ARTICLE VIII

NOMINATION AND ELECTION OF OFFICERS

　

A. International Officers

1. The nomination and election of the International Officers, when required, shall be held at 10:00 a.m. on the second day of the regular meeting of the Board of Directors.

2. Candidates for International Office are encouraged to announce their candidacy sixty (60) days prior to the election.

3. At all meetings of the Board of Directors at which International Officers are to be elected, the Nomination Committee appointed pursuant to Article V.K.1. shall nominate candidates for the offices to be filled. Nothing in this Section shall prevent any members of the Board of Directors from making additional nominations from the floor.

4. During the nomination and election of International Officers the Chairperson of the Nomination Committee shall act as Chairperson of the session.

5. When required, representatives in attendance at a Board of Directors meeting shall nominate and shall elect the International President.

6. In the event that no one candidate receives a majority of the votes cast on the first roll call ballot, a runoff roll call ballot will be conducted between the two (2) candidates receiving the highest number of votes.

In the event that there is a tie for second place in the ballot, a runoff election shall be conducted between the two (2) candidates who are tied to determine which candidate will be on the next roll call ballot.

B. Master Executive Council Officers

1. The representative of each Local Council on the Master Executive Council shall have the privilege of nominating one (1) candidate for the office of President, Vice President, and Secretary-Treasurer of the Master Executive Council.

2. A majority vote shall be required for the election of Officers with each member of the Master Executive Council having one (1) vote. The Secretary-Treasurer of the Master Executive Council shall notify the International Secretary-Treasurer of the Union of the names of newly elected Officers and the date upon which their terms of office commenced.

3. Election Categories

Each Master Executive Council will be assigned to a specific Election Category which already exists in the Constitution and Bylaws. The Master Executive Council Officers' terms will correspond with the terms within each Election Category.

a. Each Master Executive Council will be assigned to an Election Category as follows:

(1) Election Category I: 1/1/08 - 12/31/10

(2) Election Category II: 7/1/08 - 6/30/11

(3) Election Category III: 7/l/07 - 6/30/10

Election Category I	Election Category II	Election Category III
Atlantic Southeast	Alaska	American Eagle
AirTran	America West	Mesa
Air Wisconsin	Hawaiian	Miami Air
Horizon	Midwest	Northwest
Lynx	Piedmont	PSA
Mesaba	Spirit
Ryan	United
US Airways

b. No later than sixty (60) days prior to the end of an existing Master Executive Council term in each Election Category, or as soon as a vacancy exists, said vacancy, including job description, shall be posted at each domicile of the affected Master Executive Council.

c. The terms of the Master Executive Council Committee Chairpersons shall be concurrent with those of the Master Executive Council Officers.

4. A special election for each newly established Master Executive Council will be conducted within a timely manner following the appointment of its elected Local Council Officers. The cost of the special election shall be borne by the International Office.

　

C. Local Council Officers & CWA Convention Delegates

1. Nomination Procedures

a. No later than one hundred and fifty (150) days before the start of the term of office, the International Secretary-Treasurer of the Union shall cause nominating ballots, commitment to serve statements and cover letters to be mailed to all active members of all Local Councils within the United States scheduled for election as provided in Paragraph 3. of this Section. For all Local Councils located outside of the United States the time frame shall be two hundred and ten (210) days before the start of the term of office. The International Secretary-Treasurer of the Union shall notify the Local Council President thirty (30) days prior to distributing said nominating ballots.

For newly organized carriers, the nominating ballots, commitment to serve statements and cover letters shall be mailed to all active members of Local Councils no later than sixty (60) days following the appointment of Temporary Local Council Officers.

b. Nomination procedures shall be conducted by secret ballot.

c. (1) Each active member in good standing may nominate one (1) candidate for the office of President, Vice President and Secretary.

(2) The member shall be responsible for determination of that member's nominee's commitment to serve prior to nomination.

d. Nominating ballots, executed by active members in good standing, shall be sent to the International Secretary-Treasurer of the Union prior to the count date specified on said nominating ballot.

e. Nominating ballots of active members in good standing shall be certified and tallied under the supervision of the Ballot Certification Committee at the International Office.

f. (1) The Ballot Certification Committee shall determine a candidate's commitment to serve as an elected Officer by any one (1) of the following:

(a) Receipt of a commitment to serve card with the nomination ballot.

(b) Written notification prior to the count date.

(c) Checking the indicated block on the transmittal envelope.

(2) If a commitment to serve has not been indicated as outlined in C.1.f.(1) above, the AFA Membership Services Department will contact the nominee through email, phone calls(s), and regular mail letter requesting a commitment to serve statement, with the exception that no email, phone calls(s), and regular mail letter will be sent to a candidate with less than two (2) nomination votes. Verbal confirmation upon receipt of email, phone calls(s), and regular mail letter, confirmed in writing, may also serve as notification of a candidate's commitment to serve. 　

(3) The International Secretary-Treasurer of the Union shall cause the names of all nominees who received at least two (2) nomination ballots and who have indicated their commitment to serve to be placed on the official Local Council election ballot.

　

2. Election Procedures　

a. (1) No later than ninety (90) days before the start of the term of office, the International Secretary-Treasurer of the Union shall cause election ballots to be mailed to all active members of those Local Councils within the United States scheduled for elections as provided in Section 3. below. For all Local Councils located outside of the United States, ballots will be mailed one hundred and twenty (120) days before the start of the term of office. The election ballot shall list the names of the nominees for each Local Council office in alphabetical order. Each active member in good standing may vote for one (1) candidate for each Local Council office and the successful candidate for each office shall be that eligible candidate receiving the greatest number of election votes, with no requirement that the successful candidate receives a majority of the valid ballots returned. Nothing in this Constitution and Bylaws shall prohibit the write-in and election of an eligible member for Local Council office. Such election shall be conducted by secret ballot.

(2) Local Council Officer election ballots executed by the active members in good standing of each Local Council shall be returned to the International Office no later than sixty (60) days before the start of a term of office, or before a date established by the International Secretary-Treasurer of the Union. Ballots shall be validated and tallied under the supervision of the Ballot Certification Committee. It shall certify the election results and notify the International Secretary-Treasurer of the Union, who shall promptly telephone and e-mail, if available, a copy of such certification to the successful candidates and post this certification on a page of the International Office website. Additionally, the Intrnational Secretary-Treasurer will ensure that the current Local President receives a copy of this information for posting on a local bulletin board and website, as applicable. Additionally, the International Secretary-Treasurer will arrange for an e-mail be sent to all members of the respective Council, if their e-mail address is known. All nomination and election ballots and the transmittal envelopes in which they were received, shall be retained at the International Office for at least the duration of the terms of office for which the balloting was conducted.

(3) In cases where ties develop in the election process, the two (2) or more candidates who are tied shall participate in a runoff election by mail ballot that will be held as soon as practicable after the initial balloting is completed.

(4) In the event no eligible member is elected as Local Council President, Vice President or Secretary, the International Secretary-Treasurer of the Union shall immediately arrange for additional balloting for such office.

b. The election of Local Council Officers shall be completed and the successful candidates notified of their election by the International Secretary-Treasurer of the Union no later than the first day of the month preceding the term of office.

3. Election Categories

Each Local Council shall be assigned to an Election Category. On airlines having more than one (1) Local Council, said Councils shall be assigned among the Election Categories as evenly as possible. The Master Executive Council may request and the Executive Board is empowered to change the Election Category to which a Local Council is assigned.

ELECTION CAT I 1/1/08 - 12/31/10		ELECTION CAT II 7/1/08 - 6/30/11		ELECTION CAT III 7/1/07-6/30/10
ALA 30	NWA 99	ALA 19	PED 61	ALA 18	PSA 75
AMR 58	RYN 67	ALA 39	SPR 76	AMR 51	SPR 78
ARW 28	UAL 07	AMR 49	UAL 05	AMR 52	UAL 08
ASA 60	UAL 09	AMW 66	UAL 12	AMR 53	UAL 10
ATR 57	UAL 14	ARW 29	UAL 25	AMR 59	UAL 11
HAL 47	UAL 20	HAL 43	UAL 38	ARW 03	UAL 26
HZN 17	UAL 21	MEA 44	USA 41	HZN 16	USA 89
LNX 77	UAL 27	MSA 79	USA 70	MIA 80
MSA 85	USA 69	MSB 48		MSA 56
MSB 46	USA 82	MSB 86		MSA 88
NWA 94		NWA 93		NWA 90
NWA 96		NWA 95		NWA 91
NWA 98		NWA 97		NWA 92

D. Campaign Procedures

1. Distribution of Campaign Literature

a. The International Office shall comply with all reasonable requests of any candidate for Union office to distribute by mail, or otherwise, at the candidate's expense, campaign literature in aid of such person's candidacy to all members in good standing entitled to vote in Local Council Elections, to all members in good standing on the airline for Master Executive Council elections and to all members in good standing of the Union for International Officer elections. There shall be no discrimination in favor of or against any candidate with respect to costs or the use of lists of members. If campaign literature is distributed by mail, or otherwise, on behalf of any candidate, then similar distribution at the request of any other bona- fide candidate shall be made, with equal treatment as to the expense of such distribution. The cost of distribution of all campaign literature shall be borne by the candidate or by any member or group of members acting on a candidate's behalf. The candidate shall be responsible for the production of all campaign materials.

b. Prior to distribution, by mail or otherwise, of any campaign literature, the candidate, or member, or group of members requesting such distribution will be furnished with an estimated cost by the International Office. In any case, the individual acting as spokesperson for such request will agree to assume the actual cost of such distribution prior to such distribution taking place.

c. Any distribution of campaign literature which utilizes membership lists and/or labels shall be handled exclusively by the International Office.　

　

2. Financing Activities

a. No Union funds, facilities, materials, or equipment (including for example, use of Union offices, xerox machines, telephones, or newsletters) may be used to promote anyone's candidacy for Union office, except as otherwise provided in Article VIII.D.

b. No employer funds, facilities, materials, or equipment may be used to promote anyone's candidacy. This prohibition extends to any employer, even if not the particular airline which employs the candidate.

c. Any candidate for Union office who solicits funds, or on behalf of whom funds are solicited for campaign purposes, must maintain a record of all collections and disbursements.

3. Use of Union Meetings and Bulletin Boards

a. There shall be no discrimination in favor of or against any candidate for Union office with respect to the use of local Union meetings for campaign purposes. All candidates must be treated equally and accorded the same rights in the event any use of local Union meetings is made for debates, distribution of campaign literature or other campaign purposes. In the event any campaign activities are to occur at local Union meetings, all candidates must be apprised of that fact no later than the time required notices are provided for the Local Council meeting.

b. Union bulletin boards may be used for the posting of a written statement, not to extend beyond a single 8 1/2 x 11 inch piece of paper, containing a candidate's name, the office the candidate seeks, and a brief resume of qualifications. All candidates must be afforded equal opportunity to use the bulletin board for such posting. The Local Council President for each council shall inform the members of the posting date no later than seven (7) days in advance of posting.

Under no circumstances will any LEC or MEC Officer seek to edit or deny the posting of any candidate's 'resume of qualifications'. Should there be a 'review process' requested by any candidate(s) or member in good standing, then such review will be undertaken by a neutral party, which shall include the AFA International Vice President, AFA International Secretary-Treasurer, and the AFA-CWA Membership Services Director. (Board 2008) [Note: The Election Handbook defines the 'resume of qualifications.'

c. AFA-CWA's Ballot Certification Committee will post the certified results of each nomination ballot count onto AFA-CWA's computer forum. Each posting will only include the airline, council number, geographic location, and each available position with the names of candidates that will be shown on the ballot for each position. In the event the nomination process has failed to produce a nominee, the position will be listed followed by the message, "No candidate was successfully nominated for this position."

d. AFA-CWA candidates for union office may use AFA-CWA's computer forum. However, at no time may such use be financed by AFA-CWA or Company funds.