Know Your Rights in a Union Election

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Fair elections are a critical part of a healthy democratic Union. The national AFT Constitution (Article IV Section 5) states that all AFT locals must follow the Office of Labor Management Standards for Electing Union Officials.

All members have the right to:

  1. Freedom of speech and assembly, including the right to:
    1. criticize union officials;
    2. express any viewpoint at union meetings (subject to reasonable rules of conduct);
    3. distribute campaign literature; 
    4. hold separate meetings without interference from union officials (The Union Member’s Bill of Rights, Title I of the LMRDA)
  2. Receive uncensored information from all candidates so that they can make a fully informed choice:
    1. “A union must honor all reasonable requests by a candidate to distribute campaign literature at his expense to all members in good standing, whether the distribution is by mail or some other means. The union may not censor the contents of campaign literature it is requested to distribute. It must treat all candidates fairly.” [source]
    2. The New Jersey AFT Contract specifically allows for the use of university email for “internal union matters involving the governance or business of the UNION” (Article X Section C).

The following practices are illegal under LMRDA:

  • Electioneering: Using Membership Meetings to campaign to the entire membership or a subset of the membership.
  • Using the official means of Union communication (i.e. AFT email addresses) to distribute campaign material, when the other slate does not have equal access.
    • “A union must honor all reasonable requests to distribute campaign literature at a candidate’s expense.”
  • Use of non-AFT employees (e.g. CWA staff) to distribute campaign material.
  • LMRDA prohibits the use of union resources to promote (or oppose) the candidacy of any particular candidate, unless the resources are made available to all candidates on an equal basis.

The Elections Committee has legal obligations outlined by the U.S. Department Of Labor. Among these include:

  • To comply with all reasonable requests to distribute literature to all members and to treat all candidates equally. 
  • Prevent electioneering.
  • Ensure the list of voters is current and accurate.
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