The Job of the Local Union President
Section 101 of the United Association Constitution establishes that,
“The President shall preside over all meetings and conduct the same in conformity with rules of order and common sense. He shall have a general supervisory control over all matters pertaining to the welfare of the Local Union. The President shall be ex officio over all committees.”
Those that have attended more than one of the hundreds of meetings that I have chaired have likely heard me say that we meet to conduct the members’ business. It is their meeting, not the officers’ meeting, and the President’s role is to ensure that their business is addressed properly through rules of order, no matter what is the consequences.
The second sentence in the job description is purposely and necessarily broad. For example, it has caused me to defend members’ free speech rights, which includes posts on the Internet. It pushed me to allow a member working a scheduled night shift to accept his officer nomination by way of a smart phone. It forced me to intervene on a matter involving proceeds from the sale of tee shirts and hats. These examples may seem trivial on the surface but each one of those could have resulted in actions taken by the UA and/or the Labor Department.
The last sentence of Section 101 of the UA Constitution allows the President to attend meetings of the various boards and committees of the Local Union. I do attend the latter part of the Executive Board meetings to hear the reports of the full-time officers. Beyond that, I generally refrain from exercising ex-officio powers. I believe that I’ve attended about a half dozen other meetings of boards and committees throughout the years.
Our Local Union By-Laws further spells out the President’s authority. This includes being the chair of the By-Laws Committee and appointing two members to serve as representatives of the membership at large. The President is granted the power to fill vacancies in elected offices for a period of time not to exceed 12 months. Lastly, the President is allowed to appoint all boards and committees that are not specified elsewhere in the UA Constitution or Local Union By-Laws. On this last point, I am toying with resurrecting the Blood Bank Committee and appointing Brother Chuck Saunders and Brother Tim Ruhl to expand upon their current blood and platelets missions in life.
One last series of notes are essential to a basic understanding of the Local Union President’s job. The President does not receive any other pension beyond that which is available to every other rank-and-file member of Local 602. The annual salary is currently equal to 110 hours of journeyman’s pay. It is not a get rich, retire comfortably, kind of job. Nor is it a stepping stone to higher office. No Local 602 President has ever advanced to become a full-time officer.
