Union Approach to Health and Safety: - United Steelworkers

specific and essential activities the union must engage and be well-versed in, as part of this
union and “continuous bargaining” approach to health and safety:
1) Having a union-only health and safety committee that meets regularly, separately
from management, to:
discuss health and safety concerns and problems,
identify and prioritize issues to be brought to management and/or to joint labormanagement
health and safety committee meetings,
identify solutions (short- and long-term) to address these hazards and
hazardous conditions
discuss follow-up actions to take if management does not address these
concerns
2) Having union-only health and safety training, including training focused on a union
approach to health and safety, for union members who serve on this committee
(which in most cases would include all those who serve on the union side of the
joint labor-management health and safety committee), and others (e.g. the union’s
Executive Board, stewards, grievers, etc.)
3) Regularly communicating with members about their health and safety issues and
concerns (including regular use of union surveys, one-on-one information
gathering, special meetings, etc.);
4) Organizing and activating members to be part of the union's efforts to get health
and safety problems corrected;
5) Preparing proposals and positions as a union committee, and approaching
management as a united, organized and collective voice;
6) Developing a “continuous bargaining” strategy for getting health and safety
problems addressed, especially in situations where management has --or is likely
to -- deny, ignore or minimize these concerns (a “continuous bargaining” strategy
would involve strategies and tactics – including member-involving strategies and
escalating tactics – that would put pressure on management to address health
and safety problems they may otherwise chose to ignore or “solve” in ways that
are problematic for the union and its members);
7) Caucusing regularly during joint labor-management health and safety committee
meetings, to maintain unity, develop a common strategy and formulate responses
to management proposals;
8) Having regular and frequent discussions and communication between union
members on the health and safety committee and the Union’s leadership, to
discuss all of the above issues and activities.
Union-only preparation for joint labor-management health and safety committee meetings is
just as important as preparing for negotiating sessions during contract bargaining. The union
should be as well-organized, strategic and just as inclusive of members' concerns as
preparation for contract bargaining.
A key difference between contract bargaining and many joint labor-management processes is
the role that union-only meeting time plays in setting the union's agenda, developing priorities
and goals and planning strategies for obtaining those goals. While contract bargaining