The question mark comes from last night’s first district-wide union (Pinellas Classroom Teacher Association: PCTA) meeting of the year: the Faculty Representative (FR) Council. Every month, the FRs elected or appointed at the different schools meet to discuss and decide union business. During this first meeting, an election for the Elections Committee occurs. So me and eight other folks who wanted to run showed up.
But not all of us were allowed to run for this committee. Even though our Bylaws clearly state that members can run, the union leaders and Parliamentarian decided that the elections for this committee only apply to FRs, not the general membership.
Someone tried to make a motion to honor the wording of the Bylaws, but that person was cut off and rudely silenced. And so were the people who wanted to serve their union and fellow members, but were blocked from doing so.
A few concerns about what happened at Council last night:
- We were running for the Elections Committee because we had concerns with how our elections were run in March. We experienced a number of violations of the guidelines put forth by the U.S. Department of Labor for Conducting Local Union Officer Elections. We decided that instead of contesting that election we would look forward and work for positive change in the future.
- You do not need to be an FR to be on any other committee, nor be an FR even to Chair those committees.
- To run for the position of union President, one never needs to be an FR. One only needs to be a dues-paying member for three years. If you can be elected to the highest position in the union without being an FR, why would you need to be one to be elected to the Election Committee?
- The FR Council is supposed to represent the interests of the general membership, which is also a duty of all of the elected positions within the union. How does it best serve the general membership to exclude dues-paying members from a committee as important as the Elections Committee?
Before the elections commenced, I heard elected union officials and/or committee Chairs say a lot of pretty, pro-union, pro-member things. Things like: “I’m really fighting for you.” “Elections are soooo important.” “Workers work better when they feel validated and their voices are heard.” “Join in the fun. Sign up for committees! Not just FRs!” How do these words fit the actions of union leadership that discourages and blocks members from running for elected positions?
I believe in the labor movement, as well as collective action and collective power. I have seen the power that can come from collective action, but more importantly I’ve experienced it. I know that if we created a more inclusive, equitable, democratic union that the 7,000 instructional educators would benefit from the power that would come with uniting thousands of voices (member or not). All summer long as I’ve heard people say, “I’m going to cancel my membership. The union isn’t doing anything,” I and the others I’ve been working with have been encouraging folks to maintain their membership. “We’re stronger with our contract and with a union,” we’ve told them.
I encourage PCTA members to consider: do the actions in this first FR Council of the year put PCTA on the path to become stronger? What is gained by keeping dues-paying members out of the Elections Committee, and who benefits from doing this?
Now is the time to ask questions of the PCTA leaders (President, VP, Executive Board) and to educate your fellow members about these internal issues.
Why weren’t general members permitted to run for the Elections Committee? Especially when the language in our Bylaws is so clear.
~Christy M. Foust~