Vol. 1 | No. 5
ORGANIZING TO WIN COVID-19 GRIEVANCES
ORG AN IZE
MORE Protection!
Hazard Pay!
WORKPLACE LEADER
ORGANIZING to WIN COVID-19 Grievances
F
rom the beginning of the COVID crisis, many bosses have disregarded health and safety and denied pay and benefits to essential, frontline workers. Do you and your coworkers need more protection or hazard pay? Should your workplace be temporarily shut down because of COVID-19 exposure? Can you get paid during the shutdown? This article contains tips for organizing your coworkers to protect your health, safety and livelihoods by winning COVID-19 grievances. There is a longer version online at tinyurl.com/COVID-Grievances with specific examples of COVID-19 grievances and advice for how to win them.
Let’s Talk About Organizing for Power Individual workers have very little power compared to the boss. The reason unions exist is to bring workers closer to the power of the boss through collective organizing. The contract, or “collective bargaining agreement,” is an enforceable written expression of the agreement the union was able to negotiate with the boss as a result of the united power of the members. But you can organize and win even if you don’t have a contract. Whenever a workplace problem surfaces, whether or not it involves COVID-19, a worker-leader should always consider whether this is just an individual problem, or whether the problem could affect more people. If your investigation shows it is a broader problem, as almost every COVID-19 case is, there is a chance to use an organizing approach — either along with a grievance that the boss has violated the contract, or instead of a grievance. No matter how unified or divided their own workplace is, any group of workers
can take some steps to join together and build power. Even small steps in that direction are very important to change the balance of power in the workplace.
The Organizing Approach: Five Steps to Getting COVID-19 Protection at Work (From fight.ueunion.org/five-steps)
The union UE has identified five steps you can take to organize to win workplace struggles related to COVID-19: 1. Talk with your coworkers, remotely if necessary 2. Form a group with your coworkers 3. Identify a set of demands 4. Present your demands using a petition or letter 5. Take action to win your demands According to the UE: If your employer refuses to agree to your demands, you have options. You can go public with your demands and pressure the boss to comply…
❝ The reason
unions exist is to bring workers closer to the power of the boss through collective organizing. ❞ You can also withhold your labor and refuse to take an unsafe assignment until the employer agrees to shut down, or implement changes that will ensure workers are safe at work… You can read about your rights to take these actions here (fight.ueunion.org/ your-rights). If you can, you should speak with an experienced organizer who can help you plan how to take these steps and win your demands.
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WORKPLACE LEADER
If you Have a Union, Bargain over COVID-19 Changes It is very important for the union to promptly seek to negotiate regarding the effects of actions the boss takes around COVID-19. For example, when the Pittsburgh library closed due to the virus, their union, the Steelworkers, negotiated full pay during the closure. The CWA local representing bus manufacturing workers in Minnesota succeeded in negotiating a three month extension of health insurance during a temporary shutdown. Other items the union may seek to negotiate if the boss announces a temporary shutdown or layoff due to COVID include things like adding new benefits, waiving waiting periods for existing benefits, or covering the difference between leave benefit and regular pay. Workers can and should organize to support the union’s negotiating committee.
Using Grievances to Support an Organizing Approach If you work in a union shop, sometimes you can support an organizing approach to winning COVID-19 issues by filing a grievance to enforce the contract. If you can answer yes to the first question below, your complaint likely has merit and you may be able to win a grievance. If you can also answer yes to one or more of questions 2-4, that will strengthen your grievance. But in most cases, you need a contract violation to win a grievance. 1. D id the boss violate the contract? 2. D id the boss violate the law? 3. D id the boss violate its own personnel policies? 4. D id the boss violate past practice?
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❝ Workers can and
should organize to support the union’s negotiating committee. ❞
1. Contract violations: If you are represented by a union, it is very important to be familiar with the language written in the collective bargaining agreement. Your contract likely contains provisions requiring the employer to provide a safe and healthy workplace, to provide health insurance, not to engage in discrimination, to provide paid leave, and possibly to bargain before making certain kinds of changes in pay, benefits or operations. In any case that potentially affects more than one worker, filing a grievance regarding the bosses’ contract violation should be part of, not a substitute for, an organizing approach. In most cases, you should think of the grievance as a tool you use as part of your organizing strategy. You should continue your organizing tactics at each stage of the grievance procedure. Your written grievance should be short, provide only a general description of what happened (but with enough specifics to show a contract violation), should “include but not be limited to” every provision of the contract that you think the employer may have violated, and ask for “any and all appropriate remedies.” 2. Violations of law: In some cases, you can use the bosses’ legal violation to support your contract grievance. In other cases, you may
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decide to pursue a legal claim separately. The online version of this article [tinyurl.com/ COVID-Grievances] has examples of COVID-19 legal violations by the boss that could support your grievance.
3. Did the boss violate its own policy? Most employers have personnel policies and work rules, which are often found in an employee handbook. In many states, the boss isn’t legally required to honor its employee handbook. But you can still often use a handbook violation not only to try to shame the boss into doing the right thing, but to support your argument that the boss violated the contract or the law. If there is a conflict between the handbook and the contract, the contract wins. 4. Did the boss violate past practice? A past practice is something that regularly, previously occurred. Ordinarily, the union can win a past practice violation only if the past practice relates to something that is already in the contract.
Conclusion: Organize, Organize, Organize Remember, often the quickest and most effective way to build the power to win COVID-19-related grievances is to organize, and to use any violations of the contract, law, employer policy or past practice to support your organizing. But you can organize and win during this pandemic, whether or not you can show these violations. Note: this article does not contain legal advice. See a lawyer for that. –D ean Hubbard is an advocate, organizer, educator, and artist for workers’ human rights and for racial, environmental, and economic justice.
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WORKPLACE LEADER
BUILD a One Stop Shop for Information Emailing, texting, and social media are all great ways to get the word out, but when it comes to the barrage of information members are receiving as this crisis drags on, it’s best to keep COVID FAQs and resources (such as union benefits, links to unemployment and public health sites, etc.) handy for members to come back to later as they need them. If you have a website that is easily edited, consider building out a COVID resources page with general information and links to resources offered by the union as well as by outside entities like your state and local government.
In This Pandemic, Member Communication Is More Important Than Ever
S
ince the pandemic began, working people have been on the front lines, keeping this country moving. From transportation and shipping to education and energy, workers have adapted, but never stopped.
Unfortunately — and predictably — working people haven’t just been working the front lines but have also been dealing with the personal hardships and risks that the pandemic has brought. Making all this more difficult and chaotic is the fact that available information is changing every day and today’s news often contradicts yesterday’s. With workplace protocols, changes in the economy, and even our knowledge of the virus itself constantly evolving, it’s now more important than ever to communicate proactively with members. Even when you don’t have all the answers, the worst thing any of us can do right now is be out-of-touch. With the right mindset and a good strategy in place, you can make sure your members feel as comfortable and informed as possible in this strange time. The key is to communicate with them.
If building a new page on your local site isn’t possible, there are countless free and low-cost blogging platforms available, like Wix, Wordpress, or Blogger. You don’t have to build a whole site, but you can make a page or two with your local’s important COVID FAQ’s for members and links to important resources available to members in your area. Either way, keep the link to your resource page handy and be sure to share it in your communications with members whenever possible.
Be PROACTIVE Everyone is on edge — and for good reason. If you’ve ever waited for a call from a doctor’s office, for news about a job or to hear from a good friend you’ve been worried about, you know the gnawing sound of silence. We all want to be in the know, and this includes your members. No matter how you most regularly communicate with your members, consider increasing the frequency of communication and dedicating some of your bandwidth to COVID-related Member Communication continues >
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WORKPLACE LEADER
Layoffs
In This Pandemic, Member Communication Is More Important Than Ever continued ▼
T
he last few months have been very difficult times for workers across the globe. Due to instability in the job market and mounting financial losses during the COVID-19 pandemic, major corporations, in fact entire industries, as well as public institutions and agencies are laying off workers in droves. Employees should not stand by and allow these things to happen without making demands on how they will be treated as they exit the workplaces they have built and maintained over many years. Ask your union representative if there is contract language regarding layoffs and recalls that would give you rights to your previous job if it comes open again in the future. Here are a few suggestions for what stewards and workplace leaders can demand:
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Employers should allow laid-off employees to devote a reasonable amount of their workday during the last two weeks of work to the search for new employment.
information. This could include anything from reporting on ongoing impact bargaining to new protocols or new resources. Always make sure members are getting regular updates about any changes occurring at work. Doing this will make everyone (well, most people) feel included and informed. Waiting until members begin clamoring for answers only creates friction and can lead to some members seeing their union as non-responsive rather than what it is: their best defense in this crisis. Lastly on this point, take a bow. If the union has secured a victory for members, no matter how small, let your members know. Every day your members are hearing small parts of what’s going on around them, and it’s important that they know that no matter what their boss, their mayor, their governor, or the federal government does, their union is their voice.
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Make Members FEEL HEARD
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Tone is everything. If members are hearing rumors of layoffs or of someone testing positive at their workplace, they won’t care about what everyone is doing for an all-digital Thanksgiving. Make your communications with members responsive to their concerns and they will feel heard and appreciated.
Employers should reimburse laid-off employees no less than $500 each for job-related expenses such as resume- writing, career counseling, and retraining in connection with seeking other employment. Employers should continue to provide laid-off employees paid health insurance at their same coverage level (e.g., single, family, etc.) for six (6) months following their layoff date.
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Each worker should be allowed, if willing, to provide an exit interview to their union or HR department for the purpose of improving the employment experience for future employees and management skills. Employees should get a copy of this interview. z
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If this sounds difficult, consider soliciting feedback from members before beginning to regularly communicate on COVID-related concerns. You may try a members-only town hall via Zoom or put out a survey to get an idea of what members are most worried about or what they feel a need to know more about.
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❝ Communication is
always key, but during a pandemic it is mission critical. ❞
TRANSPARENCY is Key In this crisis, your union may not have it all figured out. It would be surprising if any of us did. There may still be impact bargaining going on. There may be no funds for hazard pay for some of your members or worse, there may be hours cut or layoffs ahead. Be upfront with members about what the union is fighting for, where you currently stand, and what members can do to get more involved. Providing updates, even if you haven’t yet reached the end of the road, will go a long way in easing members’ minds. Inviting them along to help in the union’s ongoing efforts on their behalf will help them to feel empowered and it will help you to erase that invisible line in their minds between their union and themselves.
Communication is always key, but when it comes to engaging, informing, and protecting members during a pandemic, it is mission critical. Serious contention and even resentment of a union can come from members feeling like they’re not being heard or kept in the loop. Make your union into a source of information for members, check in with them regularly and keep them informed, and you’ll find that even after months of crisis, you may be as strong as ever. z – Christian Hanley is a communications consultant for labor, candidates, and groups fighting the good fight. You can reach him at christian@defiancestrategies.com.
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WORKPLACE LEADER
ARBITRATION REPORT Working Out-of-Classification Resolved Differently for Two Workers Perhaps one of the knottiest of workplace issues involves questions of when a worker is asked to perform duties that may be considered out of his/her job classification. One arbitration case — involving the job classification issues — decided the fate of two workers differently. Two school district workers filed separate grievances claiming their work assignments were not in their job description. One case involved a maintenance technician who was asked to clean a bathroom once every other month; he grieved that such duties were not specified in the job description. The arbitrator denied that grievance, noting that such an assignment was de minimis in nature and was not a contract violation. The other case involved an account technician whose primary duties were of a clerical nature in an administrative office; she grieved over being assigned periodically to go to a district warehouse building to operate a forklift truck to handle rolls of paper that would be distributed to various schools. She had been assigned to the warehouse work after the district had laid off a fulltime warehouse worker as a cost-saving action. This assignment was not de minimis, the arbitrator said in ruling in favor of the union. In judging each grievance differently, the arbitrator considered several other factors. The assignment of the maintenance technician to do occasional bathroom cleaning was similar to his regular work of cleaning elsewhere. In the case of the account technician, her regular duties as an office worker were totally alien to that of a warehouse worker.
In rejecting the maintenance worker’s grievance, the arbitrator noted that the contract referred to a job description program that listed “job families,” which linked maintenance workers and custodians in the same family, making such occasional out-of-classification assignments proper. In the case of the account technician, her classification was in a different family as that of the warehouse worker. The arbitrator agreed with the union’s fear that a continuation of such “out-of-classification” assignments could be a “slippery
slope” leading to the erosion of union rights under the contract and widespread “out-of-classification” work. The lesson for union negotiators then is two-fold: first to insist upon contract language that strengthens grieving upon “out-of-classification” assignments, and, secondly to be vigilant and to grieve on such assignments as they may occur. (Nevada Classified School Employees Assn., Chapter 5, AFT, and Churchill County School District. Jeffrey A. Belkin, arbitrator. July 29, 2020. Ref. 2020 BNA LA 1184.)
Retiring teacher to get health insurance for a time A community college may not terminate a retiring teacher’s health care benefits in the months of July and August following the teacher’s retirement. An arbitrator ruled that the fact that the teacher had taught the previous ten months made continuing health insurance coverage an “earned benefit” for the succeeding two months. He cited the contract that stated that faculty members earn contractual benefits, including salary and benefits, for twelve months of a year provided they work the contractual number of days. (Community College of Beaver County, Society of the Faculty, PSEA/NEA and Community College of Beaver County. John M. Felice, arbitrator. May 20, 2020. Ref. 4671493-AAA.)
Reinstatement also requires back pay It would seem to follow that if a worker’s discharge was overturned in a grievance decision that full back pay would be awarded. But that wasn’t the case for one grievant. His case was originally reviewed by a joint grievance committee which ruled his discharge should be reduced to a written warning. The ruling, however, made no mention of a back pay award or the restoration of seniority and other rights. The company refused back pay or to restore the other rights causing the union to seek arbitration. An arbitrator noted the union in its original grievance sought back pay and full restoration of rights; while the grievance committee’s ruling was silent on the topic, the arbitrator said it was logical that the back pay and restoration of rights be required. (Teamsters Local 745 and First Student, Inc. Sidney S. Moreland, arbitrator. March 28, 2020. Ref. 2020 BNA LA 1030.) – Ken Germanson. The writer is a veteran labor journalist.
Workplace Leader is published six times a year by UnionBase. Contents ©2020 UnionBase. Reproduction in whole or in part electronically, by photocopy, or any other means without the written consent of UnionBase is prohibited. | Cover art produced by Billy Buntin of BBDigital Media. Layout & Design by Chadick+Kimball.
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