Transport Workers Union of America, Local 514 Official Election and Campaign Rules

campaign

  1. Constitution and By-Laws

    Nomination and Election for the below listed offices and positions of the Transport Workers Union, Local 514, will be conducted by secret mail ballot in accordance with Article VIII of Local 514 By-laws, the TWU International Constitution, and the Labor Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959, as amended:

  • President
  • 1st Vice President
  • Financial Secretary-Treasurer
  • Recording Secretary
  • 2nd Vice President (Chairman of Maintenance)
  • 3rd Vice President (Chairman of Stores)
  • 5th Vice President (Chairman of Plant Maintenance)
  • 6th Vice President (Chairman of Technical Specialists)
  • 7 Executive Board Members at Large
  • 18 Convention Delegates
  • 8 Sergeants at Arms
  • Final tally for Executive Board Members at Large and Convention Delegates will be determined in May 2013 prior to nominations.

Note: The President is an ex-officio delegate to the TWU International Convention.

  1. Term of Office

    Persons elected shall fill a term of office from July 29, 2013 through July 31, 2016.

  1. Eligibility

    (a) Any member who is in good standing and who is current in his/her union dues through May 2013 is eligible to run for office. Pursuant to Local 514 Bylaws, Article VIII (d), anyone who actively engages in duel unionism (such as trying to persuade TWU members to sign cards or support another union), will not be permitted to hold any office of Local 514 or any Section of Local 514 for a period of five (5) years. Said five (5) years shall be from the last known date of such dual union activity.

    (b) A member may run for only one office; except, however, a candidate may also run for convention delegate.

    ( c) Candidates for Sergeants at Arms are required to have attended three (3) membership meetings in the past twelve (12) months.

  1. Nominations and Election Notice

    A Notice of Nomination and Election will be posted at the Local 514 Union Hall, and on bulletin boards at work sites, and mailed to the last-known address of all Local 514 members no later than April 19, 2013.

  1. Nomination Meetings

Nominations will be accepted from the floor only and will be held on the following dates and times:

Tulsa

Mon. May 20, 2013 7:15 AM,11:45 AM, 3:45 PM & 11:30 PM

Place: TWU Hall, 11929 E. Pine St.

Tulsa, Oklahoma

Tulsa Terminal (TULO)

Mon. May 20, 2013 7:15 AM,11:45 AM 3:45 PM & 11:30 PM

Place: TWU Hall, 11929 E. Pine St.

Tulsa, Oklahoma

6. Candidate Eligibility

The Election Board will review union dues records to determine the eligibility of all nominees. Eligible nominees will be notified of their eligibility. Ineligible nominees will be advised of the reason(s) they are not eligible to run for office.

7. Declining Nominations

A candidate who is nominated for more than one office must decline all but one, except convention delegate as specified in 3(b) – Eligibility. Otherwise, the candidate’s name will only be placed on the ballot for the first office or position for which he or she was nominated. A candidate declining nominations must do so in writing at the nominating meeting or in writing no later than 4:00 PM Tuesday, May 28, 2013.

  1. Candidates Name on the Ballot

    A candidate’s name will appear on the ballot exactly as it was placed in nomination, unless the candidate notifies the Election Board, in writing, how it should appear, ie., proper, familiar, or nickname, no later than 4:00 pm, Tuesday, May 28, 2013. The order of the names will be determined by a random drawing.

  1. Meeting with Candidates and TWU –

    A TrueBallot representative will be available to candidates by phone to clarify any issues related to TrueBallot’s printing and mailing, ballot security and verification, and tabulation systems. TrueBallot will participate in two telephone conferences on Tuesday, May 28,2013 at 10:00 AM and 1:00 PM Central Time.

  1. Inspection of Membership List

    Each candidate may inspect (not copy) the Local 514 membership list once by appointment, from May 27, 2013 through May 28, 2013. No candidate is entitled to receive a copy of the list.

  2. Campaign Restrictions

    Federal law prohibits the use of any union or employer funds to promote the candidacy of any person in a union officer election. This prohibition applies to cash, facilities, equipment, vehicles, office supplies, etc. Union officers and employees may not campaign on time paid by the union or the company. Any expenditure of union or employer funds on behalf of a candidate, even if the amount is small, is a violation of federal law.

  1. Distribution of Campaign Literature

    Local 514 will honor any reasonable request to distribute campaign literature to members at the candidates expense, which shall include the cost of postage and labor. Candidates must provide mailing pieces and envelopes if mailing pieces are not self-mailers. Requests will be honored in the order received.

  1. Ballots –

    The printing of the ballots and accompanying materials such as envelopes will be done by TrueBallot, Inc., 415 W 18th Street Suite 6, Merced, California. TrueBallot is a balloting agent that administers union elections throughout the United States. The folding, insertion, and bundling of the ballots will be done on June 14th and June 15th by TrueBallot’s subcontractor, ABS Direct, 4724 Enterprise Way, Modesto, California. On the afternoon of June 15th the ballots will be delivered by ABS Direct to the Stockton, California main post office and mailed first class.

  1. Voter Eligibility

    Any member who has paid union dues to Local 514 through the date of the election and is otherwise in good standing will be eligible to vote.

  1. Mail Ballot Specifications –

    Ballots will be mailed to the last-known address of members in good standing on June 14, 2013. The voted Ballots must be received at the US Post Office, 5313 E Independence, Tulsa, OK 74115 at the secured PO Box 580069 by 9:00 am on Monday, July 15, 2013. For a Ballot to be counted it MUST be identified with the member’s name and bar code showing through the upper left-hand window of the return envelope. This will not reveal how the member votes because the return envelope is separated from the ballot envelope before the ballot envelope is opened. Members are urged to follow voting instructions to ensure their Ballot is not voided.

  1. Replacement Ballots –

    In the event a member does not receive a Ballot by June 28, 2013 or his/her Ballot is misplaced or damaged, a Replacement Ballot may be obtained by contacting TrueBallot. A toll-free hot line will answer calls 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Replacement ballots will be sent out within 24 hours.

  1. Retrieving Ballots –

    Election Board members and a TrueBallot representative shall retrieve Ballots from the Secured Post Office Box, located at 5313 E Independence, Tulsa, OK 74115, at 9:00 am on Monday, July 15, 2013 by matching their signatures with signatures on file with the United States Postal authority. It shall require a minimum of three (3) Election Board members to receive Ballots from postal authorities.

  1. Checking Eligibility

    TrueBallot will verify the eligibility of ballots by scanning the bar code showing through the window of the return ballot envelope. The database has been updated to indicated whether the voter is in good standing, has previously been registered, whether a duplicate ballot has been issued, or is otherwise eligible.

  1. Challenged Ballots

    Any Ballot received that is not listed on the good standing list shall be marked “Challenged” and placed with other challenged Business Reply Envelopes. All challenged ballots shall be handled in accordance with guidelines established by the United States Department of Labor Office of Labor-Management Standards.

  1. Opening the Return Envelopes

    After verifying eligibility, TrueBallot will open all eligible Business Reply Envelopes and remove the Ballot envelope.

  1. Opening the Ballot Envelopes

    Only after all Ballot envelopes have been removed from the Business Reply Envelope will TrueBallot commence to open Ballot envelopes.

  1. Tallying the Ballots –

    After all the Ballots have been removed from the Ballot Envelope, TrueBallot will tally the votes. Tabulation is accomplished via Optical/digital scanning of each ballot, using a high-speed optical scanner. After a preliminary tally is completed, TrueBallot will audit the tally by displaying the first batch of approximately 75 ballots. TrueBallot will project the image of each ballot from that batch onto a screen in the presence of all interested parties including candidates and their representatives, the organization’s Election Committee and staff. The ballot image is compared to the database record that contains the tally data. Once it is demonstrated that the system is working, subsequent batches need to audited only (1) to find problem ballots, such as overvoted or undervoted ballots, or (2) in the event of a very close race which could be affected by a change in interpretation of a very small number of ballots. In each case, TrueBallot will conduct the level of audit appropriate to the situation.

  1. Determining the Winners

    A plurality of votes cast will determine the winner.

  1. Election Results

    After the tally is complete, election results will be posted on union bulletin boards.

  1. Preserving the Records

    As required by Article XV (5) of the TWU International Constitution, the Local 514 Financial Secretary-Treasurer shall store all nominations and election records for at least one year after the election.

  1. Questions or Problems

    Candidates and members with Questions about the nomination or election process should contact a member of the Election Board. Further, any violation of these Rules should be reported promptly to the Election Board so that corrective action can be taken, if necessary.

  1. Protests

    Any member in good standing who believes that he or she has been improperly denied the opportunity to be a candidate for an elective office or position, or believes that an election in which he or she was a candidate was improperly conducted, may file a complaint with the Local 514 Executive Board. If the member is not satisfied with the action of the Local 514 Election Board, the member may within 15 days (or within 30 days after the filing the complaint with the Local 514 Executive Board if the Board has not taken final action within that time), file an appeal to the International TWU pursuant to Article XXIII of the TWU International Constitution.