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American Federation of Government Employees Bylaws (cont.) |
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Committees
SEC. 6 (a). Such general committees as may be established by the local shall be comprised of members appointed by the President, subject to the approval of the Executive Board (except for the Audit and Election Committees).
SEC. 6 (b). The local shall have the following general standing committees: Audit, Budget, Bylaws, Civil Rights, Green Light, Legislative, Membership and Organizing, Newsletter and Communications, and Safety and Health.
SEC. 6 (c). The Audit Committee shall audit the accounts of the Treasurer, or any committee handling monies of the local, annually andlor upon a change in the incumbent, and shall prepare appropriate reports. The Committee shall submit its written annual audit report within 60 days of " the close of the fiscal year to the National Vice President and the National Secretary-Treasurer. A copy of the audit report will be made available to members upon request. No member of the Executive Board, or any member who has the authority to sign checks, or has signed checks during the fiscal year in question, shall serve on the Committee. The Committee shall consist of not less than three and not more than five members, elected at a regular membership meeting.
SEC. 6 (d). The local shall have a Budget Committee consisting of the President, Treasurer, and three members elected by the membership at its February regular meeting. The Committee shall prepare a written annual budget for the local, which will be presented to the Executive Board, which in turn will recommend a budget for the local to be presented at the May regular membership meeting.
SEC. 6 (e). The Bylaws Committee shall review all proposed amendments to the bylaws of the local; report its recommendations concerning such proposals at the next regular meeting of the local; and initiate appropriate amendments deemed necessary. The Committee will submit a written quarterly report to the membership.
SEC. 6 (t). The Civil Rights Committee shall keep the local informed of all civil rights matters which are the concern of the local.
SEC. 6 (g). The Green Light Committee shall consist of the Executive Vice President, Head Steward, and such other officers as the President may appoint. The Committee shall make a decision on whether a grievance should proceed to arbitration, subject to appeal to the Executive Board or subsequent appeal to the membership, or whether a matter should be pursued before another third party (BED, FLRA, MSPB, etc.); and develop policy guidance on representational matters. The Committee will submit a written quarterly report to the membership.
SEC. 6 (h).. The Legislative Committee shall keep the local informed of matters of legislation which are the concern of the local members; analyze and review legislative proposals; and make recommendations to the local on such matters on its own initiative or upon request of the Executive Board or membership. The Committee will submit a written quarterly report to the membership.
SEC. 6 (i). The Membership and Organizing Committee shall develop and conduct a continuing membership and organizing program for the local. The Committee will submit a written quarterly report to the membership.
SEC. 6 (j). The Newsletter and Communications Committee shall publish a local newsletter and develop, recommend, and implement methods to improve communication with the membership. The Committee will submit a written quarterly report to the membership.
SEC. 6 (k). The Safety and Health Committee shall keep the local informed of all matters of safety and health which are the concern of the local.
Stewards
SEC. 7 (a). Stewards shall be elected in April of each year by members in their respective agencies and serve for one year. These elections shall be supervised by the Head Steward or another member of the Executive Board who is designated by the Head Steward. Vacancies between elections shall be filled by the respective Agency Vice President with Executive Board approval. The Executive Board shall determine the number of steward positions to be allocated to each agency.
SEC. 7 (b). Stewards agree to reasonably perform the following duties: provide representation on labor relations matters and grievances to employees within their area of jurisdiction; keep the members informed about local policy and activities; actively seek to sign up new members in their area; and perform such other duties as may be assigned by the Agency Vice President, Head Steward, or President.
SEC. 7 (c). Stewards may be removed by the Head Steward or Agency Vice President for cause, including poor performance, after a written, specific notice from the Agency Vice President, training designed to correct deficiencies, and a failure to improve within a reasonable time. Cause is defined as a failure to reasonably perform any of the duties enumerated in Section 7(b) above, and also would include a failure to attend membership and stewards meetings, a failure to attend training, a failure to actively recruit new members, a failure to provide timely representation, and a failure to keep the Agency Vice President and Head Steward apprised of their activities. A removed steward may appeal removal to the Executive Board, but the Board's decision on such appeal is final and limited to whether the steward’s deficiencies met the factual standard of cause as enumerated in this section.
Dues and initiation fees
SEC. 8 (a). The initiation fee for members shall be the equivalent of the dues for one pay period. See AFGE National Constitution, Article XIX, Sections 7(a)(5) and 7(b)(5). SEC. 8 (b). The dues shall be:
Group I, GS 1-5 $14.00 per pay period Group 2, GS 6-11 $17.00 per pay period Group 3, GS 12 and above $19.00 per pay period
The amount for retired members shall be $30 per year, payable on the first of January each year. Manual dues shall be paid semi-annually on January 1" and July 1" in advance.
SEC. 8 (c). When the AFGE National Convention approves a monthly increase in per capita tax, the biweekly dues of each member on dues withholding shall be automatically increased by the exact amount of the monthly increase in per capita tax. Semi-annual or annual dues also shall be increased to ensure that the dues collected from these groups are exactly equal to the amounts collected from members in the same group on dues withholding. In implementing the provisions of this section, the local may elect, by vote of the membership, to absorb the increase in per capita tax in its existing dues structure. Any action to absorb the increase must be undertaken not later than two months from the effective date of the per capita tax increase. This provision may not be removed without the approval of the National Executive Council.
SEC. 8 (d). Following the lifting of trusteeship, direct submission of the dues withholding allotment of the local from the agency to the Federation shall go directly from the agency to the Director of Finance and Information Services, AFGE, 80 F St NW, Washington, DC 20001. The Director of Finance and Information Services shall retain the per capita tax portion of the dues withholding allotment and shall forward to the local its portion of the dues allotment. This provision may be amended only with the approval of the National Executive Council.
SEC. 8 (e). The local will affiliate with the appropriate AFL-CIO bodies in the geographic area and will remain current in its per capita obligations to those bodies.
Revised as of December 1,2005
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