Stewarding 15 Group Debrief

Some considerations:

(1) Do your debrief conversation immediately after the meeting if possible.

(2) Get Amara’s impression before you offer yours.

(3) You don’t know what human resources plans to do, so you don’t want to be overly optimistic about the impact Amara and you had.

Wait a couple days for HR to respond

Trisha from HR calls you a couple days after the meeting:

“Thank you for meeting with us and explaining Amara’s point of view. We understand the difficult circumstances that Amara faced to take care of her daughter but we must balance that with enforcing standard attendance policies in a uniform way. We can’t make exceptions for some people and not others. Given that this policy has not been consistently enforced in the past, we will be withdrawing the warning letter and replacing it with a non-disciplinary counseling memo re-emphasizing the attendance policy.”

A counseling memo is not grievable under the collective bargaining agreement. Amara can respond to it in writing. How would you respond?

Setup a meeting with Amara's co-workers to discuss the issue

Amara says: I feel a bit awkward discussing my personnel issue with co-workers but I’m willing to give it a try. I can pull together 3 or 4 co-workers this Friday during a lunch break that we usually share. I will check with them if it is okay if you join.

After checking with them she gets back to you that Friday will work from 11:30 to 12:30 at the deli across the street from their office.

What outcomes could come out of the meeting with Amara's co-workers?

Give an outline of an agenda for the meeting.

Here are some considerations for your meeting with Amara and her co-workers:

(1) Make sure you know what Amara wants out of the meeting and agrees to the agenda, in advance.

(2) Set up the meeting so that Amara does most of the talking. Don’t explain her issue to others for her.

(3) Explore some options for how Amara’s co-workers can publicly show support for her to pressure management to back off on the discipline. Some examples could include:

• A petition supporting Amara that is given to higher level management
• Have everyone walk in 6 minutes past the grace period on a single day
• Have co-workers put signs at their desks that say “Amara is Amazing”

The meeting on Friday with Amara’s co-workers goes well. Amara tells her co-workers what happened and they respond sympathetically and supportively. They haven’t had bad interactions with Joseph Bossy but they have also noticed that he is aloof and not very approachable. They agree that one of them will purchase some cheap hand fans over the weekend and they will write “Amara Fan” on them and put them in the workspace on Monday.

Unions do not usually engage in this kind of collective assessment of an individual grievance. Do you think this is helpful? How does this change the dynamic of Amara's workplace?

Send out a union email criticizing the actions of Joseph Bossy

Give an outline of the email you would send. Would you include a demand? Who (if anyone) would sign the email?

Here are some considerations for sending an email:

• If you send an email before Amara discusses the issue with her co-workers, they may not understand and be able to react to the context. Maybe it would be better to do this as a group action.
• If the email comes from you the steward, it makes Amara a victim instead of augmenting her voice.
• Focusing on the boss picking on a respected co-worker taking care of her child instead describing who said what in the disciplinary letter or meeting changes the focus form a legal to a moral framework.

Other Follow Up Plans

What other follow up plan do you have?

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