Hello  David -

DD>  RJT> The "shop steward" where I work is this lady,  a
couple of heads 
DD>  RJT> shorter than I am,  and rather rotund.  And posessed of one hell of 
DD>  RJT> a sense of humor,  we have a lot of fun.  She keeps on about how 
DD>  RJT> she's "gonna kick my ass" and points out to
whoever is nearby as to 
DD>  RJT> how I'm shaking,  at which point I mention that it's only because 
DD>  RJT> I'm laughing so hard.  :-) 
DD> 
DD> Does a "shop steward" have some sort of authority in the 
DD> hierachy of the company you work for? 

The union 'steward', as the name implies, handles routine union business.
Complaints about the management of the company of a personal nature are
taken to the steward who reduces the complaint to writing.  This is called
a 'greivance' and is the first step.  The steward then discusses this with
relevant management personel who can accept it as valid, reject it as invalid,
take action to resolve the grievance or even file one of their own against
the petitioner.  The second step is a meeting with all parties concerned
with appropriate actions taken or not.  The third step would involve the
'busiess agent' who is a shop-steward for all companies under contract to
that 'local' (local division of the union).  When all of these steps
are exhausted there can be binding arbitration or the business agent can
call for a strike vote of the membership to force resolution of the
greivance(s) when the company has been uncooperative in doing so.

All strikes are not about money but money is one area where companies
can become quite stubborn.

Rather than have employees arguing continuously with management and
keeping them from doing their work the grievance procedure maintains
an orderly conduct where meetings can be scheduled and impersonal.

Considering even this the time involved and the eventual possibility
of a strike when the grievance is sufficient (safety, random firings,
etc.) the shop steward is usually treated as an equal by management
although they are elected by the employees and recieve no additional
compensation other than their wages for their assigned work.  The
one advantage is there must be a union steward present when anyone is 
working so that the steward will be working more overtime than he/she
would otherwise be assigned.  Overtime is paid at from 150% to 200% of
the normal payscale per hour worked depending on which union and what
trade is involved.  Construction workers get 'double time' while
manufacturing is usually 'time and one half'.  Patternmakers get
double time.

Where there are no unions the higher paid and usually older employees
will sometimes form an unofficial 'committee' that will take grievances
to the owner and even negotiate basic pay increases from time to time
(for everyone).  This is most often found in the skilled trades although
I have found this in unskilled manufacturing as well.

DD> Why would she be "kicking your ass" (other than as a demonstration
DD> of union goonism)?

In your country the same expression might be "Beat you about the head and
shoulders" or "Take you by the scruff of the neck"?   It's
not intended
to be taken literally. ;-)

Charles.Angelich 
...
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