Minutes

[Guest Guest]

I am a member of a plumbing and pipefitter Local Union.

The by-laws state, it is duty of the Ex. Board to approve all bills.

Concern: The Ex. board makes all decisions on expenditures such as purchase of cars, giving a car away, having a banquet etc.

When the question is asked why these expenditures are not voted on with a motion, discussion, and a vote at the regular monthly meeting by those present, the answer is,

"you are voting on these expenditures and actions when you vote on approving the minutes of the executive board meeting." (at the regular monthly meeting)

Question (1): Is there any way, by the membership voting to approve the minutes (at the regular monthly meeting) of the ex. board it is considered a vote to approve the action taken by that board.

Question (2) How can these actions taken by the Executive Board be considered business of the local between meetings as stated in the International Constitution when any of it could wait until the next monthly meeting.

When asked this question, the answer has been,

“if the executive board does not have control of this the members could pass a motion that would be harmful to the union.”

[Gary c Tesser]

First, please put in a name. There are too many Guest_Guests rattling around. Feel free not to use your own name if you don't want to, for whatever reason; try Paul Bunyan or Mark Twain (not likely to post himself) or Julius Caesar or Polyphemus or Polyamorous (don't use that if your spouse reads over your shoulder). If you want some more just ask.

I'll also point out that I am only replying from a Robert's Rules perspective. If there are any laws, -- or adopted rules of the union, that apply, they are what goes -- Robert's Rules don't count wherever those, superior, rules, conflict with Robert's Rules. You might have a not of reading to do.

Now ... no offense, but I think the actual questions you ask are not even close to your union's real problem, which looks from here like the membership is more subordinated by the union's power structure than maybe by anything that could be imposed by the management of an employer.

But let's start.

Question 1. No. No way. Completely untrue. To approve the minutes is only, only, to declare that it's an accurate record of what happened -- just confirming the record; it has no effect on what the what was done.

-- 1 (a). But the membership has no business dealing with the board's minutes. The board should be dealing with its own minutes, approving them -- meaning, declaring that they are an accurate record of what the board did -- at the next board meeting. And it has nothing to do with enacting anything.

But also look at this. If the bylaws tell the board to do certain things, then unless the bylaws go on to say that the membership meeting has to approve the board's actions (which would be daffy in my opinion -- give the board the authority, or don't ... but that's just my opinion), then what the board has done, as the bylaws authorize it to do, is a done deal

Is it?

2. Ohh, that's tricky If the bylaws say that the board is to act for the membership between membership meetings (bylaws often do -- do yours??, then probably the answer is clearly, yes. They're dong their job. If you don't like what they're dong, then the membership must change the board's job. That will probably mean amending the bylaws.

-- 2 (a). But I really don't like that reply. Could anybody? Has the membership declared the board to be its mommy and daddy?

[Gary Novosielski]

Approving minutes does not mean you approve of what was done, only that you concur that the minutes are an accurate record of what was done.

The board should be approving their own minutes, and choosing some other method to communicate with and solicit the opinions of the membership.

But it makes no sense whatsoever for the membership to be approving the minutes of board meetings. It is very likely that they would have no way of judging their accuracy in the first place. And even if they did, they would have to agree that the minutes should be approved if correct, no matter how much they might disagree with the wisdom or advisability of the decisions that were reached. In particular, even if the membership voted No on the minutes, that would not overturn the actions of the board, it would simply mess up the record. Still, there may be other ways that the membership could rein in a board that is not being responsive.

Get a copy of your bylaws and read it carefully to see what it says about the rights of the membership. Also read Official Interpretations 12 and 13, which have more information on this topic.

[Guest Wally Waters]

My name is Wally Waters, I originally posted, thank you! The Local Union By-Laws state--Sec.1: The duties and powers of all officers shall be as desribed in the International Constitution. Sec.2: It shall be the duty of the Ex. Board to approve all bills and submit to the membership a total for the previous month.--The International Constitution states:

The Local Union Executive Board shall, between the meetings of the local unions, transact such business as may be referred to it by the local union, or the duly elected Local Union Officers.

Thus, the Local Executive Board has no constitutional authority to assume to itself the authority or power to act on its own motion and assume control and supervision over any matter or business of the local union unless it is

referred to it by the local union or the local union offi­cers.

As local union members, the members of the Local Ex­ecutive Board have all the rights and privileges of any other member, and may very well make motions as mem­bers at local union meetings which would require that certain business be referred to the Local Executive Board for disposition. Other than that, they are not local union officers and only function as officers when they meet in a body as the Local Executive Board.--

With that noted: In the International Constitution it is also stated: "The International does not give the finance committee authority to set policy on what the local's funds can be spent for or how much can be spent--that is the function of the membership expressed through the By-Laws or as approved at the local union meeting. (I understand this is finance committee, but it gives direction on funds.)

[tctheatc]

We can't interpret your bylaws; that's for your local to do.

But to accurately understand the excerpts in question, be sure to understand the exact relationship between your "local union officers" and your "Local Executive Board". In my experience, the LEB is often made up of the local officers. If that's the case here, the LEB may very well be acting within the scope of their authority.