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Newsletter of the Pennsylvania Federation January 2011
2011 Notice of General Elections
Of Pennsylvania Federation
BMWED - IBT Officers
The Pennsylvania Federation BMWED-IBT will hold general elections for all Federation Officers in June 2011. All members in good standing are eligible to vote in this election. The secret mail ballot election will be conducted by the American Arbitration Association (AAA). The AAA is an independent election service and they will ensure that the election is conducted and the ballots are counted in a fair manner to all. The AAA will prepare the ballots, mail out the ballots, receive the ballots, count the ballots and certify the winner(s). Ballots will be mailed out by the AAA on May 31, 2011, describing the office(s) to be voted upon and listing the candidates for each office. Ballots will be counted by the AAA on June 23, 2011, commencing at 10:00 a.m., in their offices located at 230 South Broad Street, 12th Floor, Philadelphia, PA. Information concerning positions open for election, eligibility for office, the eligible voters for the various positions and nominating procedures are provided in this election notice.
The election will be conducted in accordance with the Teamsters International Constitution, the National Division Bylaws, the Pennsylvania Federation BMWED-IBT Bylaws and the Merger Agreement between the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) and the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees. All of these documents can be accessed on the Federation’s website at pennfedbmwe.org, or copies will be mailed to you upon your written request to the Federation office.
Qualifications for Office
Eligibility to run for office is governed by the IBT Constitution and the Merger Agreement between the IBT and the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees. Paragraph 4.9 of the Merger Agreement, and the provisions of Article II, Section 4(b) of the IBT Constitution, provide that for nominations held in April 2011, nominees must have “continuous good standing” for the twenty-four (24) months prior to the month of the nomination and election. This means that nominees must have paid timely dues for each month from March 2009 to March 2011 without a late or missing payment. Unemployment cards may not be used to maintain continuous good standing. Payment of supervisory retention fees may not be used to maintain continuous good standing. In addition, candidates must maintain continuous good standing status up through the month of the election.
Who May Vote In the Election?
Members who are in good standing through the month prior to the month of election may vote in the election. This means those members who pay, or have paid, required dues through May 2011, will be eligible to vote in the June 2011 mail ballot election. There is no requirement to maintain “continuous good standing” in order to vote in the elections and members may restore good standing to vote by paying required back dues. All members who have paid required dues (including back dues) up through, and including, the month of May 2011 are eligible to vote in the elections.
Offices Open for Election
There shall be elections conducted for one (1) General Chairperson, five (5) Executive Board Members and eight (8) Vice Chairpersons. The offices shall be elected by the affected membership as follows:
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Office
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Members in Good Standing Eligible to Vote for Positions
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General Chairperson
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At large by all the members
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(5) Executive Board Position
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At large, by all of the members, however, Article 1, Section 3(d) of the Pennsylvania Federation BMWED - IBT bylaws provides that the Executive Board shall consist of five members, with a least one from each Region, not more than one of whom shall be from the same railroad within a region. The Regions are defined in Article 1, Section 4 of the same bylaws.
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Vice Chairperson District One
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Elected by Amtrak members of Local Lodges 3014 and 3068. Amtrak Metropolitan Division
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Vice Chairperson District Two
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Elected by Amtrak members of Local Lodge 3011, 3012 and 3039. Amtrak Mid-Atlantic North Division
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Vice Chairperson District Three
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Elected by Amtrak members of Local Lodges 3005, 3028, 3052, 3075 and 3095. Amtrak Mid-Atlantic South including Wilmington Equipment Shop and Wilmington Sub-Division
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Vice Chairperson District Four
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Elected by Amtrak members of Local Lodges 3041, 3082 and 3089. Amtrak Electric Traction Workers New York to Washington DC including Harrisburg Line.
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Vice Chairperson Eastern Region District
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Elected by Amtrak members of Local Lodges 3005, 3011, 3012, 3014, 3028, 3039, 3052, 3068, 3075 and 3095. Amtrak Southern District and Northeast Corridor Production Units.
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Vice Chairperson District Five
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Elected by Freight members of Local Lodges 0275, 0362, 0400, 0705, 0935, 3077, 3020, 3075, 3063, 3098, 3072, 3091, 3030 and 3084. Conrail Shared Assets, Norfolk Southern (former Philadelphia, Harrisburg and Allegheny B, Southern Tier, and New Jersey districts of Conrail) York Railway, CSXT Baltimore Service Lane, Albany Service Lane and Central East Service Lane (former Western Maryland RR and Harrisburg, Southern Tier and Buffalo Seniority Districts Conrail)
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Vice Chairperson Central Region District
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Elected by Freight members of Local Lodges 3062, 3023, 3008, 3004, 3006, 3002, 3047, 3009, 3099, and 3094. Norfolk Southern (former Pittsburgh and Allegheny A districts of Conrail and former Monongahela RR)
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Vice Chairperson Western Region District
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Elected by Amtrak and Freight members of Local Lodges 3086, 3017, 3061, 3025, 3060, 3043, 3097, 3007, 3016, 3018 and 3080. Amtrak Chicago, CSXT Indianapolis Service Lane (former Southwest, Columbus District and Chicago District Conrail), CSXT Great Lakes Service Lane (former Youngstown, Cleveland, Pittsburgh Districts Conrail) and Norfolk Southern (former Youngstown, Cleveland, Southwest, Columbus and Chicago District Conrail)
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Nominating Procedure
Nominations for office must be made by members in good standing and will be accepted by the Federation office as per Article 3, Section 2(b) of the Pennsylvania Federation Bylaws, between April 15, 2011 and April 30, 2011. Any member who is qualified shall be eligible to be a candidate for elective Federation office. Nominations may be faxed, mailed or hand delivered to the Federation office. The address and fax number of the Pennsylvania Federation office is as follows:
Pennsylvania Federation BMWED-IBT
421 North Seventh Street - Suite 299
Philadelphia, PA 19123
fax number (215) 574-1910
No nominations will be accepted via email or verbally. Members must be nominated in writing by fax, mail or hand delivery. Members may nominate themselves for office. All nominations must state which office is being pursued. Members may only run for one office. If members nominate other members to run for office, then a letter of acceptance for the nomination must be received from the member nominated during the nomination period. Nominations will close on April 30, 2011 at 5 PM EST. All nominations and/or letters of acceptance must be in the Federation office prior to April 30, 2011 at 5:00 PM EST to be considered.
Lodge Transfers
All Lodge transfers will be handled in accordance with National Division Dues Allocation Policy effective May 15, 2003. A copy of this policy may be accessed on the Federation website, or will be mailed to you upon written request to the Federation office. Candidates Access to Mailing Lists for Campaign Purposes Any candidate for Federation office may request access to the Federation mailing list to distribute his/her campaign literature to the members, or a section of the members, of the District or Region for which the person has declared his/her candidacy. If a member desires to distribute campaign literature prior to the nominating period they must indicate in writing that they intend to seek Federation office and arrangements will be made to provide access to the mailing list that is requested. This does not, however, fulfil the obligation to be officially nominated for office between April 15 and April 30, 2011, as described elsewhere in this newsletter.
Once the request for a mailing is made the candidate will be informed how many members will be included in that request and the Federation will forward the mailing labels to a printer we have designated for this purpose. The printer will charge five cents a letter to affix the address labels to the campaign material and a fee of twenty dollars to bring the campaign literature to the Post Office. It will be the candidate’s responsibility to ensure that the printer is paid to affix the labels and bring the mailing to the Post Office prior to the mailing actually occurring. The candidate may provide the printer with enough campaign literature with sufficient postage on it for the mailing, or may contract with the printer to print and mail the material. At no time will campaign material be handled by the Federation office and except for furnishing the appropriate labels to the printer all of the business of mailing campaign literature will be between the printer and the candidate. Candidates may mail campaign material as often as they desire provided a request is made for this purpose to the Federation office. All mailings will be at the candidate’s personal expense.
As a matter of information it is a violation of law for any union funds or assets (Local, Federation or International) to be used to promote the candidacy of any member seeking union office.
Pennsylvania Federation BMWED - IBT
421 North Seventh Street - Suite 299
Philadelphia, PA 19123
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