Special Status of Stewards
EQUALITY PRINCIPLE /PROTECTED STATUS
In order for labor-management relations to be successful, union and management must interact as equals in their dealings with one another. If union stewards were held to traditional standards of employee conduct, which require obedience to, and respect for, supervisors and management, they would be unable to vigorously advocate on behalf of the union and the employees they represent because vigorous advocacy can require the steward to raise his/her voice or use dramatic gestures, behavior that might be considered to be insubordinate in other contexts. Only with freedom from the traditional standards of on-the-job conduct can the union steward interact with supervisors and management as an equal.
The National Labor Relations Board and the courts have acknowledged the need for a special, protected status for union stewards by adopting the equality principle, which allows union stewards, free from fear of reprisals, to engage in the vigorous advocacy that is necessary to represent their employees and union as an equal to management. When a union steward acts in his/her official capacity representing employees, the steward is engaging in a protected activity and the Act protects him/her from reprisals for reasonable actions while performing such representational duties.
As an example of the difference between the special status of a steward when he/she is performing a representational function and his/her regular employment status, consider the following two scenarios:
SCENARIO ONE—NOT PROTECTED
Your department is implementing a new procedure, and your supervisor calls you into his/her office to explain the new procedure and your role in the procedure. During your supervisor's explanation you realize that the new procedure is the most stupid idea you have ever heard. In this setting, if you laughed out loud and called it the most stupid idea you have ever heard you are legitimately at risk of being disciplined for insubordination.
SCENARIO TWO—PROTECTED STATUS
One week later you are meeting with management as a member of the Local's bargaining committee, and management is explaining the new procedure to the bargaining committee - if in this setting you laughed out loud and called the new procedure the most stupid idea that you have ever heard you are protected from any charges of insubordination and from any discipline because you are performing a representational function and are in a protected status.
And even though stewards are granted special status and protection under the Act, management can not hold stewards to a higher standard of conduct or job performance than other employees or discipline stewards more severely than it disciplines other employees.
UNPROTECTED ACTIVITIES
The protections for protected activity only apply while a steward is acting in an official, representational capacity. When a steward is interacting with a supervisor or other management representative on a matter that is strictly personal to the steward, such as the steward's own performance evaluation, he/she is not performing a protected activity and is subject to the traditional standards of employee conduct.
The steward is also not protected, even when acting in an official capacity, if his/her actions are unreasonable. The steward will not be protected from the consequences of his/her actions if he or she:
- uses extreme, unprovoked profanity;
- uses racial epithets;
- behaves in a sexually harassing or intimidating manner;
- makes physical threats; or
- strikes a supervisor.
PROTECTED CONFIDENTIALITY
Even though a steward does not have an absolutely privileged relationship with his or her bargaining unit members, such as that of an attorney with her client, there is a protected confidentiality covering the steward when he or she is engaged in protected activities. If union members didn't feel confidence in their ability to confidentially discuss work-related matters with their union stewards, their right to engage in "concerted activities" through the assistance of their certified representative would be comprised. This means that a steward can't be disciplined for refusing to reveal to management information concerning the substance of his conversation with a grievant or notes kept by the steward in the course of fulfilling his representation functions.