Union Approach to Health and Safety: - United Steelworkers

Below are some examples of these personal relationship-building activities:
A) Getting to Know You Exercises
There are a whole series of exercises (often described as warm-up exercises or ice-breakers)
that are used to promote individual and personal interaction. These often involve sharing personal
insights, hobbies, family details, etc. While there is nothing wrong with knowing managers on a
personal level, there is a problem when that personal knowledge gets in the way of union members
recognizing managers as agents of management.
These exercises help disguise or bury the social and power relationships, and different goals,
that exist in the workplace. They tend to make people forget who they represent and who and what
management represents. When managers are dealt with as individuals, they become (symbolically) just
another member of the problem-solving team, instead of direct representatives of the interests of
management. The problem is that the real power relationships between labor and management are not
changed. This leaves the union even more susceptible to management pressure.
Ideas for Acting Like a Union:
Union members should introduce union members.
The focus of any introductions should be on peoples’ union roles and values.
B) Casual Clothing
Many consultants will suggest that everyone wear casual clothes to the sessions. The idea is
that everyone can be more comfortable and the “artificial” divisions that are usually apparent due to
differences in dress between labor and management will be “removed.” It is critical to understand,
though, that getting rid of the trappings of power (the symbols of power) without changing the reality
of power does not equalize the discussion. It only seeks to fool people about where power actually
resides. For the union, this can lead to insufficient attention being paid to building the union.
A boss without a tie is no less of a boss.
Unity in the bargaining unit is in part created by common culture and experience in the
workplace. This in turn stems from common social position. The fact that managers are referred to by
their trappings (white hats, suits, ties, triangles, etc.) shows the importance of these as symbols of
power and in creating a sense of unity within the union.