Concerns with Stewardship
I work in a small office, 5 city routes and an aux, a total of 10 city carriers between regulars and PTFs. I have been in the office for almost 4 years, and at no point during that have we had a steward. Whenever we have an issue we have to reach out to a union rep and have them come by our office.
As a result, management has been pushing all kinds of violations (and getting away with it). They case up our aux route, the rural aux route, and any route with a sub they don't feel confident in. They schedule PTFs to nearby offices. They pressure city PTFs to provide help to the rural side. They are consistently telling people to move to our aux route to cover up management casing and such, or telling PTFs to move to our "expresses" route to go deliver rural packages. And this is just off the top of my head.
I've been considering going out for our vacant steward position, but I have concerns. We have a problem employee who for whatever reason cannot finish his route 2-3 days every week. We have a PTF who has consistently been an attendance issue since he got past probation. Obviously other issues, but these are the two glaring ones that are keeping the spot vacant. Work/Life balance is supremely important to me, and I am concerned that dealing with issues such as these will cut into my personal time with my family.
I apologize for the novel, but this is not a decision I want to make rushed or emotionally. I appreciate any insight.