CUE:   Home    General Info    Contacts    Issues    News    Bargaining    Member Info    Locals    Events / Corresp    Finance    Stewards / Grievances    CUE Supervisors    Local Resources    General Resources    Links    Site Feedback    Contact CUE   Member Info:   Application    Calculate Member Dues    Issues To Vote On    Meeting Schedules    Committees    Reimbursement Forms

Rebuttal Statement Opposed to Proposed Amendments to Statewide Constitution

Unfortunately, the constitutional amendment before us is a package. If you like one part but not another, please vote NO. Let's try again, and work together on a better proposal.

For more information and endorsers, please see: http://preservequorums.tripod.com.

CONVENTIONS: Do you want to make it easier to call a convention? Want to involve more members, every two years, in making decisions for CUE? Great, let's do that, but let's not gut membership quorum requirements for constitutional amendments and other crucial membership votes at the same time!

QUORUMS/POLITICAL POSITIONS: In an organization as large as CUE, representing 17,000 people of different backgrounds, politics, and priorities, we should be careful that our political positions actually represent the views of most members. Under this proposal, if recommended by 39 of 77 convention delegates, a position could be adopted no matter how few members then vote. Ten members could make that decision for all of CUE!

QUORUMS/OUR CONSTITUTION: If you are concerned about reducing the quorum for making constitutional changes -- vote NO. Most constitutional changes could be changed by a simple majority of delegates even if, in the following referendum vote, only 15% of the members vote and only half of them (400 of 5300 members, or 7.5% of the membership) approve the change.

What are some of the things that could be changed with such a small margin of member support? Salaries for officers, the amount of autonomy for locals, standard election procedures, authority to direct staff, member rights to vote on contract.

PROPONENTS SAY THIS AMENDMENT WILL INVOLVE MORE PEOPLE IN THE WORK BEING DONE BY THE EXEC BOARD. This amendment does nothing to lessen the work or authority of the board. Instead, the changes would dramatically diminish the number of members who need to participate in votes to take political positions for CUE or to amend the constitution. A fair quorum is a standard protection of the majority of members from changes made by an active small minority. It does not quell dissent or make change impossible, but it allows average members, who may not want to spend so much time and energy on these issues, to be confident that their union will not adopt positions that ring true to only a few members.

Please vote NO. We can work together on a better proposal.

NO vote recommended by these members & groups:

Local Executive Board, CUE Local 1 (Santa Barbara)
Elinor Levine, CUE Local 3 (Statewide E-board; Chief Steward, Berkeley/Office of the President)
Judy Shattuck, CUE Local 3 (Statewide secretary; Statewide E-board; local E-board, Berkeley/Office of the President)
Margy Wilkinson, CUE Local 3 (Statewide Chief Steward)
Becky Klein, CUE Local 10 (President, Santa Cruz)
Shann Ritchie, CUE Local 10 (Statewide E-board; local E-board, Santa Cruz)
Mary Higgins, CUE Local 6 (Statewide E-board; Local E-board, SF)
Richard Kerr, Local 6 (San Francisco contact)
Mary Efferen, CUE Local 6 (Local E-board, San Francisco)
Rose Nelson, CUE Local 6 (Statewide E-board, SF)