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YOUR LEGAL RIGHTS INSIDE THE UNION
by Susan Jennick

Your union election is scheduled for next year or the year after. If you plan on running for office, now's the time to begin planning your campaign and building an active support group.

Besides becoming experts on communicating with your co-workers, members of your group should become experts on union election procedures and the law regulating union elections. The law should be used as a guide and an aid, not as a substitute for the hard work of organizing. Courts, lawyers and government agencies cannot make a union democratic; only the members can do that.

A federal law, the Labor Management Reporting and Disclosure Act (also known as LMRDA or "Landrum-Griffin"), regulates internal union affairs, including officer elections. The LMRDA applies to unions representing private employees. The Civil Service Reform Act provides similar rights for members of federal employee unions. State and local government employee unions are not covered by the LMRDA unless the union also represents private employees. The Act requires elections of local union officers at least every three years and international officers at least every five years.

ELECTION RULES
The rules regulating your union election are determined by your international constitution and local by-laws. You must have copies of these documents if you want to run for office. If your union will not supply you with a copy, you can obtain one from the U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Labor Management Services, in your area, for a small copying charge.

The election may be conducted by an internal union committee, either elected or appointed, or it may be conducted by an outside agency such as the Honest Ballot Association or the American Arbitration Association. One successful rank and file group showed their strength before the election by winning a by-laws change to elect the election committee.

Elections may be conducted by mail ballot or in-person voting. Every method has advantages and disadvantages; your situation may favor one method over another. Mail ballots are useful in locals covering a large geographic area, or in situations in which the members may be too intimidated to vote in person. If an in-person vote is used, numerous and easily accessible locations are preferable.

Candidates must be allowed, upon request, to have observers at all steps of the election process: that includes the printing, preparation, and mailing of the ballots, as well as the counting. If paper ballots are used, there should be a strict accounting for all ballots printed. Specially watermarked paper can ensure against duplications. If machines are used, they should be checked before the vote begins to make sure that one vote for each candidate registers as only one vote for each candidate.

ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS
Your union constitution or by-laws will tell you the qualifications required to run for office, which you should know well in advance. Potential candidates should request written verification of their eligibility before the campaign begins. Rules which require candidates to have paid their dues on time every month for a specified period of time prior to the election are generally valid and have been consistently enforced. Other rules are invalid: the union cannot, for example, require candidates to have held a lower office in order to run for higher office; the union cannot require candidates to be U.S. citizens.

Many unions require candidates to have attended a minimum number of union meetings in order to be eligible to run. The courts have never held a meeting attendance rule valid because generally more than 95% of the members would then not be able to run. Often when union officials are made aware of the court decisions, they will voluntarily suspend the rule. If not, a candidate held ineligible because of a meeting attendance rule has a strong election protest which should be made immediately both within the union and to the U.S. Department of Labor.

CAMPAIGNING
Federal law says neither your union nor your employer can retaliate against you for running for office or for campaigning for candidates. On the job, the National Labor Relations Act protects internal union activity in non-work areas during non-work time.

Employers may not contribute in any way to candidates for union office which, at least theoretically, includes granting access to the shop for campaigning to one candidate while denying it to others. Often incumbent officials gain access to the workplace under the pretense of handling grievances or other official union business. Careful records of the time spent campaigning will strengthen your protest.

The prohibition against use of employer resources applies to all employers, not only employers with which your union has a contract. Do not accept campaign contributions from any employer, including your Aunt Jane who hired two bartenders for her tavern, or your brother's donation of printing services from his print shop.

Union resources may not be used in a discriminatory manner for the benefit of one candidate. Resources include use of the copy machine, paper and other office supplies, staff time, telephones, newsletters or other publications and, of course, money. Some unions, such as the New York State United Teachers, provide space for all candidates to make a statement in the union newspaper. Union resources may be used only if provided equally to all candidates.

Because of these restrictions on campaign contributions, it is important to keep careful financial records. Some unions permit only members of that union to make campaign contributions; such restrictions may be lawful. A campaign treasurer should be assigned to carefully record income and expenses and keep documentation (copies of checks, receipts).

All candidates have a right to use the union mailing list to send their campaign literature to members. You should make a written request as soon as you are ready to do a mailing; if you have announced your candidacy, you do not have to wait until you are actually nominated. If your request is denied, a federal judge can order the union to allow access to the mailing list.

The union may not censor your literature or even review your literature before the mailing. The union can charge reasonable costs for producing the list and doing the mailing. If you like, you can propose to supply volunteers to put the labels on the envelopes. In any case, you have the right to have observers present at all stages of the process, if you ask for it.

VOTING AND BALLOT COUNTING
The secrecy of the ballot should be absolutely enforced, even over a voter's protest. If ten members openly mark their ballots for the incumbents, the member who insists on voting behind a curtain is suspect.

Candidates are entitled to a sufficient number of observers to oversee all stages of the balloting process. Observers should be trained so that they know when and how to make a protest, how to keep records, and what to look for. Do not ignore the obvious: make sure the ballot box is empty, or the voting machine registers zero, before the voting begins; make sure only eligible voters vote, and that they vote only once; make sure at least one of your observers is in the presence of the ballot box at all times.

AFTER THE ELECTION
If you win, the hard part is just beginning. If you lose, determine quickly whether you want to file a protest. Some unions have time limits as short as 72 hours after the ballot count. You must first file your protest internally, following the procedure described in the constitution or by-laws. Your initial internal union protest must include all possible grounds for protest, but does not have to include the evidence supporting the protest. For example, you can allege that eligible voters did not receive ballots without naming, at this point, each person deprived of the right to vote.

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has exclusive jurisdiction to hear election protests. The time limits are tricky: if the highest level of appeal within the union denies your protest, you must file with the DOL within the next 30 days. If you do not receive a decision from your union's highest body within three months, you must file with the DOL within the next month. The DOL will determine whether there were any violations which may have affected the outcome of the election. If so, the DOL should file an action in federal court asking that the election be set aside and that a rerun be conducted under the supervision of the DOL.

[Susan Jennik is an attorney and a former executive director of the Association for Union Democracy.]