Officer Elections in Stewards

On Tuesday 4/20 we had a well-attended and very productive Stewards meeting. Here is a brief outline of what happened (full minutes are available in the GEO office):

1) Several committees reported, including a LEO Tentative Agreement update, announcement of a (long) draft platform that will be researched and refined this summer, and call for volunteers to travel to Madison, WI in early May to help TAA with their strike planning (contact ddobbie if you’re interested).

2) Bella Muntz (Treasurer) reported on the 1/04-4/04 budget and presented the 5/04 – 4/05 budget. Stewards approved the 04-05 budget.

3) We continued our governance discussion. Stews approved a Governance Committee to meet over the summer, charged with drafting stewards bylaws that reaffirm and codify our committment to transparancy in information sharing and decision making. For a more complete discussion of the charge of the committee, see the official minutes. Also note that last Stewards Council (4/6?), Stews approved making four committee chair positions elected out of Stews, and these elections will take place in September (Grievance, Organizing Committee, Bargaining Committee, and All Campus Labor Council Representative). These positions will become officers of the union.

4) We continued our discussion about the proposal to change our governance structure slightly to create two co-president positions instead of one president and one vice president. The proposal failed, although with some significant support among Stews, and several Stewards abstaining. The discussion was active and productive, and ultimately led to recognition that whatever the structure, we need to do a better job with coordinating among committees and helping the president and vice president work effectively together to keep the union working smoothly.

5) We held elections for president and vice president.
Dave Dobbie and Bella Muntz both ran for president. Each spoke and answered several questions, including responding to the possiblity of an open-ended strike next spring. Dave Dobbie won on a paper ballot.

Ursula Lawrence and Bella Muntz both ran for vice president. Each spoke and answered questions, including what they saw the as the role of the vice president. Both described their desire to become more involved in the day-to-day decision making of the union, and to work to coordinate bargaining and organizing during the contract campaign. Bella Muntz won on a paper ballot.

Due to a lack of candidates, elections for treasurer and secretary were postponed until the next stewards council. Stewards will continue to meet during the summer, as will the standing committees, bargaining research, and the governance committee.

In solidarity,
Aron Boros
GEO Secretary