Under the Civil Service Rules system, union shops may only be established or removed by an election supervised by the Washington State Department of Personnel. For PERC or 'opted out' bargaining units, union shops are a topic for negotiations and are considered at the bargaining table. The University does not independently enforce union shops. However, by law, upon written request from the exclusive bargaining representative, employers must terminate staff covered by union shops that fail to comply with its provisions. A shop steward is a University employee who functions as the union's on-site representative.
Steward selection is exclusively an internal union matter.
The numbers and general responsibilities of stewards are defined in the contracts. Generally, stewards are supposed to restrict their representation responsibilities to a defined geographic area. Stewards may represent staff during formal grievance meetings and during investigations conducted by management staff that the investigation might result in disciplinary action. There may be other less formal circumstances where the presence of a steward is helpful. Stewards are provided paid release time when performing appropriate work as the union representative.