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A union representative, union steward, or shop steward is an employee of an organization or company who represents and defends the interests of their fellow employees as a labor union member and official. Rank-and-file members of the union hold this position voluntarily (through
A union representative, union steward, or shop steward is an employee of an organization or company who represents and defends the interests of their fellow employees as a labor union member and official. Rank-and-file members of the union hold this position voluntarily (through democratic
Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to:
Politics
*A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people.
*A member of a Democratic Party:
**Democratic Party (United States) (D)
**Democratic ...
election
An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office.
Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has opera ...
by fellow workers or sometimes by appointment of a higher union body) while maintaining their role as an employee
Employment is a relationship between two parties regulating the provision of paid labour services. Usually based on a contract, one party, the employer, which might be a corporation, a not-for-profit organization, a co-operative, or any o ...
of the firm. As a result, the union steward becomes a significant link and conduit of information between the union leadership and rank-and-file workers.
Duties
The duties of a union steward vary according to each labor union'sconstitution
A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed.
When these princip ...
al mandate for the position. In general, most union stewards perform the following functions:
*Monitor and enforce the provisions of the collective bargaining
Collective bargaining is a process of negotiation between employers and a group of employees aimed at agreements to regulate working salaries, working conditions, benefits, and other aspects of workers' compensation and rights for workers. The ...
agreement (labor contract) to ensure both the firm and union worker are not violating the terms of the agreement.
*Ensure that the firm is in compliance with all federal, state and local laws and regulation
Regulation is the management of complex systems according to a set of rules and trends. In systems theory, these types of rules exist in various fields of biology
Biology is the scientific study of life. It is a natural science with a ...
s.
*Represent and defend fellow workers whom the firm believes violated company policy or the terms and conditions of the collective bargaining agreement, often through the grievance process.
*Communicate and disseminate official union policy, memos and directives to workers in the shop.
*Popularize and promote union consciousness and values in the workplace.
Unlike other union representatives, stewards work on the shop floor, connecting workers with union officials at regional or national levels.
The role of shop stewards may vary from being a mere representative of a larger national union towards independent structures with the power of collective bargaining in the workplace.
In political history
In the United Kingdom, a network called Shop Stewards Movement organised shop stewards against the first World War. In Germany, a network of shop stewards called Revolutionary Stewards took an important role in the revolutionary " January Strike".Other designations
Father of the chapel (FoC) or mother of the chapel (MoC) are the titles in the United Kingdom andAustralasia
Australasia is a region that comprises Australia, New Zealand and some neighbouring islands in the Pacific Ocean. The term is used in a number of different contexts, including geopolitically, physiogeographically, philologically, and ecolo ...
referring to a shop steward representing members of a trade union
A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits (s ...
in a printing
Printing is a process for mass reproducing text and images using a master form or template. The earliest non-paper products involving printing include cylinder seals and objects such as the Cyrus Cylinder and the Cylinders of Nabonidus. The ...
office or in journalism
Journalism is the production and distribution of reports on the interaction of events, facts, ideas, and people that are the "news of the day" and that informs society to at least some degree. The word, a noun, applies to the occupation (pro ...
. The FoC or MoC is assisted by the clerk of the chapel or by a deputy FoC/MoC. In the printing trade, a chapel is the traditional name given to a meeting of compositor
Compositor may refer to:
* Compositor (typesetting), a person or machine which arranged movable type for printing
** Paige Compositor, a device developed to replace manual compositors, which was a commercial failure
* Compositing software, used i ...
s. The name originates in the early history of printing in Great Britain, though the National Union of Journalists states that the precise origins of the terms are unclear.
Further reading
* John Benson, ''Unions at the Workplace: Shop Steward Leadership and Ideology'', 1991. * Ralf Hoffrogge, ''Working-Class Politics in the German Revolution. Richard Müller, the Revolutionary Shop Stewards and the Origins of the Council Movement'', Brill Publications 2014, . * Y. Rittau and T. Dundon, 2010, The roles and functions of shop stewards in workplace partnership: evidence from the Republic of Ireland, Employee Relations, Vol 32(1), p. 10-27.References
{{Authority control Labor relations