 1, 2004
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Introduction to the Wisconsin State Employees Union (WSEU)
Five Steps of One-on-One Communication
Wisconsin AFSCME - Introduction
Founded in Wisconsin in 1932, the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) currently represents 1.3 million members nationally and over 66,000 members in Wisconsin. AFSCME is the second-largest affiliate of the AFL-CIO.
In Wisconsin, AFSCME members are employed at every level of government (state and local) and in every facet of the delivery of public and non-profit services. AFSCME members are technicians and planners, highway workers, health care workers and prison guards, aides and researchers, law enforcement officers and auditors. heavy equipment operators, and clericals. The list is as diverse as the nature of public and non-profit services.
In 2004, AFSCME members in 50 state celebrated the 68th anniversary of our union. AFSCME members are proud of the union's achievements, its dramatic growth, and the kind of union the membership and dedicated staff have built together. AFSCME is committed to organizing the unorganized and providing the best services to union members in the state of Wisconsin. AFSCME is expected to grow by the thousands throughout the year 2004 and beyond.
AFSCME's 66,000+ members in Wisconsin are organized into more than 500 local unions and chapters. Those local unions, in turn, are organized into three Councils; each Council providing the framework and resources for bargaining, contract administration, legislative representation, political action, and other collective activity.
Council 24, the Wisconsin State Employees Union (WSEU), serves most of the represented employees working for the State of Wisconsin in six bargaining units: Blue Collar, Administrative Support, Professional Social Services, Security and Public Safety, Technical, and Law Enforcement.
Council 40's members work for cities, counties, school districts, and other units of local government as well as for health care and non-profit institutions throughout Wisconsin, excepting Milwaukee County. The Council represents at least one bargaining unit within 71 counties in its jurisdiction.
Council 48 represents workers in cities, counties, school districts, and other units of local government as well as private health care and non-profit institutions in Milwaukee County.
Council 11 is the legislative/service Council in Wisconsin. This Council provides lobbying services, public relations and support services, and budget/research services to all Wisconsin Councils.
AFSCME is also represented in Wisconsin by staff of the International Union. The Wisconsin Area Office and its staff provide assistance and resources for all affiliates in the state and coordinate joint activities of the three Wisconsin Councils. The services include organizing assistance, health and safety, education and training programs, political action, and research services.
Congratulations on your selection as a steward representing your fellow Wisconsin state employees. You have been chosen by your colleagues for a most rewarding, but also demanding, position as their direct representative.
Your duties may be diverse, but your responsibilities are straightforward. The steward provides the front-line protection of employee rights and interests and is the primary link between the member and the Union. The steward is above all a leader, and with hard work and fairness you will gain the respect and support of your fellow employees.
The steward's relationship to fellow employees is extremely important. The attitude of workers toward the union and labor movement is often shaped by their perception of the steward. The average employee has little day-to-day contact with international union leadership or with the state leadership. A conscientious steward is therefore the cement that holds the union together.
Enforce the Contract: As just stated, the steward must act as a protector of employee rights and interests. This is done primarily through fostering unity among state employee union members and contract enforcement. Enforcement of the contract is a continuous process that has a number of different aspects.
Know the Contract: It is fundamental that the steward learn what is contained in the contract. To protect your fellow workers, you must know how the contract is organized, so that you can quickly locate provisions that bear on the problem at hand. You must also understand contract language and how that language is applied to the workplace. The agreement between the Wisconsin State Employee Union and the state is long and complicated, but don't let it overwhelm you. As you work with the contract, you will become familiar with the language and confident in your ability to use it. Remember that the contract is a "living" document. When reading it, think about the workplace and relate the contract to your past experiences.
Know the Grievance Procedure: And important part of the steward's responsibility is the steward's role as the employee representative in the grievance procedure. You must understand how to file a grievance, how to investigate a grievance, and how to present a grievance to the supervisor.
Know the Workers: For a steward to effectively enforce the Contract, it is important that she/he knows the individual problems, abilities, backgrounds, and interests of workers.
Know the Workplace: In addition to understanding employees, the effective steward will be familiar with the various operations performed by the employees. It is important to know details such as job classification, wage rates, benefits, seniority standings, and the physical surroundings of the workplace.
Know the Supervisors: The steward must develop meaningful, independent, and workable relations with supervisors on a case-by-case basis. These relationships are important and should be conducted on the basis of full equality, honesty and directness, which can lead to the fair settlement of disputes at the earliest step of the grievance procedure.
Organizing and Maintaining Union Membership: Another extremely important function of the steward is to ensure the strength of the union by actively organizing new union members. This is important both in terms of new and continuing employees. New employees should be presented with clear information on the importance of the union. This can be accomplished by a polished union presentation in the employee orientation process, while an employee is on probation (stewards can give helpful hints on how to pass probation), or when important issues arise, by presenting facts and solid information to all employees regularly.
Organizing current employees who have not become union members is also important and can be accomplished by hard work both in terms of direct organizational activities and by projecting a good union image. Perhaps the most important aspect of organizing is not being afraid of explaining union achievements. Each time a grievance is won or a benefit is increased, employees should be made aware of the union's positive role.
It is important that the steward work consistently to solicit new union members. The steward should carry membership cards and general union information at all times and should try to clear up misconceptions about the union in a friendly and informative manner.
Know the Union and Inform Your Members
WSEU is large organization with a diverse membership. It is both a major task for members to keep abreast of union issues and activities and for the union to attempt to inform the membership. The steward is of primary importance to the information dissemination process.
It is critical that the steward learn the history, structure, and goals of the union and keep abreast of developments. Attendance at union meetings is central to this function. It is the steward's job to keep the membership informed and to respond to their questions. If the steward is unsure how to respond to a question or rumor she/he should seek out accurate information through the chain of command in the union (i.e. steward, chief steward, president of the local, Council 24 field representative, Council Director). Always correct any misconceptions and strive to give positive and constructive information to counter rumors or half-truths.
In addition to reporting back to the membership, the steward should communicate the views of employees to union officers and staff. This is another important reason to attend union meetings. Your contact with other employees is valuable and you may be their voice at union meetings. This is, however, no substitute for membership attendance. Stewards should do their best to encourage attendance, as well as active member participation, at local union meetings.
Encourage Membership Involvement in Union Affairs
Unions give employees a voice in their workplace, but a union cannot be truly effective without the active involvement of members in union affairs. Many members are not active simply because they have not been asked or because they do not understand the positive history of the union and their role in building their union.
The most difficult aspect of the steward's responsibility to write about or teach is how to be a leader. There is no recipe that a steward can be given. Perhaps all that can be done is to present some general considerations for the steward to keep in mind. Leadership is a lot of hard work, but it is also more than that.
A good leader is not only willing to work, but also willing and able to persuade others to help. It is too often assumed that people do not want to get involved in union activities. Many members are willing, but are simply never asked. Still others may just be unaware that they are needed. The steward cannot wait for members to volunteer. Members must be provided with the opportunity to help.
A good leader develops a special relationship with the members. Not only must the steward personally know her/his co-workers, the steward must allow them to know her/him. The steward must be a friend both on the job and off. As a friend, the steward's views will be important not only in union matters, but in personal and community issues as well.
A good leader is well-informed. Co-workers will only respect your opinion if they feel that you know what you are talking about. One of the best ways for the steward to stay informed is to regularly attend union meetings. At union meetings, you find out what's happening in the union, why, where, and when. You can find out what management is doing, and help prepare your co-workers to deal with management actions.
Another way to be well-informed is to talk to your fellow employees. It is important to know their desires and their impressions of how well the union is serving their needs. By keeping active in the community, the steward can better understand the members and their problems.
Finally, by reading and reviewing labor newspapers, watching other news sources, and accessing the Council 24 website (www.wseu-24.org), the steward can keep informed of things that may affect union members and their families.
A good leader represents the views and interests of those she/he serves. Again, it is important that the steward personally know his/her co-workers and attends union meetings. Only by accurately communicating the interests of the members to the union leadership can the wishes of the membership be reflected in union decisions. The steward is the crucial link in ensuring that this is accomplished. A good lead informs the union officers and staff of both what the members are upset about and what they are happy with.
A good leader serves as an example of strong and just union representation. Because individual members have more contact with stewards than any other union representative, the steward must present a good image of the union. The steward must be strong when dealing with management and fair when dealing with members.
It is not desirable to "stand up" to management when there is no reason, but when there is, the steward should not be perceived as weak. Strength need not mean that the steward pound on the table and raise her/his voice, but simply that the steward deal effectively with management and maintain the interest of the members.
Each steward has a different style and personality, and no one type of steward makes the best leader. An effective leader uses his/her style in the best possible manner. A quiet person need not attempt to verbally beat a supervisor into submission, but might be more effective when using reasoned persuasion. In the same situation, a different approach may work for a different steward. What is important is that each steward feels comfortable with his or her own style and can adapt that style as the circumstances vary. It is likely that in some instances the steward may reach the conclusion that a co-worker's complaint is unjustified. A strong leader can explain this to an employee and still be perceived as fair. In such cases, the steward may or may not convince the employee. If the employee is unconvinced, the steward must prove her/his fairness by continuing to effective represent the member in the future.
Pay attention to what the worker is saying
Face the speaker
Make and maintain eye contact
Show the speaker you are listening
Nod and say 'yes' at appropriate times
Paraphrase what you hear
Listen with empathy
Put yourself in his/her shoes
Listen for the feelings behind the words
Avoid these common blocks to listening
Talking and interrupting
Personal beliefs and feelings
Jumping to conclusions
Distractions and interruptions
Ask questions to clarify
Ask for more detail
Ask about what came before or after
Ask about feelings
Ask open-ended questions
Ask questions that don't assume the answers
Avoid questions that can be answered 'yes' or 'no'
'Why?' is almost always a great question to ask: 'Why does that happen?'; 'Why do you feel that way?'; 'Why is that a problem?'
Five
Steps of One-on-One Communication
(When the Goal is Moving a Worker to Action)
1. Introduce yourself and explain why you are talking with workers today.
If you don't know the person: "Hello, I'm Terry, I'm a steward in Local 1."
"We've been talking with workers in your section about [whatever the identified issue is]."
2. Listen to the worker's concerns, and agitate around the issue.
Ask basic questions like, "How long have you worked here?"; "What shift do you work on?"; What kind of work do you do?"
Get specific: "Has [the identified issue] affected you? How?"
Agitate around the issue: "Do you think this is fair? Don't you think we should do something about this?"
Don't interrupt. Don't jump to conclusions. Keep asking questions.
3. Educate about the union and what can be done to build power.
"If we act as a group, the boss will be more likely to listen."
"We're reaching out to you and your co-workers so that we can have a greater say in what goes on and make some real changes."
"By sticking together, we can take an active role in improving our jobs."
4. Ask the worker to participate
"Will you [wear a button, sign a petition, come to a meeting, etc]?"
"How can I keep in touch with you?"
"Who else is affected by this problem? Will you introduce me to them?"
5. Get a specific commitment.
The day before the action: "Remember to [wear your button, come to the meeting tomorrow, etc]."
"Thank you for standing together with us."