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UFCW-MOSM, version 2

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rogead	Posted: Thu Jun 08, 2006 3:37 am
Joined: 11 Feb 2006 Posts: 412	This is a continuation of http://forums.uncharted.ca/viewtopic.php?t=290 Here is the latest version of the UFCW-MOSM. I’ve paraphrased some things as best as I understood them. I did leave out some items that directly conflicted with other items. Not because they’re wrong, but because I think those would be best dealt with via discussion after we’ve finished the process of including new ideas. Given that the true spirit and power of the labor movement rests with the rank and file workers, and that the leadership of the UFCW International and several of its local affiliates have abandoned those workers for the concessionary and corrupt model of business unionism; it’s time for UFCW members to lay claim to the rights that are inherently derived from the fruits of our labor. To that end, we propose a manifesto of UFCW member rights. These rights apply to all UFCW members, regardless of geographic location, local affiliation, or occupation. 1) Bargaining a. It is the right of every member to actively participate in the negotiation of any collective bargaining agreement under which their employment is covered. b. At least seventy-five percent of the members of any bargaining committee will consist of rank and file members who are duly elected by all members to whom a given contract will apply. c. There will be no “executive sessions” in which negotiations occur without the participation of the entire bargaining committee. d. Every member covered under a collective barganing agreement will have access to the entire contract prior to a ratification vote. e. Each member will receive a complete printed copy of the contract within sixty days of ratification. f. All wage and benefit provisions pertaining to a given bargaining unit will be negotiated based only upon job function. There will be no “tiered” contracts in which employees performing the same job functions receive differing levels of compensation. 2) Staff and Officer Compensation a. Salaries and other compensation of officers and staff members will be determined by a committee consisting entirely of rank and file members duly elected by the entire membership. b. Under no circumstances shall an officer or staff member receive an increase in salary or compensation which exceeds in percentage the average increase obtained for rank and file members over the previous twelve months. c. In the event of a member-sanctioned work stoppage, officers and staff will be expected to absorb a reduction in salary and benefits as deemed appropriate by the aforementioned rank and file committee. 3) Finances a. All of the union’s financial information and documents will be readily available to every member. This includes any actions which involve the disbursement of funds collected in the form of union dues or derived from union dues. b. A petition containing at least five percent of the signatures of the entire membership will be deemed sufficient to initiate an independent audit of union finances. 4) Constitution and Bylaws a. All members will be entitled to a printed copy of the International’s constitution and of all governing International and local bylaws. b. All members will be entitled to assistance in determining the appropriate steps necessary to offer changes to the constitution or to the bylaws. 5) Elected Office a. All dues-paying members will be allowed to freely run for any elected position within the union based solely upon their receipt of a nomination by another member. b. Elections will take place every two years with no more than two consecutive terms served by any individual within a given office. c. All individuals serving as business agents within the local will be elected by the membership. d. Any member running against an incumbent will be provided with the same access to union facilities, publications, and membership lists as is the incumbent. 6) Member Voting a. All dealings involving a vote of the membership, other than contract or strike votes, will require a notice published and posted in all affected workplaces no later than sixty days prior to the scheduled vote. b. All voting actions will be overseen by a committee of duly elected members whose responsibilities will include devising voting procedures that will insure the opportunity for the democratic involvement of the entire rank and file membership. 7) Mergers a. Mergers of two or more locals will not occur within the twelve months prior to a scheduled election within any of the involved locals. b. In the event of a merger, the newly formed local will schedule an election for all offices, which will fall within sixty days of the newly- formed local’s charter. c. The interim officers of the newly- formed local will be determined by a duly elected committee drawn from the membership of all locals involved in the merger. Stewards a. All shop stewards will be elected by those members within the shop which will be represented by that steward. b. A separate election will take place for any position designated as a “chief” steward. c. One steward will be in place for every fifty or portion thereof of the rank and file membership within a given workplace. d. All stewards will be subject to a recall upon a petition containing at least fifty-one percent of the signatures of the affected members. e. All stewards will receive regular updates on all union affairs f. All stewards will receive extensive training and education in all aspects of union affairs. g. No one who functions as a manager in a given facility will be allowed to run for election as a steward. h. At least one steward will be available in the workplace at all times while members are present and working. 9) Membership Meetings a. General membership meetings will be structured so as to allow any member to be given the floor via the appropriate rules of order. b. Union stewards will be expected to attend all general membership meetings. c. Special sector –specific membership meetings will be regularly held at a central location. d. The sector-specific meetings will be chaired by a steward, with the assistance of one of the local’s officers. e. Teleconferencing facilities will be set up for the general membership meetings in order to accommodate members who are further than fifty miles from the location of the general membership meeting. 10) Disputes and Arbitration a. A committee of stewards, elected by the entire membership, will participate in any of the local’s ongoing disputes—irrespective of industry. b. Under no circumstances will any arbitration, mediation, grievance hearing, or other meeting designed to resolve a dispute take place on premises which are owned, operated, or controlled by the employer. 11) Member Education a. Each local willcreate a member education center which will be available to all interested members. The center will provide educational instruction on local and international processes, labor studies, and general educational studies. 12) Ethical Practices a. A rank and file committee will institute an ethical practices code. No officer, staff member, or steward will be allowed to serve on this committee. b. No family member of any officer will be allowed to serve in a paid position with the local.
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SharynS	Posted: Thu Jun 08, 2006 4:05 am
Joined: 28 Jan 2006 Posts: 2939 Location: the 'puter	Rg if you send me the doc I can create a link or I could just copy/paste and create a link, nevermind. . Anyways I think it might be easier for people to study, print off etc. Thoughts? ufcw-MOSM 2 ed = How fast was that! _________________ Free speech is the whole thing, the whole ball game. Free speech is life itself. - Salman Rushdie
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CUPE_Reformer	Posted: Thu Jun 08, 2006 5:16 am
Joined: 04 Feb 2006 Posts: 241 Location: Real Solidarity	rogead wrote: 4) Constitution and Bylaws b. All members will be entitled to assistance in determining the appropriate steps necessary to offer changes to the constitution or to the bylaws. 5) Elected Office a. All dues-paying members will be allowed to freely run for any elected position within the union based solely upon their receipt of a nomination by another member. rogead: The 20 or 10 percent of the membership/ 400 members in Article 17 Amendments to Bylaws Section A. should be prohibited. Salaried representatives shouldn't constitute more than 25 percent of the membership of local executive boards. Article 12 Elections Section E. (50% are allowed). UFCW Local 789 By-laws _________________ Real Solidarity
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SharynS	Posted: Thu Jun 08, 2006 5:39 am
Joined: 28 Jan 2006 Posts: 2939 Location: the 'puter	I've thought about how to get more people involved in MOSM's creation, or at least bring their ideas to the screen. Printing the MOSM off and distributing it to members may cause some initial confusion if it's not presented correctly - as a work in progress and against the biz-u grain. I think I'll just tell people we're changing the world and then ask if they'd like to contribute. yeah that oughta' work. _________________ Free speech is the whole thing, the whole ball game. Free speech is life itself. - Salman Rushdie
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rogead	Posted: Thu Jun 08, 2006 6:03 am
Joined: 11 Feb 2006 Posts: 412	Cupe_Reformer, I appreciate your link to the bylaws of the local to which I belong—I know them well; however, I’m thoroughly confused as to what any of this has to do with our proposed manifesto. The purpose of the UFCW-MOSM is to form a model by which all locals can move towards a truly democratic form of unionism. It’s safe to assume that this manifesto is considerably divergent from any local’s bylaws. That is the very point of what we’re doing! As for the bylaws of local 789 specifically, there are many changes I’d like to see occur. I’m not, however, in a position to unilaterally make any changes in the bylaws of local 789.Those conversations take place and will continue to take place in the meetings of our bylaws committee, executive board, and general membership. My hope is that postings to this topic will be limited to new items that people would like to see added to the UFCW-MOSM. After we’ve finished with that stage, we can start dissecting, disagreeing with, deleting, revising, etc; the various component sections of the UFCW-MOSM. If you’d like to email or pm me, I would be glad to discuss anything pertaining to local 789 and what we do. In Solidarity
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CUPE_Reformer	Posted: Thu Jun 08, 2006 6:26 am
Joined: 04 Feb 2006 Posts: 241 Location: Real Solidarity	rogead wrote: The purpose of the UFCW-MOSM is to form a model by which all locals can move towards a truly democratic form of unionism. My hope is that postings to this topic will be limited to new items that people would like to see added to the UFCW-MOSM. rogead: Petitions to amend local union bylaws shall be prohibited. Salaried representatives shall not constitute more than 25% of the membership of local executive boards. _________________ Real Solidarity Last edited by CUPE_Reformer on Sat Jun 10, 2006 5:16 am; edited 1 time in total
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rogead	Posted: Thu Jun 08, 2006 6:39 am
Joined: 11 Feb 2006 Posts: 412	Quote: Salaried representatives can't constitute more than 25% of the membership of local executive boards. I'll add this to the next revision. Quote: Petitions to amend local union bylaws are prohibited. Do you want to add language which prohibits the use of petitions for the purpose of instituting bylaws changes?
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CUPE_Reformer	Posted: Thu Jun 08, 2006 6:46 am
Joined: 04 Feb 2006 Posts: 241 Location: Real Solidarity	rogead wrote: Do you want to add language which prohibits the use of petitions for the purpose of instituting bylaws changes? rogead: Yes, petitions shouldn't be required for instituting bylaw changes. _________________ Real Solidarity
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rogead	Posted: Thu Jun 08, 2006 6:52 am
Joined: 11 Feb 2006 Posts: 412	Quote: Yes, petitions shouldn't be required for instituting bylaw changes. There is nothing in the UFCW-MOSM that requires the use of petition for a bylaws change. I'll work on some language addressing bylaws and a specific procedure for offering changes....any ideas?
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CUPE_Reformer	Posted: Thu Jun 08, 2006 7:01 am
Joined: 04 Feb 2006 Posts: 241 Location: Real Solidarity	rogead wrote: I'll work on some language addressing bylaws and a specific procedure for offering changes....any ideas? rogead: Union member + proposed amendment to local bylaws + majority vote (50% +1) = amendment to local bylaws. _________________ Real Solidarity
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Pearson	Posted: Thu Jun 08, 2006 1:57 pm
Joined: 03 Feb 2006 Posts: 1417 Location: Sun City AZ	Thanks C_r for the link to the ufcw 789 by-laws. We are one of a few locals who has them posted on line. As the former president of the local, i was less interested in what it said, than how we ran the local. I think your point is well taken though. Our by-laws are primarily a reflection of the International's constitution. Any time changes are made, they have to be submitted and approved by them. I suspect most of the items being proposed here would meet approval; though it would be an interesting test. Back to your point: While 789's by-laws say 50% of the staff, we haven't been anywhere near that number. Here is a list of the 789 e-board http://www.ufcw789.org/exec.html. As you may note there are 4 staff/officers out of 19 positions. I see there is a vacancy and expect someone must have left. That has been our mix for a very long time. One of the better aspects of 789's e-board was it wasn't a rubber stamp affair. We liked having hearty discussions and open dissent. The fact local 789 stood in support of Doug Slaydon and what was happening at 588 is a tribute to them as an organization. I think e-boards at 25% by both international constitution and through the by-laws would be a great idea. One other item we had was a member/peer review board on grievance appeals. Officers and or staff could attend and present a case, but e-board members would make a ruling without us (staff/officers) in the room. In my years with the local, there were occassions we were overturned, and that is the way it should work. _________________ If we don't do it, who will?
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SharynS	Posted: Thu Jun 08, 2006 2:14 pm
Joined: 28 Jan 2006 Posts: 2939 Location: the 'puter	Quote: Our by-laws are primarily a reflection of the International's constitution. And so too are most bylaw sets, which doesn't provide much leeway at the local level where it belongs. Some separation of church and state would be another good start point imo. _________________ Free speech is the whole thing, the whole ball game. Free speech is life itself. - Salman Rushdie
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rogead	Posted: Thu Jun 08, 2006 2:23 pm
Joined: 11 Feb 2006 Posts: 412	Quote: Union member + proposed amendment to local bylaws + majority vote (50% +1) = amendment to local bylaws. I'll incorporate this into the next update.
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SharynS	Posted: Thu Jun 08, 2006 2:59 pm
Joined: 28 Jan 2006 Posts: 2939 Location: the 'puter	Quote: Union member + proposed amendment to local bylaws + majority vote (50% +1) = amendment to local bylaws. CR is that a majority of eligible membership or 50% of those who participate? What about a participatory requirement, like 50%+1/50% eligible membership. It would mean some leg work to get it done but how bad is that when one member seeks the support of another member? Another idea might be to provide for a comprehensive dedicated introduction program for new members - strictly informational. _________________ Free speech is the whole thing, the whole ball game. Free speech is life itself. - Salman Rushdie
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CUPE_Reformer	Posted: Thu Jun 08, 2006 7:19 pm
Joined: 04 Feb 2006 Posts: 241 Location: Real Solidarity	siggy wrote: CR is that a majority of eligible membership or 50% of those who participate? siggy: 50% +1 of those who participate. _________________ Real Solidarity
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