The Guardians in the House (Collective Bargaining)
The word steward comes from an Old English term meaning “house guardian.” It is a word with a long and honourable history within religious institutions, land management, the military, the transportation industry, and, of course, unions. In ETFO, it denotes the nearly 3,000 dedicated individuals who, despite their already hectic day jobs, take on the task of being the union’s voice in the workplace. ETFO has an established network of stewards among its teacher, educational, and professional support personnel locals. The nature of occasional teaching means that a traditional stewards’ network is not really feasible, though over the years occasional teacher local executives have creatively devised alternative means to carry out the same function.
A COMPLEX ROLE
The steward’s role has evolved considerably in recent years. Prior to the formation of ETFO, the two predecessor organizations had designated contact individuals within each school. Their roles were limited, however, and did not include the kinds of advocacy functions that are part of the steward’s work today. For a variety of reasons, including the changing labour relations environment in schools and the growing sophistication of collective agreements, a new kind of union representative was needed. From the very beginning of ETFO, this individual has been known as a steward, and steward training and development have become an integral part of the union’s work. Throughout the year, locals hold regular stewards’ meetings, and some have even arranged release time for intensive steward training during the day.
The steward is an advocate, a communicator, a resource person, a help to colleagues in need, and a union leader. Most of the people occupying leadership roles at the provincial and local levels today were stewards (though the job title has varied) at one point in their professional lives. Throughout the school year, both the provincial and the local ETFO offices send information to stewards on a wide range of topics, including collective bargaining and collective agreement monitoring, professional relations matters, professional development opportunities, political action campaigns, research and polling projects, and opportunities for supporting and engaging in equity and social justice initiatives.
HELPING YOU UPHOLD YOUR RIGHTS
Disseminating this information to the school staff is only a small part of the steward’s role. Key is the steward’s ability to assess what is happening in schools and to help ensure that your rights are being upheld — whether that is the right to be free from discrimination and harassment in your workplace, the right to grow professionally without having to sacrifice your home life, or the right to an environment that conforms to occupational health and safety laws.
Members faced with work-related issues can always call their local office or the provincial office, but many prefer to begin with their on-site colleague — the steward. She or he will always know how to access the help required whether the issue is a safety concern, a disability that requires a workplace accommodation, a matter involving a performance appraisal, an allegation of misconduct, or a conflict with a parent or school administrator. Stewards monitor the implementation of collective agreements in each workplace. Their tenacity in this regard has meant not only that members are more aware of their rights, but also that many workplace situations are resolved without the need to file a grievance. For example, until four years ago supervision schedules in excess of 200 minutes per week were not uncommon. When universal caps on supervision time for teachers were negotiated in 2005, it was ETFO stewards who did the heavy lifting of monitoring and helping to implement the new supervision schedules. Under the provisions of the current teacher collective agreements, your workplace steward is keeping an eye this year on the implementation of 210 minutes of preparation time over a five-day cycle, staff meetings that are limited to one per month and are no more than 75 minutes long, and the right of all teachers to determine the professional use of their own preparation time.
GATHERING AND DISSEMINATING INFORMATION
Monitoring these and other aspects of the agreements means that stewards must seek information not only from staff colleagues, but also from school administrators. Periodically, locals will request such data from their stewards to assist in their enforcement efforts. In the current school year, information from stewards on the explosion of ministry and board initiatives geared toward “boosting student achievement” (code for “raising EQAO scores”) has helped locals curb the steadily increasing encroachment on teachers’ time. Feedback from stewards about the application of collective agreements in schools is also a critical tool in building toward future negotiations. The information they gather about how schools really function is always used to good effect at the bargaining table.
Stewards are official representatives of ETFO, and play an integral role in carrying out the union’s activities, as is their right under the Labour Relations Act. Most school administrators understand this. There is always the odd exception. It is illegal for an employer to interfere in lawful activities unions carry out in their duty to represent their members. For a superintendent, school administrator, or any other management representative to do so would be to violate several sections of the Labour Relations Act. Stewards do not, of course, seek information from principals about individual teacher performance appraisals. However, a steward seeking information from a principal about how preparation time or supervision time provisions in the collective agreement are being implemented in the school is engaging in a protected activity. For all members, and not just for stewards, protection for lawful union activity also extends to exercising other rights under the collective agreement — including upholding one’s rights through the grievance procedure. Reprisals of any kind for exercising these rights are violations of the Labour Relations Act. Someday your school steward will retire or move on to other challenges. When that day comes, please think about how important it is to fill that role. Stewards are ETFO’s frontline, the champions and defenders of members’ rights, the guardians you can count on.
