Resolution #79A-23-06
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Committee on Membership and Office-Holding Eligibility
A question has been raised about whether Local or International Union staff should be permitted to join the Union by virtue of their employment by the Union, not only to continue pre-existing membership.
Resolved: The CWA President shall, by September 1, 2023, appoint a diverse committee, representative of the various industries of the Union, of at least nine (9) members in good standing, selected in consultation with the CWA Executive Board, to discuss and report to the Executive Board by June 1, 2024, or one month before the start of the 2024 Presidents’ Meeting, whichever is earlier, on the following questions:
- Whether the rules for membership and office-holding eligibility are sufficiently clear to Locals, and, to the extent that they are not, what are any of the varied understandings of those rules;
- Whether the rules (including their implementation and how they are communicated) should be further clarified or changed and how;
- If the rules were to be changed to permit staff to join CWA as members in good standing with rights under the Constitution to run for office and otherwise participate in the Union’s democratic processes, what issues such a change might raise with respect to other aspects of the Union’s operations and the rights of existing members, including:
a. Hiring decisions and the makeup of the Union’s workforce,
b. Labor relations between the various staff unions and the Union,
c. Local jurisdiction and potential choice of Locals,
d. The extent to which a Local or the National president’s authority to hire and fire may implicate such members’ rights or the fairness of union elections, if their only connection to membership is through their employment by the union;
e. What CWA or a Local is or may be to such individuals if neither has ever served or may serve as their bargaining representative or workplace advocate but is their employer,
f. Whether there is any basis for drawing lines between which employees of a Local or the National Union may join, whether based on job title, years of service, or full-time or part-time status, and whether similar eligibility restrictions on all other members would have to be imposed,
g. Whether such restrictions could be imposed on eligibility to run for office even if they are not imposed on eligibility to become a member,
h. Whether and how the Union may change for the better or worse or not at all if elected leaders governing the Union have not worked in any of the Union’s bargaining, represented, or organizing units.
Resolved: The Committee shall seek out the expertise and opinions of members, officers, and staff from all levels of CWA and from a range of perspectives, including legal advice on any of the above issues.
Resolved: The Executive Board shall inform the 2024 Presidents’ Meeting of the results of the Committee’s report in order to provide time for the delegates at the 2025 Convention to consider whether any amendments to the Constitution are warranted.