The NewsGuild-CWA International Election

03/18/2019

This year the membership of The NewsGuild-CWA will elect the President of The NewsGuild sector of CWA. The election will be conducted among all Guild members in good standing, in accordance with the Constitutional requirement of Article XXII. For the complete SERC Election Rules, please follow this link.

The 2019 election rules, referenda and timeline were established by the  TNG Sector Election and Referendum Committee (SERC). Here are some abbreviated guidelines established by the SERC and/or mandated by the TNG-CWA constitution

  1. Eligibility: Those eligible to vote will be any member in good standing as of September, October or November 2018 and determined by appropriate remittances of constitutional obligations postmarked or received not later than December 15, 2018. This means that to be eligible to vote in the upcoming election, members must have paid dues in August, September, October, or November 2018 based on remittances outlined above.
  2. Voting/Ballots: Ballots will start to be mailed by the SERC Committee on March 20, 2019. Members should receive their ballots no later than April 16, 2019. The NewsGuild of New York has decided that the SERC will mail election ballots and election notices  to its members. These members will return their ballots by mail. The Local has arranged with TNG to pay for the postage costs for this mailing.
  3. Ballots must be received at the post office box before Monday, May 13, 2019, to be counted.
  4. Week of May 13, 2019: SERC count and certification.
  5. July 29, 2019: Installation of Sector Officers at CWA Convention.

Summary of SERC Election Rules NewsGuild of New York Officers, Members and Staff

The SERC has issued  election rules. These rules govern the upcoming TNG election.   Here is a summary of a few critical, relevant parts of those rules:

  1. You cannot use local resources to support or oppose a candidate. This means that you cannot use  the local’s money, space, web page, social media accounts, equipment, email system, phones, cell phones, bulletin boards, copy machines, fax machines, or any other resources owned or paid for by the local to support or oppose a candidate.      
  2. You cannot use the local’s stationary, newsletter, shop papers, logo, letterhead, or any other local publication to support or oppose a candidate.
  3. Every member is free, in her capacity as a member, to support, endorse, and/or oppose a candidate, and to do so publicly. However, neither the local nor any body within the local – such as a unit council – may support, endorse, or oppose a candidate. For instance, while a unit chair may endorse a candidate, she may only do so acting as a member, and may not do so acting as the unit chair. And, a unit council may not endorse, support, or oppose a candidate.
  4. You cannot campaign for or in opposition to a candidate on time paid for by the Guild, or on Guild time. Thus, if you are a staff member, you may not do any  campaign activity during your regular work day. If you are a unit officer with specific Guild time, you may not do any campaign activity during that Guild time. Staff  may take vacation time to campaign. The local will handle vacation requests as it normally does. Staff and officers who have regular work hours should be careful to limit their campaigning to times before the start of and  after the end of the regular work day. Staff and officers who work irregular hours and who wish to do campaign work are strongly encouraged to keep a daily log of their activities during the campaign period, so that, in the event of a challenge, they have evidence that time spent on campaign activity on a particular day was not work time.  
  5. Employer resources cannot, directly or indirectly, be used to support or oppose any candidate. Thus, members may not campaign on work time. An employer’s money, space, web page, social media accounts,  equipment, email system and email addresses, phones, cell phones, bulletin boards, copy machines, fax machines, or any other resources owned or paid for by the employer may not be used to support or oppose a candidate.

For the complete SERC Election Rules, please follow this link. Please direct any questions to President Grant Glickson at glickson@nyguild.org.

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