DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF SHOP STEWARDS Shop stewards often referred to as employees representatives in general are represantives of workers who are elected by members of a trade union into office. For a shop steward to be recognized he must be a member of a recognized employee formation i.e. a trade union, that has been granted recognition by the employer in terms of the provisions of the Industrial Relations Act as amended. Over and above the provision of the Act under Section 109 - code of good practice which details the functions of shop stewards, their appointment and qualification, their status and their facilities and training; outlined hereunder are the basic duties and responsibilities required of a shop steward/ employee representative; 1. An organizer A shop steward is an organizer at his or her workplace. The main duty is to build up and maintain strong discipline, progressive and informed membership at the workplace. As organizer a shop stewards duties will include the following; recruit new members, make sure that all the members are paying subscriptions to the union and take the decisions of the workers to management and also hold regular meetings with the members at the workplace among others 2. A monitor Shop stewards must ensure that management sticks to agreements which have been negotiated with workers. They must also make sure that management carries out decisions reached at negotiations. 3. A leader Shop stewards are leaders in their workplace by action and by conduct. As leaders, shop stewards are also expected to listen to workers, listen to their grievances and opinions, give members direction and guidance, discourage division and encourage all to work as a collective. Shop stewards also need to take responsibility as a leader and give fellow workers the correct information no matter how painful it is. 4. A learner A shop steward must be knowledgeable and well informed and should be able to learn through experience. As learners shop stewards ought to know the structures, constitution and policies of the union, employment practices and conditions in the workplace laws, agreements that covers various sectors that the union is organizing, social benefits that workers are entitled to. Employee organizations and management should review the type of training most appropriate for the shop stewards needs and take all reasonable steps to ensure that shop stewards receive the training they require. 5. An educator A shop steward must be in a position to share information with fellow members especially with regard to what is happening in their workplace. They must also inform the members about their rights. At this point perhaps it is noteworthy to state that shop stewards differ from full time union officials in that the latter are not normally elected from among the workers/employees. Trade union official are normally appointed by, employed and paid by the trade union, while on the other hand shop stewards are employees of the company who do not get paid for being shop stewards. Like normal employees they are paid their salary by the employer just like any other employee. WRITTEN BY: NCAMSILE SHONGWE - CMO LEGAL
Posted on: Tue, 21 Oct 2014 10:02:37 +0000
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