SHOP STEWARDS

Radicals or real representatives?

The role of a shop steward can be risky and for the most part, is thankless, so what motivates a person to become a shop steward?

What motivates a person to become a shop steward?

Well, for some people with strong political convictions it is a calling. During the anti-apartheid struggle, strikes, stay-aways and consumer boycotts were all part of the strategy of creating economic instability which eventually led to political change. Shop stewards were a vital cog in making these forms of protest effective.

While apartheid has gone, let us not forget that unions all over the world are organisations with political affiliations. South Africa is no different, as we have recently seen in the political differences which appear to be emerging between the ruling party and the trade union movement, and even within the union movement itself.

Political convictions

People with strong political convictions join trade unions and become shop stewards in order to change the wrongs of the world as they see them. The loyalties of these types of shop stewards usually lie more with the union than the employer. They are therefore likely to put the interests of their union before those of the employer, regardless of who pays their salaries.

Some might also have a strong need for personal power and view the union as a way to get ahead in life. After all, many of today’s politicians and senior civil servants were once shop stewards before being drawn into union leadership.

Unfortunately, once elected, power hungry individuals may put their own private agendas ahead of what is best for the people they represent. This is why we still experience unprotected strikes and strikes where employees come off badly, losing pay and sometimes their jobs as a result of conduct during the strike.

The union you deserve

It is said that employers get the type of union they deserve. How politicised shop stewards view the employer and behave, depends very much on how they are managed and on the prevailing organisational climate of the employer. If there is poor leadership and a lack of discipline within the business, politicised shop stewards can do real damage to an organisation.

If there is good leadership in a business, employees become loyal to the leadership of the business and they will not allow radicals to push their own private agendas ahead of what is in their best interests. Politicised shop stewards (and every unionised work force has at least one) therefore have to tone down their behaviour or become alienated from the membership.

Natural leaders

That brings me to the other important group of shop stewards – those that are asked by their colleagues to represent them. These people are elected not because they shout the loudest, but because they are well respected natural leaders.

They are the ultimately the most important group as they put their members interests first and they think before they act. Employers are well advised to develop a good working relationship with these people because they hold the key to good labour relations. What does that involve?

Becoming a shop steward, does not imply disloyalty

Well, first of all it involves understanding that joining a trade union and, more particularly, becoming a shop steward, does not imply disloyalty toward the employer. Employees join a trade union for a variety of reasons, the main one being that they seek security against arbitrary actions by management, and let’s face it, this can happen, even in the best of organisations.

A key principle of power is that a balance of power ensures non-escalation of conflict. Without union representation, there is no guarantee that a ‘rogue manager’ will not act arbitrarily to the detriment of employees.

The principles of power

It is also important for managers to understand that recognising an actor’s power leads to a reduction in power deployment. Put another way, if you acknowledge the role of the shop steward and work with him or her, the shop steward is far less likely to act in ways which are detrimental to the business.

Another important principle which is critical for managers to understand is that power must be perceived to be of use. If managers and supervisors do not perceive that they have power, they will not exercise it. This is best evidenced by the often-heard complaint that “You can’t fire anyone around here.” With good leadership you seldom need to fire people and those that do get fired usually fire themselves!

Another critical principle is that power exists to the extent that it is accepted. If a manager is prepared to put up with unacceptable behaviour that is exactly what he is likely to get!

Functions of a shop steward

Management needs to understand the functions of a shop steward, which are to:-

• Obtain mandates from employees and to participate in annual wage negotiations.
• Counsel, educate and advise employees on their rights.
• Take up employees’ complaints and represent them in formal grievance hearings.
• Represent employees in all stages of the disciplinary procedure.
• Represent employees and report back on meetings with management concerning work related issues.

From these it is clear that apart from an understanding of the law and the organisation’s collective agreements, negotiating and conflict handling are important skills for a shop steward.

Some employers take the view that training shop stewards is encouraging them to ‘be clever’. This is, in my opinion, incorrect. It is far better to deal with shop stewards who know the law and their rights and who know how to negotiate effectively.

Those who don’t tend to personalise conflict and become frustrated when they are unable to get their way. They are therefore more likely to ignore the advice of union officials, to act irresponsibly and to end up in adversarial relationships with their employers.

Employers will therefore, in my opinion, be wise to allow shop stewards time off for training but first check whether the training is being done by a reputable provider.

It is my experience that unions are only too willing for employers to arrange for their shop stewards to be trained by independent training providers. After all, these days training is done to unit standards and if the employer picks up the costs, these can be offset against SD levies.

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