Winter 2027 Union Skills Course – Essential Steward Skills: Grievances, Representation, and Organizing in the Workplace

Description

This 6 week course covers essential skills for union stewards, member-leaders, board members, and staff who want to excel at grievance and representational work while building member power in the workplace. This course covers the entire grievance process, including intake, investigation, writing and filing grievances, attending grievance meetings, and preparing for arbitration, and securing settlements. It also covers Weingarten and other representational meetings, while reviewing your legal rights as a union steward and what you need to stay protected. Grounded in a theory that powerful unions are built upon strong member participation, the course focuses on how to do this work while engaging other union members and strengthening your union’s network for long term power building. Come learn with us and peers from other unions and workplaces as we deepen our skills together!

This series will be held across 6 Wednesdays from 6 PM to 8 PM, in-person and online via Zoom. We encourage folks to register with their fellow union members!

• Session 1: Grounding Concepts for Handling Grievances:  Legal Frameworks and Taking a Power-Based Approach, Wednesday, January 20
• Session 2: Strategic Stewardship: Triaging Reports and Interpreting the Contract, Wednesday, January 27
• Session 3: Investigating Grievances, Documenting, and Preparing for Meetings, Wednesday, February 3
• Session 4: Rep Prep: Best Practices for Representational and Grievance Meetings with Management, with Simulations, Wednesday, February 10
• Session 5: Organizing Around Grievances: Building Pressure and Getting to Settlement, Wednesday, February 17
• Session 6: Strengthening Leadership Structures through Representational Work, Wednesday, February 24

Registration costs $30 for all 6 classes.

Dinner will be provided for in-person attendees at South Seattle College Georgetown Campus.