USW Constitution of the International Union, USW By-Laws for Amalgamated Local Unions, and USW Elections Manual (click to see details and download)
Local 348 Constitution and Bylaws (click to see details and download)
USW Local 348 is an amalgamated Local made up of ten Units. The Units are BP Pipeline, Buckeye Terminals, Buckeye Pipeline, Panhandle Eastern Pipeline, Ecovyst, ONEOK Pipeline, Mears Installation, Cenveo, West Rock Blue Springs and West Rock Liberty.
The Local is a representative Local with each of these Units being equally represented within the Local under the constitution and bylaws. Each Unit has an Executive Board member who represents their respective Unit in the months between membership meetings. Since 348 has members in fifteen states it is not practical to try to hold monthly membership meetings. The Local conducts four membership meetings each year, which are scheduled on the second Thursday of March, May, August, and November at 6:30 pm. During the other months the Executive Board conducts business via conference call. They approve expenses and watch over expenditures on a monthly basis; they take action on requests for any lost time and expenses for members; they approve or disapprove of any business that may need to be addressed prior to a membership meeting. Business that can be held for a membership meeting is held for action from the members at the next meeting. The Secretary-Treasurer and the President of the Local sit on the Executive Board but are not voting members, except that in the case of a tie, the President shall cast the deciding vote. The membership reviews the monthly actions of the Executive Board and either approve or disapprove of their action at the quarterly membership meetings. Executive Board members are brought into the Local for the May and November meetings, where they act as a bylaws committee and make recommendations on business items.
The Local has all the usual officers (i.e., President, Secretary-Treasurer, Vice President, Recording Secretary, Trustee, etc.) who work under the direction of the Executive Board during the months that membership meetings are not held. The Trustees audit the Local’s books on a quarterly basis.
Each Unit within the Local elects their own General Workers Committee President and GWC members to represent the Unit during contract negotiation or grievance procedures. These individuals work directly with their assigned International Staff Representative to conduct the business of their Unit. Each Unit elects an Executive Board member to represent the Unit within the Local. This individual could be the GWC President or any member of that Unit.
Unit GWC members are reimbursed expenses and lost time in accordance with the Local bylaws. Each GWC is responsible for handling all grievances and contract negotiations without interference from the Local. Issues that would require an attorney, for example, would need Executive Board or membership approval for expenditure of funds. Moving a grievance to arbitration using the resources provided to the Local (i.e. International Representative) does not need approval of the Local’s membership, and is the decision of the Unit’s GWC. The GWC could meet with the members of that Unit and vote on the issue of whether to arbitrate any particular grievance.
Each Unit elects a Convention Delegate to represent the Unit at conventions that our members need to attend. The Local uses a rotation to send delegates to conventions. Each year at a membership meeting the Executive Board decides the number of delegates to send to conventions for the upcoming year. The Local’s President and Secretary-Treasurer are standing delegates.
The Local has an Election Committee. We have some Units that have several different locations, so these Units conduct elections by mailing ballots to each active member in that Unit. The Election Committee is then called in to count these ballots and notifies the Unit of the election results.
The Local 348 has an Administrative Manager on staff that works 8:30 am to 3:30 pm Monday through Friday.
The Local Union hall is available to Units for negotiations, voting/elections, or monthly meetings if they so desire. The union hall is also made available to other neighborhoods and community groups. Union business takes precedence over use of the hall by other groups, and scheduling conflicts are avoided by scheduling with the Administrative Manager. Each Unit is encouraged to use the resources available to them.
This is but a brief synopsis of the inner workings of the Local. Our bylaws have been improved over the years to best represent the diversity of our members and designed to leave no member or Unit behind and to give each Unit’s GWC the flexibility to conduct business while keeping the best interest of the membership in mind.
If there are questions regarding the inner working of the Local please feel free to contact us.