2024 Negotiation Team Election Report Findings
Contents
The Elections Committee’s scope and makeup
Summary’s purpose
Election context
Summary of official protests
Detailed outline of protests and findings
Other potential violations
Recommendations for current election
Recommended changes for future elections
1. The Elections Committee’s scope and makeup
Claire Irvan (Chair as of July 16)
Michael Everhart (Chair through July 16, now committee member)
Sarah Cinnamon (Committee member)
Molly Clasen (Committee member)
Kate Baker (Staff Advisor)
The committee chair is appointed by the local president; either the chair or the local president may select other committee members. No candidates for office/position for the current election are allowed to serve on the Elections Committee.
The committee is charged with:
Making recommendations to the local executive board on how the election is conducted.
Ensuring that nominees are eligible to run and have the opportunity to decline the nomination.
Notify each candidate they have the right and are encouraged to submit a statement; ensure such statements do not violate local and international guidelines.
Hear and resolve any protests concerning the conduct of the election.
Make a report to the membership on the results of the election and the decision made on any protests.
2. Summary’s purpose
Transparency
The purpose of this report is for the Elections Committee to provide the Local 328 membership, Executive Board, and Negotiating Team candidates an accurate summary of the 2024 Negotiating Team election’s protests.
This includes the alleged policy violations, investigation summaries, and recommended ways forward.
Clarifying complex policies
Local elections are governed by five documents, and those documents can contradict each other, leading to complications for members, candidates, and the Elections Committee.
AFSCME International Constitution, Go to International Constitution
AFSCME International Election Manual, Go to International Manual
AFSCME Local 328 Constitution, Article VI and Article IX, Go to Local 328 Constitution
AFSCME Local 328 Elections Policy MM-BN-04, Go to Local 328 Policies
AFSCME Local 328 2022 to 2025 Negotiating Agreement, Article 2.11, Go to Negotiating Agreement
Ideal outcome
An ideal outcome for this report is that our Local’s members, leaders, the Executive Board, and the Elections Committee work in partnership to resolve this election’s issues so we can focus on training a successful Negotiating team and securing a strong contract.
Additionally, this Local’s size is increasing rapidly, as is its member engagement. The current elections policies and processes were created to support a smaller, less involved Local.
This election is an opportunity for Local 328 to update its election policies and processes — an essential part of building a strong democratic foundation for our Local’s future.
3. Election context
This summary pertains to the 2024 Negotiating Team Election, which ran from 8 a.m. on July 8 through 5 p.m. on July 14. Members voted for 34 candidates seeking to fill 13 open Negotiating Team seats.
The Elections Committee met during the voting period and responded to numerous daily emails. The committee responded to and resolved 7 concerns during the voting period.
Election results were shared with Local 328 members, leaders, and nominees on July 15. The first protest was filed that same day, followed by two additional protests that week.
4. Summary of official protests
Members submitted 3 formal protests regarding use of the Local’s resources to campaign, access to member information via The Hub, and use of union titles in campaign materials.
Members raised additional concerns regarding access to member information via use of The Hub, AFSCME Local 328 bulletin boards, and use of titles.
The committee found that two violations occurred, one did not occur.
While investigating the protests, the Elections Committee found multiple other violations of the five governing documents listed above.
5. Detailed outline of protests and findings
Protest 1:
Policy allegedly violated by candidate: AFSCME Local 328 Policy MM-BN-04.
“Candidates may not use any local union resources for their campaign. They may NOT: use union funds or billing codes to make copies or place printing orders; use their access to union infrastructure to obtain mailing lists, phone numbers or campus-mail location codes; claim an endorsement by any union body (such as the executive board or steward program) or post individual campaign material on Local 328 websites, social-media accounts or bulletin boards. Individual campaign material posted on Local 328 websites, social-media accounts or bulletin boards will be removed immediately. Candidates who have engaged in prohibited activities will be notified of the violation.
AFSCME staff representatives shall not offer any sort of endorsement or otherwise offer support for any candidate. Anyone holding a local office/board seat, serving as a steward, or otherwise serving in an official union role may not use their title in endorsements of candidates.”
Description: Member said a candidate used the AFSCME Local 328 bulletin board outside the cafeteria to post campaign fliers. They included a photo of the problem.
Committee finding: Violation occurred.
The photo is proof that union resources (a billboard) were used for campaigning purposes.
Although the violation occurred, it cannot be determined that any candidate featured on the flier knew or sanctioned its posting on the billboard.
Protest 2:
Policy allegedly violated by candidate: AFSCME Local 328 Policy MM-BN-04. Read previous protest for the policy’s language.
Description: A candidate used union leadership titles in attachment to an endorsement email on behalf of themselves and three other candidates. No titles were used in the emails. They did include titles as part of their candidate statements and as descriptors near their candidate picture.
Committee finding: A violation of the policy occurred.
Titles were used in a flier attached to an endorsement email.
AFSCME Local 328 Policy MM-BN-04 is written ambiguously and needs revision so candidates can share union leadership experiences without using their union leadership titles to make endorsements.
Protest 3:
Policy allegedly violated by candidate: AFSCME Local 328 Policy MM-BN-04. Read Protest 1 for the policy’s language.
Description: A candidate who is a union leader downloaded a list of all Local 328 members from the Hub. The protester alleged that the candidate used this list for campaigning purposes. The member leader asserts they were using this list appropriately for their leadership role, not for campaigning purposes.
Committee finding: Violation did not occur.
There is not enough evidence that this information was used beyond the scope of the candidate’s member leader role.
6. Other potential policy violations
Possible violation 1
Policy possibly violated by Local leadership: Local 328 Constitution, Article IX, Section 6
“The negotiating committee shall be elected directly by the membership, with the exception of the president of Local 328 who shall be an automatic member of the negotiating committee. There shall be at least 15 days' notice given prior to the close of nominations and at least 15 days must pass between the closure of nominations and elections. The number and structure of the negotiating committee shall be proposed by the executive board but must be approved by the membership at a regular or special membership meeting. Contracts negotiated by the committee must be ratified by a majority vote of all members of the Negotiating unit voting,” (emphasis added).
Committee finding: Unclear if violation occurred
At the June 12, 2024 AFSCME Local 328 Executive Board meeting, there was a discussion regarding the number and structure of the negotiating committee.
It is unclear if this qualifies as a proposal by the Executive Board to the membership, and whether or not this suffices as being approved by the membership and whether or not an Executive Board meeting can be deemed a regular or special membership meeting.
Possible Violation 2:
Policy possibly violated by candidates: AFSCME Local 328 Collective Negotiating Agreement, Article 2.11.2, 2022-2025
“... the Union shall remind employees to view such materials only on non-working time.”
Committee finding: Violation occurred. It is a violation of our contract to not lead with “To be read during non-working time.” Multiple candidates did not include this language in their campaigning emails.
Possible Violation 3:
Policy possibly violated by candidates: AFSCME Local 328 Constitution, Article XI, Section 6
“Section 6. All matters concerning nominations and elections in this local union shall be subject to the provisions of Appendix D, entitled Elections Code, of the International Union Constitution.”
AFSCME International Constitution, Appendix D, Section 1A
“No funds or other resources of the Federation or of any subordinate body, and no funds or resources of any employer, shall be used to support the candidacy of any member for any elective office within the Federation or any subordinate body.”
Committee finding: Violation occurred. Communicating with members using OHSU’s email system has been a norm for candidates in the past. However, OHSU’s email system is an employer resource, so this action is a violation of appendix D.
Possible Violation 4:
Policy possibly violated by the Elections Committee: The Local Election Manual. “If a nominee is eligible for the office and if the nominee does not take the positive action of declining, that nominee’s name must go on the ballot.” is taken into account.
Committee finding: Violation occurred. The committee was not aware of the language in this manual, the fifth election governing document, and therefore did not include candidates who never responded to the nomination email.
7. Recommendations for current election
Put forth to the membership via a vote in the hub::
Do you agree that any of the three protests are valid?
Do you believe that any of those violations impacted the election’s outcome?
Should Local 328 re-run the 2024 Negotiating Team election?
If a quorum is reached, move on to step 3. If a quorum is not reached, the motion fails and the prior election results are valid.
The following changes will apply to the second election process:
The Executive Board formally proposes the number and structure of the negotiating team (as determined at the June 12, 2024 meeting).
The membership votes on the Board’s proposal.
A second election is held. Dates to be determined.
Use of OHSU email and OHSU Teams will be prohibited with the exception of a neutral voting language template provided by the elections committee.
Use of all AFSCME Local 328 bulletin boards will be prohibited.
8. Recommended changes for future elections
The committee would like to recommend the following changes for future elections.
Policy Recommendations
The Elections Committee will work with the Local 328 Policy Committee to create an improved process that incorporates the five governing documents, recommendations from the 2023 Elections Report, and findings from the 2024 elections.
It is crucial we prioritize this work to prevent repetition of the same election issues. Several recommendations from the 2023 Elections Report may have prevented some of the problems with the current election, such as:
“Create a policy about not using OHSU emails for campaigning”
“Audit admin access to the hub before election starts.”
Explicitly address how Local leadership is following AFSCME Local 328 Constitution, Article IX, Section 6.
“The number and structure of the negotiating committee shall be proposed by the executive board but must be approved by the membership at a regular or special membership meeting.”
Better plan for time-sensitive elections, such as the IU election.
Local 328 Constitution: Article VI “At least fifteen days' advance notice shall be given the membership prior to the holding of the election and at least 15 days must pass between the close of nominations and the election.”
Include nominees who are nominated, even if they do not respond to communication from the Elections Committee.
Going forward, ensure that we are adhering to the Local Election Manual. “If a nominee is eligible for the office and if the nominee does not take the positive action of declining, that nominee’s name must go on the ballot.” is taken into account.