Was the Previous Election Already Overturned?
Is Our Executive Board Already Campaigning?
If So, Who's Paying For It?
Guest Commentary by
Big Ed Monette
HSM Mechanical
Below, is one of three charges, that were filed against the recent Executive Board election because members were turned away when they came to cast their ballots. Some of the members were, in fact, running for office themselves. ARTICLE IV of our By-Laws describes the membership and the right of who can vote and when.
Charge #1. The nomination process and election of March 12, 2009 violated the By-laws of ILA Local 2038 GLDC ACD.
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MEMBERSHIP Section 1. Membership in Local 2038 GLDC ACD shall be defined and governed by Article XIV of the ILA Constitution and Rules of Order. Section 2. Any worker, who acquires thirty one (31) days of employment within the jurisdiction of Local 2038 GLDC ACD, shall be entitled to Union membership within Local 2038 GLDC ACD., with the right to vote in any general or special meeting of Local 2038 GLDC ACD and for any nominations and elections of Officers of Local 2038 GLDC ACD. |
There is currently one Executive Board member who is concerned with "fictitious and misguided information that is afloat and desperately trying to tear OUR union apart". He doesn't bother to tell us, the Union Membership, what these fictions and mis-truths are. Frankly, I feel that a tremendous amount of, so called, "misguided information" has been proven to be true.
whether you agree with them or not.
I don't know if the latest Union mail-out was a 'meet and greet' for our newly re-elected Business Agent or just political literature to get a head start on a new campaign when this election is overturned. I do know it is the beginning of his second term and he never before showed any concern about keeping the membership informed. (Of course I'm exaggerating - this letter didn't inform us about anything either). But back then the Executive Board knew they weren't going to let us vote. We weren't important.
Either way, it should be considered wasteful to spend union dollars just to shout down concerned union members (if not an outright illegal misappropriation of Union funds).
Maybe a financial report would show us the cost of this suspiciously political looking mail-out that was printed on Union letterhead. But, as we know from experience, good luck prying that information out of the Hall.
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