Matthew Kendrick has been the shop steward at the Bremerton Fred Meyer for 4 years. As he has gotten more involved in helping and advocating for his coworkers, he decided to get trained to represent union members during investigatory meetings that could lead to discipline. Recently, he put that training to use when a coworker was being investigated around a shoplifting incident at the store.

Union members have the right to ask for representation before they answer questions that the member reasonably believes could result in discipline. This is often called Weingarten Rights (named after the 1975 Supreme Court case confirmed them), and they are key to ensuring that your right to “just cause” (due process) before employers issue discipline to union members.

The most important thing for union members to know is that they have to request representation before, or during, an investigatory meeting, management doesn’t have to. That is precisely what happened when a coworker contacted Matthew to represent them in an investigatory meeting!

Before the meeting even starts, Weingarten Stewards will make sure that the member understands that they have to answer questions, but that if management is asking leading or unfair questions, the steward can step in to object and advise the member on the best way to respond. Stewards and members also have the right to pause the meeting and find a private place to talk. Most of all, the steward takes notes on the member’s behalf and works with union staff to ensure that management is being fair both in its investigation and in any discipline issued.

Matthew did just that for his coworker and then advocated for reducing the discipline from termination to a written warning. Shoplifting policies are often very tough; terminations are often upheld even when the union files a grievance. But because shoplifting has become so widespread, blatant, and sometimes aggressive, UFCW 3000 reached an agreement with grocery store employers that termination is NOT always the right answer.

When discussing the incident with management, Matthew pointed out that his coworker had been with Fred Meyer for decades and had always been a model employee, sometimes spending more waking hours at Fred Meyer than at home. While there was a policy violation, the worker was acting to protect their coworkers and the place where they all spent so much of their lives, and a warning would correct the problem. Management agreed to reduce the discipline to a written warning instead of automatic termination!

Matthew used an important shop steward skill in this situation: negotiation and persuasion. Grievances and arbitrations are important to hold employers to account when there is no other choice when defending union members’ rights, but informally solving problems in cooperation can often get better results more quickly for workers when they are in a jam.

Matthew’s story is a great example of the difference that union representation can make in an investigatory meeting. And it happened because the worker requested representation!

If you would like to find out more about your rights as a union member, are interested in becoming a shop steward, or want to further your steward education, contact your rep or sign up for training here on our website.