Steward Training Program

1. IBEW® Code of Excellence Steward Training Program Rev. 09/06 Outside Line Construction version

2. Agenda • What is an excellence steward? • What will be my role as an excellence steward? • What do I need to know to be an effective excellence steward? • Discussion—how to address problems.

3. What is an Excellence Steward? • An excellence steward is the person responsible for putting the Code of Excellence into everyday practice at the jobsite. • An excellence steward coordinates the program with the business manager, local union officers, contractor, customer, and members.

4. Roles of the Excellence Steward(1) The excellence steward has a broader role than the typical steward. • Typical steward—link between membership and business manager in the collective bargaining process. • Excellence steward—link between business manager, local union officers, contractor, customer, and members, including: • Collective bargaining • Employer relations • Customer relations

5. Roles of the Excellence Steward(2) • Customer service • Membership education • Mentoring • Mobilization • Involvement • Communication

6. Responsibilities of the Excellence Steward The IBEW excellence steward must: • support local union officers; • be an example of jobsite productivity, safety, and teamwork; • encourage and in some cases compel the cooperation of fellow workers to the standards of excellence we have established on IBEW jobsites. This excellence steward training program is not meant to replace but rather to support the existing IBEW steward training programs.

7. Responsibilities of the Excellence Steward(2) Qualities of excellence stewards: • Knowing the needs of the customer. • Knowing how to deal with jobsite peer pressure. • Knowing what the members and union expect them to do. • Knowing what tasks are involved in membership development and being a leader. • Knowing why these tasks build union strength and provide a union workplace. • Knowing the importance of listening to members, recognizing their needs, and dealing with them tactfully.

8. What Excellence Stewards Need To Know • The collective bargaining agreement • Business manager and staff of local union • Local union officers • Scope of work being performed • Special conditions or customer needs • The needs of the workforce • Available resources to resolve jobsite conflict • Who to call about what • Employer representatives on jobsite and in office • Customer representatives on jobsite

9. The Local Union’s Responsibilitiesto the Excellence Steward • To provide a monthly meeting with the excellence stewards and the business manager to discuss concerns and get solutions to jobsite problems. • To have the executive board visit with problem members, helps them solve their own problems, and get them back to work within the industry. • To use the local LMCC to distribute best practices or prevent problems from spreading within the industry. • To provide the resources necessary to resolve jobsite problems. • Introduce excellence steward to customer and employer representatives.

10. Key Points • The IBEW excellence steward is a leader. • The IBEW excellence steward is a coordinator. • The IBEW excellence steward is a communicator. • The IBEW excellence steward is a mentor. • The IBEW excellence steward is a an educator. • The IBEW excellence steward is a listener. • The IBEW excellence steward helps people solve their own problems.

11. Commitment I _____, in the presence of members of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers®, promise and agree to conform to and abide by the Constitution and laws of the IBEW® and its local unions. I will further the purposes for which the IBEW® is instituted. I will bear true allegiance to it and will not sacrifice its interest, my interest, my family’s interest or our industry’s interest in any manner.

12. Thank you for your commitment… • To the IBEW®, • To our industry, • To your fellow workers, • To the customers who use our services, • To your families, and • To those union members who will follow.

13. We Control Our Destiny If it’s to be, it’s up to me!

14. IBEW® Code of Excellence Steward Training Program Rev. 02-05/06 Outside Line Construction version

15. Scenarios • Ralph is a long-time foreman for Polecat Line. He has a habit of not taking necessary and proper safety precautions on the job, such as having tailboards, circuit protection, and grounding. Every time a hand complains to the general foreman or the union hall, that hand gets laid off. The utility is beginning to complain to the local union that Polecat can’t get hands, and may be in jeopardy of losing the work on the utility property. As an excellence steward, how would you address this situation?

16. Scenarios • Pete and Kurt are members of your local union, working on a four-man crew with foreman Frank and apprentice Alan. Every night, Pete and Kurt party hard, and show up late the next day or not at all. Yesterday, an outage was scheduled to cut over an industrial plant, and they didn’t show up. Frank called the office for more help, but none was available. The customer had made arrangements to shut down production for the outage. Frank and Alan performed the job, in violation of the proper crew makeup in the agreement. The outage went over by three hours. The contractor fired Pete and Kurt. Pete and Kurt have filed charges with the local union on Frank and Alan for violating the agreement. As an excellence steward, what would you recommend to the local union business manager and officers?

17. Scenarios • Built-Rite Construction has a habit of not transferring apprentices to insure proper training. Once an apprentice is placed on a crew, he stays there for the duration of his apprenticeship. Apprentice Joe is getting ready to test out, and has been on underground for the vast majority of his apprenticeship. He has complained to you as an excellence steward that he is being held back from testing because he does not have the required hot hours. Built-Rite has hot work available. As an excellence steward, how would you address this?

18. Scenarios • Paul is a journeyman in your local. He has a work ethic of “ram and jam,” and does not do quality work. He has performed some work that is shoddy, and some that is downright dangerous. He does not follow the customer’s specs, and says his job is to get the work done fast for the contractor. The customer has complained about Paul’s work. The contractor, however, sees no problems with Paul. As an excellence steward, how would you address this?

19. Scenarios • Pole Key Line has a transmission job and has 30 guys working. You are getting complaints from the members on the job that they don’t have the necessary equipment to do the job properly and have been trying to use what’s available. Yesterday, while setting a 90’ pole, the shoddy winch line broke, and the pole fell and was broken. The utility inspector blamed the crew for the accident and demanded that they all be fired. As an excellence steward, how would you address this?

20. Scenarios • A three-man crew for X and L Contractors is working a 4-10s week. Every morning, following show up, they stop for breakfast before going out to the job. The contractor is OK with this, but you are hearing that the utility’s supervision has been getting complaints from the public about the trucks being at the restaurant. Your local does not represent the utility hands, only the construction. As an excellence steward, what should you do?

21. Scenarios • The local union has recently organized three new linemen. When they show up on the job for Smith Constructors, the crew members call them “rats” and “clumb sums.” Several of the older members are really giving these new members a hard time, and won’t show them anything about the job. Some of the younger members want to do the right thing and work with these new members as brothers, but they get great peer pressure from the older hands not to show the “rats” anything. As an excellence steward, how would you address this situation?

22. Scenarios • Amos was recently organized from a nonunion employer. He has a good working knowledge of the practical side of line work but is weak on the bookwork. The local union will test him when he is ready, but he is having a tough time getting the theory and transformers. As an excellence steward, how would you deal with this situation?

23. Scenarios • Farm Boys Electric is a recently organized line contractor specializing in underground. One of the selling points by the local union was the availability of skilled manpower. The hall sent two long-time journeymen to Farm Boys. The journeymen are ready to quit because Farm Boys will not follow the agreement with respect to working hours, lunch periods, and crew makeup. Farm Boys’ superintendent, Green, is hostile to the Union, and wants the journeymen to fail so he can tell management “I told you so.” You have been called in by the business manager as an excellence steward to address the problem. How would you handle it?

24. Scenarios • The local union has convinced Ranch REA to consider and use union contractors and has designated the first project awarded to union contractor X and L as a Code of Excellence job. You are the first hand referred to the job, and trained as an excellence steward. What should be your first tasks?