ICFTU RESEARCH

CONTENT OF COLLECTIVE AGREEMENTS
By Derek Robinson

Most CAs have some provisions regarding Shop Stewards. Different names may be given such as delegates The simplest is no more than an obligation on the part of the Trade Union to inform the employer who are the shop stewards or local representatives as seen in SS1 for Barbados External Communications. The provision that delegates representing employees at domestic level be themselves employees of the Company is common as shop stewards are seen as the lay representative of a group of workers.

The Kenya Co-operative Creameries CA in SS 2 requires the Union to hold annual elections for shop stewards. This might be seen as allowing the Employer undue influence over the internal affairs of a trade union which should be capable of determining for itself the process by which shop stewards are elected or appointed. This is allowed in the Monterey Farms CA in the Philippines SS 3 which merely says the Union shall designate one shop steward for each farm. Here the number is set by agreement. The Kenya Breweries CA does not specify the number of shop stewards but does require them to have two years employment with the Company. There is an obligation on the Company that it notifies the Union before transferring a shop steward. This could be allow the Union to seek to prevent such a transfer if it thought it was being done to limit the shop steward’s power or influence. The Accra Brewery agreement allows the Union to "designate" its stewards but with not more than one Steward on the same shift reporting to the Management representative in a particular work area. This is an attempt to find some agreement on the constituency of a shop steward and prevent duplication. A limitation is placed on shop stewards in that they can only service the Department in which they work. Usually this would not be seen as a great restraint unless there were some small departments which might be more conveniently serviced by a shop steward from elsewhere. The CA requires a shop steward to obtain the permission of hjis immediate supervisor in order to take up a member’s grievance.

A combination of restrictions is included in the Kraft Jacobs Suchard CA in SS 6.One representative is to be elected by secret ballot for a two year period. Restrictions on who can serve include two years’s employment and limited disciplinary action against him by the Company. The Company may object to any nomination but the CA is unclear as to what happens if an objection is raised and the Union rejects it. Facilities are to be provided for the ballot to be held on Company premises. These are quite significant restrictions on the Union’s method of selecting a shop steward.

More detailed provisions are set out in the National Agreement for Engineering Construction in the UK SS 7. As more than one union is recognised in the multi-employer CA the agreement allows for one shop steward from each recognised union on the contract/site. Usually they are required to have two years experience in the industry. This does not mean with the same employer. The CA emphasises that shop steward are subject to the control of their union. Permission from their supervisor is needed if shop stewards wish to leave their workplace on union business and this should not be unreasonably withheld. If it is mutually agreed a shop steward can act for members in other unions. This is to de with a situation where there are multi-unions on the site but some do not have a shop stewards but a steward cannot represent employees of any employer but his own. The CA provides for an employer to complain to a union Full Time Officer if a shop steward is alleged to have acted contrary to the agreement. The employer is to provide facilities for meetings of shop stewards from different unions, normally at the end of a shift. This joint approach can be extended so that a single spokesman for alla the recognised unions can represent them all. These provisions are necessary where more than one trade union is recognised and there are not mutually exclusive bargaining units. As this national agreement is signed by more than one union it is in the spirit of the CA to have a single spokesman where the local union so choose.

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