Dear Not Taking It,

This Teamster Troublemaker says if management is trying to shut you down like this, you must be doing something right. Now let’s talk about your rights and what you can do about this.

First of all, it is a violation of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) for management to harass, threaten or punish you or your steward in retaliation for your union activities. The time for a strong union response is now—while management is still trying to build its case against you, not after they’ve taken disciplinary action.

You can file an unfair labor practice charge with the NLRB. But it would be better if your local filed it on your behalf.

This isn’t really about you and the shop steward. It’s about the company trying to block members from enforcing their contract. All members have a stake in this and you should try to get them involved. You might want to consider a rank-and-file petition that calls on your business agent to file NLRB charges. If management sees that their threats are backfiring and creating more unity, they may back down.

As far as management’s problem with your “aggressive” steward: under the NLRA, stewards are considered equals when they are engaged in representational activities with management. This “equality rule” applies when you are in a grievance hearing, investigating a complaint etc. Your steward has a right to raise his voice to management provided that he’s acting as a steward and not an individual employee.

But be careful. The equality rule is not in effect when the steward is talking to management about his individual job performance. Being a steward doesn’t give you free reign to tell management off anytime you want—no matter how tempting that may be.