Shop Steward Spotlight - John Stejskal (IAM S-6)

Union shop stewards are critical to building a stronger labor movement. Stewards are our frontline defense when it comes to defending and enforcing union contracts, educating and orientating new members, helping members with workplace issues and so much more. Our new “Steward Spotlight” column features shop stewards doing the hard work of representing workers in workplaces throughout Maine.  

This year's Labor Summer Institute, to be held August 13 - 14 at UMaine in Orono, will focus on Shop Stewards Past, Present & Future and will bring together stewards from across the state. More info will be forthcoming and we encourage all unions to send your stewards - and all members - to the Summer Institute.

Shortly after graduating high school John Stejskal (IAM S6) began his career working the overnight shift as a machinist producing washers and dryers at a UAW Maytag plant in Newton, Iowa. His father was the skilled trades rep at the plant and at 23 years old Stejskal got his first experience as a steward filling in for his dad when he was off. He had no idea what to expect and was extremely nervous when he received his first grievances.

“I’ll never forget the first time I stepped into the role,” he said. “I had two people who needed a steward and I was left to my own devices.”

One of the members wanted to go home early because he was sick, but wasn’t allowed to because the company said it needed the manpower. Stejskal went to management and pointed to contract language that provided workers with discretionary leave, which is meant to allow them to take a day off due to illness. The company let the worker go home. The other grievance was much dicier. Management had informed Stejskal that a worker fell asleep on the job.

“We were working seven days a week, twelve hour days, and he was just tired,” he explained. “I said, ‘can’t the company make exceptions when a guy is overworked?’”

Stejskal suggested that the man be sent home because it wasn’t safe for him to be working machinery in his exhausted state. The company agreed to let the worker go home that one time, but he had to face discipline when he returned. Stejskal agreed to the decision and handed the case off to another steward the next day. His experience as a steward was transformative because for the first time he fully realized that workers had a real voice in the workplace.

“Every place where I had ever worked we were always told what to do and how to do it and if we didn’t do what they said we’d get fired,” he said. “But in a union we had a steward who was like your lawyer or your bigger voice. You had actual rights. It was almost hard to accept being 23 years old and having a real voice at work.”

Stejskal worked 15 years for Maytag until the plant closed in 2007. He then worked at a printing company for a little while before getting a job as a contractor for Exxon Mobile in Texas. After three years, he was finally officially hired as a regular employee in the oil and grease department and joined the union. The union there wasn’t as strong as his previous union. He went to a couple union meetings but he was the only rank and file member there and the rest were officers.

“I was saddened by the involvement of the union there,” said Stejskal. "But anyway that was about as much involvement I as had in the union there. I didn’t become a steward or anything.”

Stejskal had worked for the company for four and half years when management demanded several concessions, including taking away safe inspectors, stripping seniority rights and lengthening work hours on top of their schedule of rotating 12-hour shifts. In May, 2021, negotiations broke down and the company locked out the workers for ten months until the union agreed to the company’s terms. Stejskal couldn’t afford to stick around that long so he took a job at Bath Iron Works and moved to Maine in 2021. He was immediately impressed that Local S6 had fought hard through collective action to protect their trades.

“Here you have your carpenters, pipe fitters, ship fitters. The trades are individualized, which you don’t see that too much nowadays,” said Stejskal. “The guys on the floor took a lot of honor in that and it showed. I wanted to be a part of that.”

The first time he considered running for steward was in 2023 after he asked for a steward to give him the run-down of the proposed contract. At that time, the union was short of stewards. He thought about throwing his hat in the ring, but instead took a wait and see approach. Then shortly after the contract was settled, Stejskal got sick and had to spend a week in the hospital. When he returned to work, the medical team informed him that the new contract required him to have a medical form from his doctor.

“That’s when I was like 'ok, I’m definitely putting my hat in the ring because a good steward would inform the members in his area about what was going on as far as contract changes.' We just needed a guy to go to and I wanted that opportunity,” he said.

Although Stejskal was “from away” and his two opponents were originally from Maine, members saw his previous experience as a steward as an asset and he won the election. As far as what makes a good steward, he said the most important thing is to always tell the truth and not try to sugarcoat it.

“Sometimes a steward won’t have answers for you and he goes out and goes the extra mile. A good steward will say ‘I don’t have the answer but let me do the research,’” said Stejskal. “If a steward is out there making promises he can’t back, to me it’s heartbreaking because I feel like the steward is like my lawyer and if he doesn’t get back to me or he blows me off, I feel let down.”

He said when workers feel let down by their union too often they will blame it for actions carried out by the employer.

“It’s really upsetting as a steward when people think the company has your back because they really don’t,” he said. “People think the company has their back, but when it leads up to discipline then they fall back on their steward. Good stewards try to inform our membership as much as we can that we can only do so much. A good steward gets the information to the people.”

He said he has also learned how important it is for rank-and-file members to serve on union committees such as the union’s legislative, education and human rights committees. He said that serving on committees and regularly attending union meetings are great ways to prepare for becoming a steward.

“Anyone who is a member of their local can join these committees and get involved because if we don’t keep our union strong today we may not have one tomorrow. I can’t drive that home enough,” said Stejskal. “Go to your union meetings because you do have a voice it needs to be heard to let leadership know what’s really going on.”