How can I balance my work and steward duties?

Stewards are also employees and as such are responsible for performing the duties of their paid employment. (Stewards need to do their paid job well, to earn the respect of co-workers and to avoid being an easy target for the employer.) On the other hand, you have accepted a volunteer role, so there is an expectation that you will devote some of your free time to steward duties. Check in your collective agreement and with other stewards to see which steward duties you can legitimately perform on work time. For the rest, it’s okay to set boundaries on how much of your own time you will use for steward work. Each steward will do that in a different way. If you are feeling overloaded, talk to your chief steward.