NTEU’S BOARD VOTES FOR LESS MEMBER DEMOCRACY

It was bound to happen that leaders would start to copy Trump’s control tricks, but it is sad to see a union leader doing it to her members.  One of the most fundamental elements of democracy within a union is the right of a member to file charges against the union president for violating law, regulation, or union policy. Given that union president’s are predisposed to reject any claims they did wrong –as we all are, democracy requires that the member have the right to appeal the president’s dismissal of charges to the executive board and on to the convention. If there is no right of appeal, by definition you have an autocratic president—or to be more blunt, you have a Mini-Trump. NTEU’s national executive board just voted to make its president’s dismissal of charges unappealable to the board or the convention. Here is the very crafty way they did it.

Not long ago a member filed a charge against the NTEU national president, Doreen Greenwald, alleging she violated law, regulation and NTEU’s constitution. She dismissed it and the member filed an appeal with the national executive board pursuant to the following NTEU Constitution provision:

The National President shall decide disputes or questions in controversy, including all questions involving interpretation of this Constitution, ALL of their decisions being subject to appeal, first to the National Executive Board, then to the National Convention. (You will see shortly why I highlighted the word ALL.)

Greenwald respoded by asking the board to give her the power to dismiss a charges on “procedural threshold” grounds, and it did. Suddenly, members’ rights to appeal ALL charges to the board and on to the convention does not mean All, and no one else will ever hear about an allegation the president violate law unless the president wants them to know about it. The board took this action despite the fact that only the convention delegates can change the wording of the NTEU Constitution. All the NTEU national president need do now is declare that her rejection of charges are procedural and it is “case closed, box it up, and send it to the mountain storage cave.” Behold the Mini-Trump in action! But if you are thinking that is not so bad because her new power is limited to just procedural issues, leaving members to appeal substantive dismissal, think again and this time really focus..

Here is what she did with her new-found power. The member had charged the president with violating federal law and regulation because the NTEU Constitution states, “The National President shall enforce the laws, rules, and policies of this organization.”  Her response was that the member had did not “sufficiently allege” a violation of law despite the member having filed a single-spaced, six-page charge with 14 citations to federal court decisions, including Supreme Court decisions. She decided that a failure to “sufficiently allege” a violation was one of those “procedural threshold” reasons her dismissal could not be appealed.  If you are tempted to see if the term “sufficiently allege” is in the union’s constitution, save your time.  It is not.

As a back up she also declared that alleging that she violated federal law and regulation is not a “serious malfeasance, serious misconduct, or significant dereliction of duties.” The NTEU Constitution does require that for some kinds of charges, but not allegations that law and regulation were violated. Besides, when is an allegation that a union president’s violated of federal law not serious? Even more importantly, seriousness is not a procedural issue; it is very much the core substance of the charge. The board and convention delegates should be allowed to rule on that. (The member charged the president with violating his right to free speech, interfering with the union national election process, and failing to meet her fiduciary duty. Serious enough?)

So, NTEU members, hear this.  When the NTEU president decides a dispute or rejects charges against her, you will only hear about it if she wants you to. If you are thinking that the member filing the charge can just contact the executive board directly to appeal, think again.  You will have a better chance of discovering the secret Coca-Cola formula than their e-mail or home addresses. Unlike AFGE which posts on its web site the identity and contact information of its board members, that is virtually classified, top secret, eyes only information in NTEU.

Just as Trump got the Congress and Supreme Court to look the other way, if not cover their eyes and ears, NTEU’s president Greenwald has done the same.  Have NTEU members just passed through the archway to the Kingdom of NTEU?

(NTEU CHAPTER PRESIDENTS ONLY: If you wish a copy of the charges filed against President Greenwald, send an email to FEDSMILL@gmail.com with your name and chapter number.)