What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Pennsylvania
I work for a county government in Pennsylvania under a union that is not exclusive to government employees (United Mineworkers Union). Our union steward negotiates our contract and we meet with her prior to negotiations to voice our requests and concerns. We wanted the distribution of overtime to be more fair - previously it was awarded to the senior most person first but we wanted it on a rotational basis. Our steward said she would bring it up, and after negotiations stated it was passed (we have written proof where she stated it was now in our contract). Since the siging of our contract, the new policy was in place for a few weeks and quickly changed back. Now we find out that it was never in our contract. The union steward is also the senior most person and benefits from not having the new policy in the contract. She did not bring it up in negotiations because it would not benefit her and then lied to us about it. Is this a conflict of interest? Where we not represented fairly? Did she have a fiduciary responsibily as an union officer to represent the union as a whole instead of only herself? Do we have any legal grounds in this situation? How should we proceed?
I work for a county government in Pennsylvania under a union that is not exclusive to government employees (United Mineworkers Union). Our union steward negotiates our contract and we meet with her prior to negotiations to voice our requests and concerns. We wanted the distribution of overtime to be more fair - previously it was awarded to the senior most person first but we wanted it on a rotational basis. Our steward said she would bring it up, and after negotiations stated it was passed (we have written proof where she stated it was now in our contract). Since the siging of our contract, the new policy was in place for a few weeks and quickly changed back. Now we find out that it was never in our contract. The union steward is also the senior most person and benefits from not having the new policy in the contract. She did not bring it up in negotiations because it would not benefit her and then lied to us about it. Is this a conflict of interest? Where we not represented fairly? Did she have a fiduciary responsibily as an union officer to represent the union as a whole instead of only herself? Do we have any legal grounds in this situation? How should we proceed?
