- Membership
(a) Membership in the Union will be open to employees of teachers’
organizations in the Province of British Columbia. The Union
shall establish sublocals where appropriate, and members shall
be assigned to sublocals by the Union Executive.
(b) Any member of the Union Executive or any member designated
by the Union Executive shall have the authority to accept
any application for membership, by affixing her/his signature
on the application form in the space provided, thereby giving
the applicant membership status. At the Founding Convention,
the Union Interim Executive and any member designated by them
shall be authorized to accept applications for membership
as outlined in this By-Law.
(c) Each person signing an application for Union membership
and paying the initiation fee of $5.00 will thereby agree
to comply with the aims, principles, and policies of the Union,
and will thereby agree that: “In applying for a membership
I understand that the Union intends to apply to be certified
as my exclusive bargaining agent and to represent me in collective
bargaining.”
- Dues
(a) All Union members who work full-time shall pay dues of
$69.40 per month [as of July 1, 2006]. Where there is a negotiated
salary increase, this amount will increase proportionately
to the average salary increase.
(b) Union members who work part-time or casual shall pay dues
of 1.5% of salary plus $7.00 per month to a total maximum
of $69.40 per month [as of July 1, 2006]. This maximum shall
increase with salary increases in accordance with By-Law 2(a)
above.
(c) Notice of motion to vary Union dues must have a mover
and a seconder. Said notice of motion, accompanied by a supporting
statement, must be circulated to the Union membership at least
two calendar weeks prior to the meeting at which the motion
will be put to the membership.
- Meetings
(a) The Union will convene at least three general meetings
each year between July 1 and June 30. Barring unforeseen circumstances,
the Union Executive will endeavour to call at least one general
meeting in each of the following time periods:
October 1 to November 30
January 1 to February 28
April 1 to May 31
The Union meeting held in the April 1 to May 31 period will
be the Annual General Meeting (hereinafter referred to as
the “AGM”). The purposes of the AGM will be to:
i. elect officers;
ii. receive printed reports from all Union committees and
joint committee representatives;
iii. deal with any other business which may arise.
(b) Notices of general meetings and agendas will be distributed
to all Union members at least one week prior to such meetings.
The Union Executive shall be responsible for setting the agenda.
Items to be considered for inclusion may be submitted by any
Union member in good standing to any Union Executive member.
(c) Special meetings may be called by:
i. the Union President;
ii. a majority of Union officers;
iii. a standing committee of the Union;
iv. written request of ten Union members.
The purpose of such special meetings will be stated in the
call.
Reasonable notice will be given and no business except that
stated in the call will be transacted at special meetings.
(d) All duly constituted meetings of the Union as described
in By-Law 3 will require a quorum except those meetings called
for the purpose of giving information only. A quorum will
be 25 Union members who are in good standing.
(e) In the event that any meeting requiring a quorum fails
through lack of a quorum to accomplish the business on the
agenda, a notice will be posted on the Union bulletin board
that the meeting will be re-convened on the next business
day following the date of the meeting that failed through
lack of a quorum for the purpose of dealing with the business
on the agenda and no other business.
(f) Sublocal meetings shall be held as determined by the members
of the sublocal in consultation with the Union Executive.
- Officers
(a) i. Executive officers of the Union will be a President,
Vice-President, Secretary, Treasurer, Past President, four
Members-at-Large (five in years where there is no Past President),
and, if sublocals exist, the President of each sublocal. Each
sublocal shall determine its own structure and officers.
ii. In the event of a vacancy in the position of Past President,
the vacancy will be filled by a fifth Member-at-Large, elected
in the same manner as other Union Executive officers.
(b) These Union Executive officers will be elected by secret
ballot to serve for one year and their term of office will
be from July 1 to June 30. Sublocal Presidents shall be elected
by secret ballot by members of the sublocal.
(c) No Union member will hold more than one Executive office
at a time and no Union member will be eligible to serve more
than three consecutive terms in the same Executive office.
(d) Candidates for Union Executive office will be Union members
who are in good standing.
(e) The President will be the presiding officer of the Union
and will also be a member ex officio of all committees and
task forces except the Nominating Committee and the Auditing
Committee. The President will have general supervision of
all matters and affairs of the Union. In the absence of the
President, the duties will be performed by the Vice-President.
(f) The Treasurer will have the care and custody of all monies
of the Union. The Treasurer will keep or cause to be kept
a proper set of books of account of the Union and will exhibit
same to Union members when given reasonable notice. She/he
will submit to each general meeting a report of the accounts
and financial condition of the Union and of all monies received
by her/him. The books of account will be audited annually
by an elected Audit Committee. The Audit Committee will report
to the membership at the TFEU AGM.
(g) Any two of the President, Vice-President and/or Treasurer
will have signing authority in all financial transactions.
(h) Duties of the Secretary
i. Keeping, transcribing, and distributing
to the membership the minutes of all duly constituted general
and special meetings of the Union. Drafting and distributing
notices and agendas of Union meetings.
ii. Keeping and transcribing the minutes of all Union Executive
meetings and drafting and distributing notices and agendas.
iii. General maintenance of Union files.
(i) Duties of the Union Executive
All members of the Union Executive will act as stewards in
the grievance process. The executive may appoint stewards
from time to time on an as-needed basis.
(j) In the event of the death or resignation of a Union Executive
officer prior to May 1, the vacancy will be filled by a secret
ballot of Union members by the next general meeting and the
person elected will serve until June 30.
(k) When a Union Executive officer’s term of office
expires or should she/he resign before the expiration of that
term, she/he will turn over to the Union Executive all Union
records and files currently in her/his possession.
(l) In the event of the resignation or death of a Union Executive
officer before her/his term expires, the remaining Union Executive
officers will be empowered to carry out the duties of said
officer until such time as a replacement officer is elected.
(m) In the event of extended illness or extended leave of
a Union Executive officer, the remaining Union Executive officers
will be empowered to carry out the duties of the absent officer
until said officer returns.
(n) Any Union Executive officer missing three meetings without
giving adequate reason will be subject to discipline or possible
dismissal.
(o) The Union Executive may charter a sublocal upon request.
- Removal and Termination of Executive Members
(a) Any member of the Executive may be removed by an Extraordinary
Resolution of the membership.
(b) An “Extraordinary Resolution” means a resolution
passed by two-thirds majority of such members entitled to
vote as are present in person at a duly held meeting of which
notice specifying the intention to propose the resolution
as an Extraordinary Resolution has been duly given. Such notice
of the motion carrying the proposed resolution shall be placed
before the membership at a meeting prior to the one at which
the resolution is voted upon. All notices of motion shall
be printed and circulated to the Union membership at least
two calendar weeks before the meeting at which it will be
considered.
(c) A by-election to fill a resulting vacancy for the balance
of the removed member’s term will be held at the subsequent
general meeting.
- Procedures
(a) Voting
All Union members in good standing and present at Union meetings
will be eligible to vote.
(b) Rules of Order
The rules contained in the current edition of the Simplified
Rules of Order will govern the Union in all cases in which
they are applicable and not contrary to these By-Laws and
any special rules of order the Union may adopt from time to
time.
(c) Amendment of the Union’s Constitution and By-Laws
i. notice of motion to amend the Union’s
Constitution and By-Laws must be printed and circulated
to the Union membership at least two calendar weeks before
the meeting at which it will be considered.
ii A majority of 75% of the votes cast is needed to amend
the Constitution and By-Laws.
- Strike Pay/Picket Duty/Picket Lines
(a) Amount of Pay
$40 a day ($200 per week maximum) commencing the first day
of a member’s involvement in a TFEU-authorized strike
or a lockout.
Part-time workers shall be eligible to receive strike pay
only for each day of the dispute on which they would normally
be scheduled to work.
Casual workers’ strike pay will be pro-rated based on
the number of days worked in the past 20 days.
(b) Individuals are ineligible for pay if they are
- in receipt of full sick leave benefits
- in receipt of WCB wage loss replacement benefits
- in receipt of LTD benefits
- on a layoff unrelated to the job action
(c) Picket/Strike Duty
In order to be eligible for strike pay a member must perform
picket line duty or other job action support as determined
by the TFEU Executive Committee.
(d) Picket Lines
All members are required to honour a TFEU picket line.
- Founding Year
The Founding Convention of the Union shall elect Union Executive
officers by secret ballot in accordance with the By-Laws as
adopted by the Founding Convention.
The officers elected at the Founding Convention shall serve
until the first AGM as set out in the adopted By-Laws.
