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Eligibility for office
There are only three absolute requirements for eligibility for local union office spelled out in the International Constitution:
- The candidate “must be a member in good standing in the local union in which the nominee seeks office”; and
- “No member whose eligibility for membership is based upon employment in a position for which another organization is the exclusive representative with regard to wages, hours or other terms and conditions of employment, shall be eligible to seek or hold office at any level of the union”; and
- “No retired member or member of a Retired Employee Chapter shall be a candidate for any elective office.”
To be eligible, however, a candidate must also “meet such other conditions as are stipulated in the constitution” of the local union.
In most cases, the only “other condition” has to do with length of membership in the local. The standard local union constitution, which appears in Appendix C of the International Constitution provides in part that:
“To be eligible for office, a member must be in good standing for one year immediately preceding the election, except in the initial election held in this local.”
This is the rule in most locals. Local unions can extend this length of membership, in cases where officers are elected for terms longer than one year, up to a maximum period equal to the length of the term of office. Even where such language exists, however, the International President has ruled that (1) if there is only one nominee and (2) if that nominee would be ineligible only because of the length-of-membership requirement, that nominee may be declared elected and may serve the full term of that office. If there is more than one nominee and all of them are ineligible only because of the length-of-membership requirement, they should all be considered eligible and their names placed on the ballot.
- A requirement that a candidate “be employed within the jurisdiction of this local union.” The effect of such language is to bar from local union office full-time staff members of the International Union, a council, or the local.
- A requirement that no more than a specified number of officers be from any single work location.
- A requirement that one or more board members be elected by and/or from among the members in each of several “chapters” established by the local constitution.
- A prohibition on the candidacy of a member who, during the immediately preceding term of office, was removed from office for excessive absenteeism, that is, for three or more consecutive unexcused absences.
Local unions may not establish eligibility requirements, which include:
- Attendance at some minimum number of membership meetings during the preceding year.
- Physical presence or written notice of acceptance of a nomination at the nomination meeting.
- A bar against supervisory employees running for office.
- A requirement that the nominee be a member of a bargaining unit. Membership eligibility — and eligibility for office — are determined by the jurisdiction of the local, not by the coverage of a bargaining unit. (However, if the member is in a bargaining unit represented exclusively by another labor organization, then that member is ineligible to seek or hold office, even though the member is otherwise within the jurisdiction of the local union.)
- A requirement that a candidate has previously served as a shop steward or in some other capacity.
- A prohibition against re-election or a limit on the number of consecutive terms to which a member may be elected.
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