Article 15 - Stewards and Their Duties

Section 15.1 - Becoming a Steward

Any GEU member can volunteer to become a steward for their employing unit. If the unit employs a number of bargaining unit members that is smaller than the Representation quota (see Article 23), a member may volunteer to be steward for the set of all employing units with fewer bargaining unit members than the representation quota. All stewards must sign a Steward Agreement, which will include length of position and list duties and responsibilities associated with role as listed in Section 15.6.

Section 15.2 - Enumeration

The number of Steward Council votes apportioned to an employing unit is equal to the number of bargaining unit members in the unit divided by the Representation quota (see Article 23). If the remainder is greater than or equal to half of the representation quota, an additional vote is apportioned. All units employing a number of bargaining unit members smaller than the representation quota will be aggregated and counted as one (1) employing unit. Steward votes are apportioned annually based on the membership within each employing unit as of the steward apportionment date (see Article 23).

Section 15.3 - Standing

In order to serve as steward, a candidate must be a member in good standing.

Section 15.6 15.4 - Duties

The duties of a steward are:

5.6(a) 15.4.1 Organize members of the department/employing unit that they represent

5.6(b) 15.4.2 Monitor potential contract violations and reporting concerns to Grievance Officer or other responsible Executive Board members (see Article 3), assisting members in processing grievances and representing them (if requested) in any grievance meetings; stewards shall forward copies of all grievances and related material to the Grievance Officer

5.6(c) 15.4.3 Communicate with members in their department via email, department meetings, office visits, dissemination of meeting minutes, or maintenance of bulletin board postings in the work area in keeping with Article UNION_RIGHTS_ARTICLE ??? of the Collective Bargaining Agreement,

5.6(d) 15.4.4 Mobilize members in their employing unit to participate in GEU activities and initiatives

5.6(e) 15.4.5 Encourage all eligible bargaining unit members to join GEU and providing basic GEU orientation information

5.6(f) 15.4.6 Attend GMMs, stewardship council meetings, etc., representing their department members in meetings

Section 15.7 15.5 - Steward Council Voting

There can be any number of stewards representing each unit (or the set of units smaller than the representation quota). For each unit (and the set of units smaller than the representation quota), votes will be separately allocated as follows:

All present stewards will vote, and votes will be allocated proportionally based on the votes of present stewards:

The number of yes votes divided by the number of total votes cast times the number of allocated votes yields the number of final yes votes.

If this number is not an integer, then take the nearest integer.

If there is no nearest integer (i.e. this number’s decimal representation ends in “.5”), then the contested vote will be allocated by coin flip. If no stewards participate, votes are not counted.