Quorum: An Excuse To Do Nothing or Not?

 As you may have witnessed on video in a presumably unlawful act of civil disobedience on February 14, 2023, the frustration me and others are having with President Dixon's refusal to engage in any kind of communications with us has reached a boiling point. 

I stood in front of his car, demanding he respect the membership and he tried to run me over and threatened to punch me in his face.

I can go over all the violations of our democratic rights and the personal war going on between myself and him. Surely, he and his loyalists feel justified in his behavior as well. Maybe one day we will make peace. For the sake of our coworkers in Local 308 and the ATU as a whole, I am willing to engage in such an initiative.

For now, we need to deal with a problem that existed long before President Dixon was sworn in:

Sending members home with no information, no say in union affairs and unanswered questions.

Basically, this practice is wasting member's time and breaking down their desire to participate in their own meeting. It feeds a terrible cycle that perpetuates corruption in Local 308. It is totally undemocratic.

This problem is called "lack of a quorum." This is fancy parliamentarian mumbo-jumbo for not having twenty-five members/officers in good standing signed in for a Monthly Mass Membership Meeting. See Section 26(b) of the Local 308 Bylaws:

Read that bylaw carefully! Adjourn the meeting if we don't have twenty-five members present. Adjourn means to rest, pause or temporarily end a meeting. Therefore, anything the Executive Board of our union would have reported would be official without us—the members—being able to overturn or modify it. 

Nowhere does it say they cannot report what they are doing in our union! That sentence does not say "…without further knowledge of the membership"! It says "…without further action by the membership."

Moreover, preceding Section 26(b) is Section 26(a): "The regular meetings of this Local…may be ordered by the Local from time to time."

Who exactly is "the Local"? It is you and me! The membership. We can order a "regular" meeting right after adjournment of the membership meeting. Even the president can arrange such a meeting. 

No, it won't be a "monthly membership meeting." But hell, it can be something! 

Section 26(a) reads "from time to time." This idiom is defined by Cambridge Dictionary as being done sometimes, but not regularly. When our membership meeting is cancelled, it ain't regular at all. In fact, this whole thing is irregular and abnormal for any member-based union or organization.

It is absolutely abnormal and unlawful for the union membership to be ignorant of what is going on in our union! The Preamble of the ATU Constitution is clear that we must ALL participate in how our union is run. Any obstacle that prevents us from having any knowledge of our union affairs is antithetical to our union!

If 26(a) does not convince you that there is no excuse to send members away without any information or unanswered questions, look at the highlighted portion of Section 11(a):

This shows that the Local 308 president can unilaterally call a special meeting after he adjourns the membership meeting. If he doesn't want to—and the Executive Board really cares about the members in attendance—they can request it on a piece of paper. If they don't care—and they usually don't—then a few of the members present can request it on a piece of paper. 

In fact, other organizations still hold informal or special meetings when the membership meeting does not reach a quorum. See this article in Civility about the myths of the quorum: 

After three months of consecutive cancelled membership meetings—due to lack of quorum—we have so much unattended business to handle that the next membership meeting may not cover it. Here are some items:

1. Three long overdue interim elections for Assistant Executive Board (Union Rep.) in Transportation, Instruction/Clerk/Supervision and Vehicle Maintenance. According to Section 6(b) in the Local 308 Bylaws, President Dixon was supposed to mail notices to each department 15 days prior to the membership meeting. It never happened for Vehicle Maintenance. Did it happen in the other departments?
   
2. Charges for removal of office against Executive Board Member Orvin Hurst (for the second time).
3. Two very late financial audit reports (two a year as per Section 25(m) of the Local 308 Bylaws.
4. Grievances rejected by the Executive Board for Arbitration (probably the most important).
5. Contract proposal meeting reports for two months.
6. Monthly revenue and deposit reports for three months.
7. Officer reports.
   

I hope to see you at the March 7, 2023 membership meeting (it was changed to the first Tuesday of March due to "officer scheduling conflicts.") Please don't be that ONE member who becomes the trigger for our membership meeting to be adjourned.

If you do become that one member, I understand. Life happens. Regardless, you can count on me trying to use these hidden details to make sure lack of quorum will not impede some kind of progress—or maybe someone else will join with me or do it themselves. 

I will bring my bullhorn and make sure the neighbors know what is happening if President Dixon walks out on us again. However, I will avoid being roadkill this time (smile).

If I am nominated and elected as the Local 308 president, I swear to you I will never, ever send you away without sharing all reports and answering all questions. Even if it is just ONE member. This kind of misconduct has irked me in my 5 years as a member. It ends with me if I become president. 

See this video presentation of exactly how I intend on making membership meetings a positive experience for the members: