HOW TO GET HONEST UNION ELECTIONS                                                                                                                                     

Text Box: Q: We have had problems with stolen elections in the past and don't trust the incumbents to run the upcoming officer elections fairly. Some of us would like to see an outside agency conduct the election, but which is the best one? How do we get the union to agree to use an outside agency?    A: It is crucial that union members have full confidence that their votes will be counted. The election process, from the printing of the ballots to their counting, must be above suspicion. A union that is committed to democracy can take certain measures to conduct an election in such a way that members have full confidence in the process. (Contact AUD for help with this.) But, whenever there is any doubt, it is better to error on the side of caution and hire a reputable, neutral outside agency to handle the election.  

 

Text Box: Sample questions {Taken with permission from AUD Web-site, Members First makes no implications regarding past or current L.U. #10 elections}

Text Box: Election fraud in unions debases the integrity of the labor movement as surely as counterfeiting debases the nation's coinage. Stealing elections does more than cheat one individual candidate to the advantage of another. It destroys confidence in union government; it undermines the basis of free democratic trade unionism; it destroys the right of workers to control their own unions and imposes an officialdom upon them. By defending honest elections, we defend the labor movement and uphold the character of unions as genuine workers institutions. Honest elections bolster confidence in union leadership as the genuine choice of the members.

 

 

 

 

 



 

 

 

But which agency? There are several local organizations, and a few national ones that offer themselves for this service. We don't keep a list of "AUD approved" organizations. There are too many and we don't have the resources to monitor them all.

A division of the American Arbitration Association supervises union elections. Because over the years it has earned a reputation for integrity, its election guidelines provide a key of what to look for. Some agencies will conduct bits or pieces of an election process, according to the wishes or convenience of their paying clients. The union that hires them can use the "supervising" agency's name to give the whole election process a stamp of integrity, even if only one part of the election process has been actually supervised. At a time when steelworkers elections were routinely stolen an outside agency counted ballots, but before they ever got to the counting station, those ballots had already been rendered fraudulent.

The AAA says that it does not permit that kind of fraud. It insists on control of all phases of the voting process from printing to distributing to counting the ballots. In a letter posted on the AAA website (www.adr.org), election officer Jeffrey Zaino explains that AAA upholds "democratic traditions by protecting the rights of all members in good standing and ensuring voter confidentiality by secret balloting...doing a background check of its clients and personnel to guarantee that no individual involved with the administration has a vested interest in the outcome of the election...[and] prior to each election thoroughly review[ing] both applicable federal law and the bylaws or constitution of its clients." According to Zaino, if a potential client does not meet these minimum standards, the AAA will not take them on as a client. There are surely other reputable outside agencies, but to the best of our knowledge, none of them has established the track record of the AAA. Other organizations, like Honest Ballot Association, for example, may offer their stamp of approval to elections where they have done nothing more than tally the ballots.

In the end, all election agencies must make the same decision: are they ready to guarantee the integrity of any election they supervise, even at the risk of losing some business.

Watch Out
A few warnings: If the AAA conducts an officer election, members can have confidence that the balloting, i.e. the printing, collecting, and counting of the ballots will be fair. But there are other aspects of the election process that can be manipulated even if an outside agency is involved. The union may not provide an accurate list of addresses to the agency; disputes over good standing requirements will not be resolved by the outside agency; nor will they deal with accusations of threats and intimidation; a candidate's right mail to the membership and campaign is not enforced by the outside agency. Even with an outside agency, members must still learn their full range of democratic rights and be vigilant about exercising them.

How, as a challenger, do you get the incumbents who control, or appoint those who control, the election process to use a reputable outside agency? This question is big enough to deserve its own FAQ, but we will deal briefly with it here. Most union bylaws give the incumbent officers, or an election committee appointed by the incumbents, control over the election process. So the most reliable way to assure that the union uses a reputable outside agency is to change the bylaws to require it. Some bylaws may empower union meetings to pass resolutions that are binding on the officers; it is often easier to pass a resolution requiring the use of an outside agency than to meet the required conditions for changing the bylaws (sometimes two thirds or three quarters of the members at a meeting must approve of the amendment).

Activists should be aware, too, of the risks of campaigning for use of an outside agency and not winning. Be careful to avoid the message that the vote will surely be stolen unless the AAA conducts the election. By fully exercising your rights to observe the election process, inspect the lists, etc, it is still possible to get a fair election. If you persuade the membership that the election won't be fair unless the AAA conducts it, members may what wonder what the point is in voting.

For suggested election procedures and timelines, see the DOL website.
For an example of election rules, see The Coalition of University Employees.
For a copy of the great hands-on guide How to Get an Honest Union Election.
For an excerpt from How to Get an Honest Union Election.
For AAA.

How to Get an Honest Union Election

An excerpt from the AUD publication "How to Get an Honest Union Election" by Herman Benson

"How can we get a fair and square election in our local?" We hear that question more and more at the Association for Union Democracy; and it is not easy to answer, which is why we have decided to print this little booklet. If your union's constitution and bylaws already provide reasonably democratic election rules, and if your leadership is fair-minded enough to enforce them impartially, your troubles are mostly over. But, then you wouldn't be asking the question.

If, however, your bylaws are defective, or if your leadership violates even the best bylaws, you surely do have a problem. If you suspect that an election has been illegal, or even stolen, you might, under certain limited conditions, complain to the U.S. Department of Labor, or even get into state or federal court; but that should be a last resort, often an expensive and difficult move, when all else fails. The suggestions in this booklet are intended to help you try to resolve some of the issues right within the union.
...
Election fraud in unions debases the integrity of the labor movement as surely as counterfeiting debases the nation's coinage. Stealing elections does more than cheat one individual candidate to the advantage of another. It destroys confidence in union government; it undermines the basis of free democratic trade unionism; it destroys the right of workers to control their own unions and imposes an officialdom upon them. By defending honest elections, we defend the labor movement and uphold the character of unions as genuine workers institutions. Honest elections bolster confidence in union leadership as the genuine choice of the members.
...
Election discrepancies
How do they steal elections? Human ingenuity is boundless, and this is one of the less admirable products of that principle. We cite some examples here, not because you are likely to encounter exactly these situations, but only to alert you to the multifarious varieties of strange electoral practices.
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A classic example from the IUE (electrical workers)
One experience is amply documented. In 1964, while mail ballots were being counted in the election of IUE president, tellers discovered that their man, the incumbent, was falling behind badly. At that point, the count was taking place at two different locations; and the insurgent, who was running ahead, was adequately represented by observers at both of them. The tellers simply opened up three additional counting locations but refused to allow additional observers for the challenger. At the unguarded spots, the "count" was based upon the unchecked imagination of the pro-incumbent tellers. The incumbent was declared elected, but a later recount by the U.S. Department of Labor revealed that the challenger, who had been swindled out of thousands of votes, had actually won by a large majority.
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A few words about the law
Certain rights in union elections are, presumably, protected by law, especially federal law; and it is true that the law can sometimes be of great help. But that fact sometimes deludes unionists into imagining that if they rush quickly to the nearest government enforcement agency, discover that rare, dedicated, able lawyer (especially one who works for nothing and can live on air), and file several fast-acting (and, of course, successful) lawsuits, all will be well and their union restored promptly to decency, democracy, militancy, and beauty. But there are no legal quick fixes.

The law can never substitute for hard work inside your union, only supplement it. If you are not ready for that, then forget it. If you bring genuine issues to the membership, publish handbills, newsletters and websites, sometimes run candidates for office, make realistic proposals for reform, and try to win membership support, then and then only, the law and the lawyers may give you that extra measure of support to make your efforts effective. But if you expect to avoid all that time-consuming activity by finding someone else to do the job for you--judges, religious leaders, lawyers, the mayor, administrative agencies, the D.A., congress people, reporters, professors, even AUD, or whoever--you will search eternally in vain. Like this booklet, the law helps only those who help themselves. And you can hardly expect to do it alone like an avenging lone ranger. You'll probably have to organize a caucus, prepare a slate of candidates, involve other members in the campaign, and collect money. Yes, you should be aware of all your legal rights, but as a guide to action, not as a substitute.