Proposed Bylaw Amendments

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The following are our proposals for amending the Union’s bylaws:

1. Amendment to Article 10.9

Initial bargaining demands must be specifically worded as they would appear in our contract, have their priority ranked, and be approved by a majority of present unit members in the General Membership meeting before bargaining begins. The bargaining committee must faithfully aim to obtain these demands to the fullest extent, prioritizing the most highly ranked.

2. Amendment to Article 10.8

Daily summaries of bargaining sessions including details of all proposals and counter-proposals made by all parties must be emailed to membership and posted on the Union’s website in a manner exclusively accessible to union members within 24 hours of a bargaining session’s conclusion. The logics of proposals and counter-proposals made by the bargaining team, and explanations of how these (counter-)proposals are in line with the approved bargaining demands, must be elaborated in the email and website post.

3. New Article

Section 1 – Creation of the Phone Tree Structure

In the interest of improving member communication and attendance at union events, organizing staff members are hereby instructed that their highest non-bargaining priority is to develop a phone tree.

The phone tree will be established through the following sequence of actions:

Participants will be recruited through an all-member email, requesting that members volunteer to be included on the phone tree in one of the capacities delineated in the following section.
In the event a member does not respond via email, their response will be solicited by calling or speaking in person.

Section 2 – Outline of Phone Tree Responsibilities

Members will participate in the phone tree in one of the following capacities:

Mobilizees are to be contacted by mobilizers and requested to participate in union-approved actions.
Mobilizers are responsible for contacting Mobilizees to inform them of and recruit their participation in union-approved actions.
List Managers are responsible for ensuring that Mobilizers have contacted their Mobilizees and have registered responses.

Below, these capacities are defined in greater detail:

Mobilizee – Mobilizees are to be contacted by Mobilizers and requested to participate in union-approved actions. Mobilizees are responsible for responding to Mobilizers and informing Mobilizers of their ability to participate in an action in a timely manner. Mobilizees are responsible for participating in union actions when feasible.

Upon registration, Mobilizees will indicate their willingness to engage in common actions. These actions should include but are not limited to:

Signing petitions
Participating in call-ins
Participating in marches on the boss
Participating in walk-outs
Participating in teach-ins
Participating in sit-ins
Postering

Mobilizer – In addition to the responsibilities of Mobilizees, Mobilizers are responsible for individually contacting a list of the same 5 to 10 Mobilizees for each union-approved action; informing these Mobilizees of the upcoming action; and, no less than three days prior to the action, registering a response for whether each contacted Mobilizee is able to participate.

Upon initial phone tree registration, Mobilizers’ willingness to engage in the same common actions as Mobilizees will be gauged.

Stewards are required to take Mobilizer positions.

List Manager – In addition to the responsibilities of Mobilizees, List Managers are responsible for ensuring that a list of the same 5 to 10 Mobilizers have contacted their Mobilizees and registered responses for the Mobilizees’ participation in the upcoming action. List Managers are further responsible for, no less than three days prior to the upcoming action, registering a response for whether the Mobilizers on their lists are or are not able to participate in the upcoming action. Finally, List Managers are, to the extent possible, responsible for contacting Mobilizers’ Mobilizees in the event a Mobilizer is unable to complete their mobilization duties.

Upon initial phone tree registration, List Managers’ willingness to engage in the same common actions as Mobilizees will be gauged.

Additional levels of List Managers may be added as needed to ensure a stable hierarchy.

Section 3 – Phone Tree Utilization Guidelines

Once established, the phone tree should be used to mobilize for actions only when such use has been approved in the Monthly Membership Meeting.

In the event a union mobilization is required without time for approval by the Monthly Membership Meeting, the Joint Council has the ability to authorize phone tree use on an emergency basis. To qualify for Joint Council phone tree authorization, the mobilization must be in response to circumstances outside the action organizers’ control and requiring immediate response. The mobilization must be planned in such a way that it did not intentionally attempt to skirt approval by the Monthly Membership Meeting for the purpose of appealing directly to the Joint Council. The event must not be planned or sponsored by a member of the Joint Council.

The phone tree may be approved for use in the following ways:

Full Mobilization – All members of the phone tree are contacted.
Partial Mobilization – Only some members of the phone tree are contacted, the exact percent of the list to be contacted to be determined by the participants in the Monthly Membership Meeting.
Single Contact – Phone tree members are contacted a single time, with no follow-up in the event of a non-response.
Response Required – Phone tree members are to be contacted repeatedly until they register a response.
Text Only – Phone tree members are to be contacted only by text message.
Text and Call – Phone tree members may be contacted by text message or voice call.

All Monthly Membership Meetings are to be mobilized for through the phone tree on a single contact, text-only basis.

4. New Article

All working groups, bargaining committees, and Joint Council must maintain online libraries of their meeting minute. The libraries must be accessible to all union members at all times.

5. New Article

No working group, bargaining committee, or Joint Council can maintain formal communication channels that are not visible to all union members at all times, except a) when making communications public would compromise confidential personal information; and b) in exceptional circumstances that require temporary secrecy for a union effort to succeed. Any union-wide decisions made in a secret channel are unenforceable beyond the extent to which they are relevant to the particular effort that requires secrecy.

6. Amendment to Article 5

No meeting of a working group, bargaining committee, or Joint Council can end without a majority vote from the participants.

7. New Article

All union meetings must have an in-person option that participants are encouraged to attend over online options. For Monthly Membership Meetings, all members of Joint Council must attend in person, barring exceptional circumstances that make such attendance impossible (e.g., sickness, travel). After each membership meeting, at least one member of Joint Council should initiate post-meeting socialization.

8. New Article

A new Joint Council position will be created, Education Steward. The Education Steward is responsible for ensuring that at least two seminars take place:

Union Theory and History – The Union Theory and History seminar shall be a monthly seminar that discusses the theory and history of syndicalism for both union members and interested community members. The seminar shall be based on the curriculum used to teach the Intro to Labor Studies course at the Harry Bridges Labor Center.
Union Practice and Administration – The Union Practice and Administration seminar shall be a monthly seminar for union members that discusses and teaches participants about the by-laws of UAW 4121, Robert’s Rules, the structure of the Union’s leadership and organizing bodies, and how to successfully execute common union tactics like grievances, petitions marches on the boss, pickets, and sit-ins.

Additionally, the Education Steward is responsible for the organization of ad hoc seminars, which provide targeted instruction for time-sensitive mobilization.

Regular seminars shall be well-publicized to all union members with information posted to the Union’s website at least one month in advance. Members will be strongly encouraged to attend. Seminars shall have free food provided to in-person participants to the extent financially feasible.

9. Amendment to Article 6

All union-wide decisions that do not require urgent response must be made in the Monthly Membership Meeting. These decisions include, but are not limited to, all decisions on:

Finances, including expense approvals
External causes to support
Staffing
Mobilizations and actions
Dis/establishment of committees and working groups

Decisions requiring an urgent response may be made by Joint Council. Members are not allowed to postpone raising an issue for the purpose of appealing to the Joint Council rather than the Monthly Membership Meeting.

10. Amendment to Article 12.4

All standing committees and working groups are required to have a charter approved at the Monthly Membership Meeting. This charter should at minimum explicate:

The committees’/working groups’ purview.
The actions the committees/working groups are authorized to take independently of the Monthly Membership Meeting.
The resources the committees/working groups are to have at their disposal without needing Monthly Membership Meeting approval.
How decisions are made by the committees/working groups.

No committee or working group is permitted to operate in the Union’s name without such a charter. If a working group is found to be acting outside of the charter, the group is liable for sanction by the Monthly Membership Meeting.

11. Amendment to Article 5.2

The quorum for making decisions in Monthly Membership Meetings is 2.5% of dues-paying members present. If this quorum is not met three months in a row, this threshold can be unilaterally amended by those present in the fourth month’s membership meeting, regardless of the percent o dues-paying members present.

The quorum for amending the local charter is 20% of dues-paying members present.

12. Amendment to Article 15.2

Union elections and a list of available positions must be announced during the academic year and no less than two months ahead of time. Candidates for all contested positions must be registered and their position statements made available no less than one month before the election. Reminders shall be sent to all members two weeks before, one week before, and the day of elections.

Polls for union elections must be open for no less than one week. No period of polling time can coincide with:

Labor Day
Veterans Day
Thanksgiving / Native American Heritage Day
Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
Presidents’ Day
Memorial Day
The first week of any quarter
Finals Week
Winter, Spring, or Summer breaks

In the month leading up to the opening of the polls, the Elections Working Group must hold at least two candidate forums for all contested union-wide positions. These forums must be publicized and members encouraged to attend.

13. New Article

Union committee, working group, Joint Council, and Monthly Membership Meetings may not be held before 5:30pm to ensure that no member is prevented from engaging with the Union due to being in class or at work during meeting times.

14. Amendment to Article 20.1

In the interests of separating oversight, preventing self-dealing, and avoiding the appearance or fact of corruption, no person in a position of elected responsibility in the Union can also hold a paid staff position with the Union. The president and financial secretary are no longer paid positions. Hired staff cannot be members of the Local.

15. Amendment to Article 16

To ensure that the interests of the Union’s leadership and rank-and-file remain aligned, any person who holds a position of elected responsibility must be an active ASE, Postdoc, or staff researcher, exempting individuals temporarily on fellowship or leave who expect to return to one of these positions upon the end of the temporary situation.

16. New Article

All union meetings must start with a brief explanation of Robert’s Rules of Order to ensure that all members present have the skills necessary for democratic participation.