(excerpt from Steward Update Newsletter, volume 6,issue 3 – George Hagglund, Professor Emeritus at the School for Workers, University of Wisconsin-Madison)

Why can’t I leave the job before the end of the shift, as long as it doesn’t hurt my employer?What’s the harm? As you may have guessed, management is likely to have a different answerto that question than workers would…and a lot of workers end up in big trouble because of it.The arbitration record indicates it is quite common for workers to get fired for leaving the jobwithout permission. To help in these situations stewards need to have a good understanding ofemployer rules, how other workers were treated under similar circumstances, and the natureof the job performed by the worker who’s in trouble. Here are a few examples of what arbitrators see as allowable – and not.

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