ARTICLE 38

Local Union Officers

  1.     Section 1. Each Local Union shall have the
  2. following Executive Officers: President, Vice
  3. President or Vice Presidents, Recording Secretary,
  4. Financial Secretary, Treasurer, three (3) Trustees,
  5. Sergeant-at-Arms and Guide. Should one or more
  6. of these officers be absent, the absent officer(s)
  7. shall be temporarily replaced by the next officer
  8. present, following the above order of heirarchy.

  9.     Section 2. The election of Local Union Execu-
  10. tive Officers shall take place by secret ballot dur-
  11. ing May and June and installation shall take place
  12. at the regular meeting following the election, ex-
  13. cept as otherwise authorized by the International
  14. Executive Board. After the deadline on accepting
  15. nominations has expired, no election of so-called
  16. "sticker" or "write-in" candidates shall be consid-
  17. ered legal. Election of all Local Union Executive
  18. Officers shall require a majority of the votes cast
  19. for the office. The membership shall be duly noti-
  20. fied at least seven (7) days in advance of the time
  21. and place of nominations. A notice containing both
  22. the time and place of elections and the time and
  23. place of any possible run-off election, shall be given
  24. at least fifteen (15) days in advance of the elec-
  25. tion. At least seven (7) days shall elapse between
  26. the time of nominationa and the date the election
  27. shall take place.

  28.     The Executive Officers and all other elected
  29. officials of Local Unions and units of Amalgam-
  30. ated Local Unions (except Stewards and Commit-
  31. tee-persons, who are subject to Article 45) who are
  32. elected following the 24th Constitutional Conven-
  33. tion shall serve for a three (3) year term.

  34.     Section 3. No member shall be eligible foe elec-
  35. tion as an Executive Officer of the Local Union
  36. until s/he has been a member in continuous good
  37. standing in the Local Union for one (1) year im-
  38. mediately prior to the nomination, except in the
  39. case of a newly organized Local Union.

  40.     Section 4. Eligibility for election to other Lo-
  41. cal Union offices, committees, etc., shall be deter-
  42. mined by the Local Union.

  43.     Section 5. The Executive Board of each Local
  44. Union shall consist of all the elected Local Union
  45. Executive Officers and such Members-at-Large as
  46. the Local Union may deem necessary. The elec-

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  1. tion of any such Executive Board Members-at-
  2. Large, whether direstly elected thereto or holding
  3. membership thereon as the result of election to
  4. some other office or position, shall be by secret
  5. ballot with the same notice procedures as set forth
  6. in Section 2 of this Article. Executive Board Mem-
  7. bers-at-Large shall be elected by plurality vote,
  8. unless the Local Union membership by affirma-
  9. tive action requires a majority vote.

  10.     Section 6. It shall be the duty and obligation of
  11. all Local Union Officers and Executive Board
  12. Members and all other official representatives of
  13. the Local Union, whether elected or appointed, to
  14. support, advance and carry out all provisions of
  15. this Constitution, official policies of the Interna-
  16. tional Union; and, to the extent not inconsistent
  17. with the foregoing, all official policies of the Lo-
  18. cal Union.

  19.     Section 7. The Executive Board shall be em-
  20. powered to represent the Local Union between
  21. meetings of the Local Union when urgent business
  22. requires prompt and decision action. In no case,
  23. however, shall the Executive Board transact any
  24. business that may affect the vital interests of the
  25. Local Union until the approval of the membership
  26. is secured, or of the Unit Workplace Organization
  27. in the case of an Amalgamated Local Union.

  28.     Section 8. Any member of the Executive Board
  29. who is not directly elected to the Board, but who
  30. holds such office by virtue of her/his holding some
  31. other office or position in the Local Union or Unit
  32. Workplace Organization shall, upon ceasing to hold
  33. the latter office or position, automatically cease to
  34. hold the office of Executive Board Member.

  35.     Section 9. At teh discretion of the Local Union
  36. the offices of Financial Secretary and Treasurer
  37. may be combined.

  38.     Section 10. The following rules shall be man-
  39. datory in all Local Union elections for executive
  40. officers, and insofar as these rules are not incon-
  41. sistent with any provisions of Article 8, for Inter-
  42. national Convention delegates:
  43.   (a)Every member in good standing shall be en-
  44.       titles to vote at all Local Union elections.

  45.   (b)Such elections shall be held during specified
  46.       dates and hours at a specified polling place or
  47.       polling places where each member shall per-
  48.       sonally cast her/his vote. The use of absentee

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  1.       ballots is not permitted in Local Union elec-
  2.       tions, except as allowed by a uniform policy
  3.       established by the International Executive
  4.       Board.

  5.   (c)All elections shall be held under the supervi-
  6.       sion of a democratically elected Election Com-
  7.       mittee.

  8.   (d)Thje date or dates for all elections must be es-
  9.       tablished by the membership body of the Lo-
  10.       cal Union.

  11.   (e)No candidate in any election shall be a mem-
  12.       ber of the Election Committee having super-
  13.       vision over such an election.

  14.   (f)Any eligible candidate in any election shall
  15.       have the right to submit her/his commonly
  16.       known name to the Election Committee in
  17.       writing as the candidate desires it to appear
  18.       on the ballot, and it shall so appear.

  19.   (g)Each candidate shall have the right to have
  20.       one (1) challenger present when the votes are
  21.       cast and when they are tabulated, provided that
  22.       such a challenger shall be a member of the
  23.       Local Union.

  24.     Section 11. Following each election, the Elec-
  25. tion Committee shall report in writing the canvass
  26. of the results of the election to the membership's
  27. next membership meeting. No protest to an elec-
  28. tion shall be considered unless raised within seven
  29. (7) days of the closing of the polls or at the next
  30. membership meeting, whichever is later. A protest
  31. must either be in writing, or made at the member-
  32. ship meeting. If written, the protest must be actu-
  33. ally received by the Local Union Recording Sec-
  34. retary before the deadline.

  35.     Section 12. In the event the membership, ei-
  36. ther in acting upon a protest or in ratification of an
  37. Election Committee recommendation, should or-
  38. der a new election, no such election shall be held
  39. until the matter has been submitted to and an order
  40. thereon received from the International President.
  41. In such an event, the Local Union shall submit a
  42. complete report of the circumstances which influ-
  43. enced the membership to order a new election, as
  44. well as the official minutes of the pertinent mem-
  45. bership meeting, to the International President. Any
  46. member of the Local Union shall have the right to
  47. submit a written statement to the International
  48. President. The International President, acting as ex-

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  1. peditiously as possible, may either make her/his
  2. order upon the information available to her/him
  3. or, if she/he feels the facts sufficiently contradictory
  4. to warrant the step, submit the matter to an Ap-
  5. peals Committee constituted pursuant to Article 33,
  6. Section 3 of this Constitution for investigation. In
  7. that event the International President shall make
  8. her/his order pursuant to the recommendations of
  9. said Appeals Committee. During the interim pe-
  10. riod, the Local Union offices shall be temporarily
  11. occupied by those candidates who would have
  12. been elected if the election had not been challenged.
  13. If the International President approves membership
  14. action ordering a new election, the election shall
  15. be held as soon as possible and the pfficers elected
  16. at that second election shall hold office during the
  17. pendency of any higher appeal and until otherwise
  18. directed by a superior appellate body.

  19.     Any appeal from the International President's
  20. order shall be taken in the usual way pursuant to
  21. Article 33, of this Constitution provided however,
  22. that if the President's order is based upon an Ap-
  23. paels Committee recommendation, the appeal shall
  24. omit the step provided for in Article 33, Section
  25. 3(d), and the appeal shall commence with review
  26. of and action on the Appeals Committee recom-
  27. mendations pursuant to Section 3(d) of Article 33.

  28.     Any appeal from a decision of the membership
  29. refusing to order a new election shall be taken in
  30. the usual manner pursuant to Article 33, and the
  31. members elected as the result of the election being
  32. appealed from shall hold office during the pen-
  33. dency of the appeal and until otherwise directed
  34. by a superior appellate body.

  35.     All ballots and other pertinent records in any
  36. election shall be preserved for a period of one (1)
  37. year and may then be destroyed by the Local Union
  38. unless an appeal is pending, in which event they
  39. must be preserved until the appeal has been de-
  40. cided and the decision is final.

  41.     Section 13. If upon investigation by the Inter-
  42. national Union, it should appear by convincing
  43. evidence taht any member has misrepresented re-
  44. turns, altered, mutilated or destroyed deposited
  45. ballots, or engaged in any other fraudulent acts in
  46. connection with the conduct of a Local Union elec-
  47. tion, the International Executive Board may remove
  48. such member from any office or appointive posi-

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  1. tion s/he may hold pending a hearing. The Board
  2. shall designate a special committee to conduct a
  3. hearing, after due notice in writing of the charges
  4. against the member, and make recommendations
  5. in a manner similar to that provided for under Ar-
  6. ticle 33 of this Constitution. The special commit-
  7. tee shall make recommendations to the Intarna-
  8. tional Executive Board, which recommendations
  9. shall be processed by the International Executive
  10. Board in the same manner that it processes recom-
  11. mendations of said Appeals Committees. The In-
  12. ternational Executive Board, if it finds the mem-
  13. ber guilty of the offense charged by a two-thirds
  14. (2/3) vote, may remove the member from any of-
  15. fice or appointive position s/he may hold and/or
  16. suspend the member's right to seek any office or
  17. hold and appointive position in the International
  18. Union for a period not to exceed five (5) years, or
  19. suspend or expel her/him from membership. Any
  20. member so disciplined shall be notified in writing
  21. and shall have the right to appeal pursuant to Ar-
  22. tivcle 33, Section 3. The procedure provided for in
  23. this Section shall be in addition to and and exclusive
  24. of any other action which may be taken against
  25. such member.

  26.     Section 14. All vacancies in Local Union of-
  27. fices, except the office of President, shall be
  28. promptly filled by election, provided that the Lo-
  29. cal Union may provide other means for filling such
  30. vacancies for the temporary period pending the
  31. holding of the election. In case of a vacancy in the
  32. office of President, the Vice President shall fill the
  33. vacancy for the unexpired term, provided that
  34. where there are two (2) or more Vice Presidents,
  35. the Local Union shall establish fair and reasonable
  36. procedure for determining which of the Vice Presi-
  37. dents shall fill the vacancy.

  38.     Section 15. A Local Union may employ ser-
  39. vice and prganizational staff; if such employment
  40. is authorized by the Local Union's bylaws; and
  41. provided that any such staff member who serves
  42. the membership of the Local Union and represents
  43. the membership in collective bargaining with em-
  44. ployers, must have been a member of the Interna-
  45. tional Union in continuous good standing for a
  46. period of one (1) year.

  47.     Section 16. If a member holding Executive
  48. Office, the term of which is not expiring, desires
  49. to become a candidate for another Executive Of-

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  1. fice, such member is obligated to notify the Local
  2. Union of her/his resignation from the member's
  3. present office sufficiently in advance of the nomi-
  4. nating meeting to permit the nomination and elec-
  5. tion of candidates for both offices during the same
  6. election. Such resignation would become effective
  7. at the time of installation.

  8.     Section 17. Whenever there are unopposed can-
  9. didates for Loacl Union Executive Office, such
  10. candidates shall be considered elected without the
  11. necessity of an election. Where run-off elections
  12. are necessary because a candidate for Local Union
  13. Executive Office fails to receive a majority vote,
  14. the run-off shall be confined to the two (2) candi-
  15. dates receiving the highest number of votes for the
  16. office involved.