July 28, 2022 — Union stewards are labor’s first responders — advising members, welcoming new ones and enforcing the contract and state labor law. Without its cadre of stewards, PEF would be lost.
If you are a steward or would like to become one, PEF has developed a new PEF Steward Handbook to ensure you are well equipped and knowledgeable to perform the many roles and duties of union stewardship. The handbook conforms to the current Professional, Scientific and Technical (PS&T) unit contract and state labor law. It contains full-size forms for everything from grievances to protest of mandatory overtime. You can photocopy them as needed or make several copies to have ready when needed.
“Our stewards are the first to recognize opportunities and challenges in the workplace,” PEF President Wayne Spence said. “We want to give them all of the information and help we can, and these new handbooks are a great way to do that. Every PEF region offers a series of steward trainings that are taught by our field representatives. These classes are offered virtually and some regions have also returned to making them available in person. Now, our stewards will have these up-to-date handbooks to rely on between trainings and to help them meet every important situation.”
The handbook contains 36 pages of information covering 36 topics, including the responsibilities of being a steward, and specific topics such as a contract grievance timetable, an out-of-title work grievance form, counseling, expedited suspension review, demand for arbitration form, health and safety on the job, the Employee Assistance Program, the Committee on Political Education (COPE), Membership Benefits Program, PEF divisions, organizing and much more.
The handbook also contains a glossary of legal terms that stewards need to understand, a map of PEF regions and important phone numbers.
Much of this information is already available on the PEF website, but some stewards have no access to the internet or even a cell phone when they are at work. So having the handbook with them for ready reference when a situation arises can be an important advantage.
PEF is mailing a handbook to every steward and will also include one as part of the welcome kit when new stewards are elected. A digital copy of the handbook can be downloaded by clicking here. If you’re interested in serving as a steward, you can check if your Division has an opening at https://www.pef.org/elections/.