Full-time Officers and the Shop Steward Network: Patterns of Co-operation and Interdependence

Full-time trade union officers (FTOs) service trade union members in two main ways. First, they act as a representative of individual employees, either assuming the role of advocate within company grievance and disciplinary procedures and in industrial tribunals or of adviser on a wide range of subjects including employment law, pensions and social security. Secondly, they act as a representative of collectivities, bargaining on behalf of groups of union members and building and supporting union organization. This second activity in most British contexts is performed in conjunction with a network of lay branch officials and shop stewards. It is the steward network which relays member aspirations to the FTO before bargaining commences, keeps members informed of the progress and results of bargaining and holds the FTO to account. Similarly, the organizational work of FTOs focuses on this group and principally involves maintaining an adequate supply of trained and capable activists to administer union branches and serve as shop stewards within the workplace. The FTO typically operates alongside and through such activists, and building the union, in very large part, means building and maintaining the shop steward network.