Proposed AFT Guild Constitution and By-Laws Amendments

Dear AFT Guild Member:

During this past semester a sub-committee of our Executive Council has been reviewing the Guild’s Constitution and By-Laws with the goal of updating them to be more in conformance with current practices, to clean up outdated language, clarify some existing practices, and to enhance the voice of members such as yourself in the decision making process of the Guild.  Specifically, some highlights of these changes include:

• Clarification of the classes of Guild membership;

• Ability to maintain membership status during a break in service;

• Allow adjunct faculty members to run for office at any site they have an assignment;

• Provides Executive Council positions for newly organized bargaining units;

• Changes term length of Guild offices to four years effective with 2017 elections;

• Prescribes more detail for the process of future Constitutional amendments;

• Specifies Executive Council and General Membership meeting schedule;

• Changes COPE fund dues transfer provision to $5.00/unit member/month;

• Clarifies that union meetings are only open to members in good standing;

• Clarifies that a member can only run for one Guild office at a time;

• Enumerates official Guild policies;

• Establishes timelines for ratification of new CBA or RAF settlements;

• Establishes that ratification votes are by members only.

Please visit tinyurl.com/GuildAmendments2016 to view the proposed amendments to both the Constitution and Bylaws in their entirety.  Proposed additions are underlined, proposed deletions are stricken.

A self-mailing ballot should soon be arriving at your home address.  Please review these proposed changes and then cast your ballot, either in favor or opposition, by checking the appropriate boxes on the self-mailing postcard and returning via US mail no later than Saturday, May 21^st, 2016.

Your AFT Guild Executive Council recommends a “YES” vote on these proposed changes.

Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions regarding any of these proposed changes.

In Unity,