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Dear UAW Member, Nominations for vacant Executive Board, Steward, Head Steward, and Defense Committee positions in UAW 4121 are open Thursday, October 14th and will close on Sunday, October 24th, at 5:00 p.m. PDT. This is an opportunity to take a leadership position in your department and in our union. All members who are in good standing are automatically nominated for open positions in their department. This means that you do not have to be nominated by someone else–to run for the position, you simply have to accept your automatic nomination! Please reply to us at elections@uaw4121.org to accept nomination for one position only. The timeline for the elections is as follows:
(all nomination and voting/runoff periods close at 5:00 PM PDT/PST) Questions? Email us at elections@uaw4121.org. Steward Position and Eligibility DescriptionStewards are responsible for serving as organizers and points of contact for their department. They help encourage people to join the union, spread information about upcoming events, direct department members to union resources, and help organize the postdocs in the department for collective actions that protect and expand our workplace rights. With the guidance of the contract enforcement committee, they can also represent and support colleagues through the grievance procedure if issues arise. Stewards receive training and support for both of these roles, so there’s no prior experience needed. Eligibility: To be eligible for the position of Steward, you must have been a union member in good standing for at least ninety (90) days. You may not hold the position of Steward simultaneously with any other elected office (including Head Steward), with the exception of chairs of standing committees other than the Elections Committee. If you wish, you may resign your current position to run as a steward. Simply indicate this in your email to the Elections Committee. If you have questions about the position or your eligibility, please feel free to contact us at elections@uaw4121.org, and we can help put you in contact with a current steward to chat with. All Steward positions will last until September 2022. Open Steward Positions There are many open steward positions. For a full list, please see HERE. If you do not see your department listed, but believe there to be a vacancy, please contact the Elections Committee via email at elections@uaw4121.org. Head Steward Position and Eligibility DescriptionHead Stewards represent the entire Postdoc unit and meet quarterly (at minimum) as members of the Joint Council, alongside ASE Head Stewards and the Executive Board. Head Stewards also make up the bargaining team which bargains with the UW over our contract. There are currently 5 total Head Steward positions that represent the Postdocs (along with fourteen (14) others for the ASEs). Eligibility: To be eligible for the position of Head Steward, you must have been a union member in continuous good standing for at least ninety (90) days. You may not hold the position of Head Steward simultaneously with any other elected office (including Steward), with the exception of chairs of standing committees other than the Elections Committee. If you wish, you may resign your current position to run as a steward. Simply indicate this in your email to the Elections Committee. If you have questions about the position or your eligibility, please feel free to contact us at elections@uaw4121.org, and we can help put you in contact with a current Head Steward to chat with. The term of this Head Stewardship will last until May 2022. There is one (1) open Head Steward position and one (1) open Head Steward Unit Chair position. Executive Board Positions and Eligibility DescriptionThe open Executive Board positions are: Vice President, Recording Secretary, Financial Secretary, Sergeant-at-Arms, Guide, Trustee, and At-Large. The Executive Board meets at least once a month to coordinate Local strategies and campaigns and to carry out Local functions between membership meetings. Executive Board members are also responsible for contributing to the development and implementation of Local organizing. The terms of all Executive Board members will last until May 2022. More detailed descriptions of these positions can be found in the UAW Constitution. Eligibility: All candidates for Executive Board of the Local Union must be members and have been in continuous good standing for one (1) year prior to accepting nomination. No member may run for or hold more than one elected office simultaneously, with the exception of chairs of standing committees other than the Election Committee. There is one (1) open position for each of these roles: Vice President, Recording Secretary, Financial Secretary, Sergeant-at-Arms, Guide. There is one (1) open At-Large position that must be filled by a Postdoc and two (2) open Trustee positions that can be filled by Postdocs. (There are two (2) total open At-Large positions, with the stipulation that at least one must be filled by a Postdoc and at least one must be filled by an ASE. There are three (3) total open Trustee positions, with the stipulation that at least one must be filled by a Postdoc and at least one must be filled by an ASE.) Defense Committee Positions and EligibilityThe primary goals of the Defense Committee are participating in and recruiting for solidarity actions with other unions, conducting direct action campaigns in order to strengthen our position as a local, and building links between UAW 4121 and on- and off-campus organizations dedicated to advancing equity and fairness. Eligibility: To be eligible for the position on the Defense Committee, you must have been a union member in continuous good standing for at least ninety (90) days. You may not hold a position on the Defense Committee simultaneously with any other elected office, with the exception of Steward and chairs of standing committees other than the Elections Committee. If you have questions about the position or your eligibility, please feel free to contact us at elections@uaw4121.org, and we can help put you in contact with a current committee member to chat with. The term of these positions will last until May 2022. There are nineteen (19) open Defense Committee positions available. Accepting Nomination To accept nomination for one of the above positions, you must send your acceptance in an email to the Election Committee at elections@uaw4121.org, or by mail to Elections Committee c/o UAW Local 4121, 2633 Eastlake Ave E, Suite 200, Seattle, WA 98102. Acceptance must be received by mail or email no later than October 24th at 5:00pm PDT. The written statement of acceptance should state how the nominee wishes their name to appear on the ballot and the region in which they are accepting the nomination, if applicable. Constitutional Convention Delegate Positions & EligibilityThe fall vacancy election also includes three slots for UAW 4121 UAW International 2022 Constitutional Convention Delegates. Delegates help draft and submit resolutions in winter 2022, which will then be brought to the Convention held in Detroit, Michigan on July 25-29, 2022. UAW 4121 currently has a total of five (5) delegate slots, of which three (3) are currently vacant and open for accepting nominations. Note that the election for UAW 4121 delegates who will actually attend the Convention will happen in April 2022, and all positions will be open at that time. Those elected during this vacancy election will primarily be responsible for researching and drafting potential resolutions. Eligibility: To be eligible to run for a delegate position, you must have been a member of the UAW (the international union, of which our local branch is a part) for 12 months, and that membership must have been in our local, UAW 4121 for at least the last 3 months. In other words, if you were a member of another UAW Local for 9 months, and then UAW 4121 for 3 months, you would be eligible. All eligible UAW Local 4121 members are automatically nominated to run for a Delegate position. Any member may also nominate other members to run. Candidate Statements and Campaign RulesMembers accepting nomination may also submit a candidate statement (up to 500 words) to the Election Committee that must be received by the nomination deadline of October 24th at 5:00 pm PDT. Candidates may also submit a photo, which must have a square aspect ratio and be at least 200×200 pixels in resolution. In the case of contested positions, statements will be posted on the Local Union website no later than October 27th. Candidates and those campaigning for them are responsible for familiarizing themselves with the rules governing elections and campaigns as laid out in the UAW 4121 Bylaws and the Constitution of the UAW International. Election ProcedureIf only one candidate accepts nomination for a position, that position will be uncontested and will be automatically filled. For contested positions, a candidate must receive a majority of votes to win. If no candidate receives a majority of the votes for a position, a runoff election will be held on November 15th to 16th. Voting will take place online. Online VotingOnline voting by secret ballot will take place from November 8th to 10th. Instructions for online voting will be emailed to all members before the voting and will be posted on www.uaw4121.org/elections. If you have graduated or left the University of Washington and are receiving this email in error, please email us at elections@uaw4121.org. In solidarity, |
