Portside

An internal National Labor Relations Board directive issued in September has raised the bar for how diligently unions must pursue grievances.

A union can now be found guilty of violating the duty of fair representation (DFR) for losing track of a grievance or failing to promptly return a member’s phone calls about it.

That’s a departure from long-established standards. Until now, you put the union at risk only if your treatment of a case was arbitrary, discriminatory, or in bad faith—not if the steward or union rep simply made a mistake, or did a poor job.

We should all take this risk seriously. Defending against DFR charges is time-consuming, and the financial penalty if you lose can be heavy enough to make the union remortgage the union hall. But there’s no need to panic. Any union can stay on the right side of the law by properly training its stewards and staff.


If you represent members, it’s already your job to return phone calls promptly and keep track of grievance timelines. Now you also need to be able to prove you did it. That means document, document, document.

Luckily, you have a powerful and efficient tool to make that documenting easier. It’s probably in your pocket right now—your cell phone.


Here’s what every union staffer or steward should do:

SAVE YOUR TEXTS


1. Check your cell phone frequently. If you do not have every member’s cell phone number and email address, get them now.

Make sure every member has your cell phone number and email address. Ask them to text you any time they want a call back, and to let you know the best time to call.

2. Orient new members personally. Besides your phone and email, make sure every new member gets a copy of the contract. Review it with them.

Especially review the timelines in the grievance procedure. The biggest headache is a member who comes to a steward or union staff after the deadline to file a grievance has passed. Explain that a claim made months late will probably be denied by the union at the pre-arbitration step. The union cannot afford to arbitrate a grievance it knows will be tossed out for being untimely.

3. Even if a grievance is untimely, think about doing step one of the grievance procedure anyhow. Meet with management. Smart managers would rather fix a situation than be viewed as jerks by the members.

4. When you get a message about a possible grievance, text the member immediately: “When is a good time to call you? Can you quickly provide me some details—the date, the issue? When can we meet face to face?” Also tell the member to check their email, because you are sending the current contract.

Do not delete this text message or this email. They are proof that you responded and have started the investigation.

KEEP A COMPUTER FILE

5. Make a new folder on your computer for each grievance. This is where you will save the grievance itself and all related documents, such as notes and information requests. If you are managing lots of grievances, set up an Excel spreadsheet to track all your information.

6. When you talk on the phone with the member, take notes. Date the notes, scan them, and save them in your computer file.

7. If possible, type your grievance. Sophisticated scanning equipment may be able to read type more easily than your handwriting. Scan the grievance and save it in your file too.

8. Take a picture of the grievance and text it to the member. If you are the steward, also send it to the union rep. If you are the union rep, also send it to the steward and the member.

If it’s the type of grievance which may turn into a larger group grievance, send it to all the affected members. But be careful with disciplinary grievances— many members don’t understand our obligation to defend all members, right or wrong, guilty or innocent.

EMAIL AT EVERY TURN

9. The same day you file the grievance, scan it and email it to management. If possible, use the function that sends you a receipt confirming that your message was received and opened. Save this in your file, too.