Confidential – not for distribution

MEMORANDUM

To: Dan, Emma, Amy, Bill, Larry Afilliates, Chapters & Clubs
From: Alex Rabb, Emma Wolfe, Bill LiptonAlex
RE: Voting on the WFO NYCCC and SC

This memo will hopefully answer the questions some of you you’ve have been asking about
voting on the WFO NYCCC and SC. I’ve included some examples – please note that the
examples assume that the affiliates are paid up and current.

Please feel free to call me if you have questions.

Overall vote cap for related organizations

Organizations that are affiliated to the same parent organization may each affiliate with the
WFO. No grouping of such organizations and their parent organization may have more than 15
State Committee votes.

Organizations requesting exemption from the voting cap may appeal to the Executive
Committee. Because no affiliate has been affected by the limit yet, none have requested an
exemption. There are no guidelines for what factors the EC should consider, but during the
bylaws revision process affiliates discussed as factors: separate endorsement processes, very
large numbers of members, and independence from an international or other locals.

Examples:
• UFCW 1500, RWDSU, and RWDSU 338 are capped at 15 votes total – this has not been
an issue because they have 12 votes.
• SEIU locals are capped at 15 votes total. Practically, this has not been an issue in the
past, because 1199 has had 8 votes, 32BJ has had 6, and
o the other locals that have affiliated (200United, etc.) rarely vote at the state
committee
o There is no other SEIU local affiliated to the NYC Coordinating Council (758
merged with HERE Local 6)
• The Hotel and Motel Trades Council is a separate parent organization from UNITE
HERE, and although they are both parents to Local 6, they are not capped at 15 votes,
because there are at least 25,000 UNITE HERE members in NYC and NYS who are not
Local 6 members (so local 6 is considered not to have affiliated through UNITE HERE).

Limits on affiliations by locals

If a district or statewide body of given organization is NOT affiliated, but four or more if its
component organizations are, voting power will be based on the cumulative number of members
affiliated from all the component organizations.

Example:
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• At one point, 10 XX Teamsters organizations (xx9 IBT locals and ALA 1) werehave
affiliated with the WFO for a total of 14 votes. However, since no statewide or district
IBT organization has affiliated, their combined voting strength on the SC NYCCC is
based on the number of members affiliated, not the amount of dues paid. Since they have
affiliated a combined maximum of 18,990 members, they can exercise a maximum of 6
votes combined. Note that their actual combined number of members may actually be
lower.

For the purposes of this section, a district or statewide body is considered to have affiliated once
it has affiliated at least 15,000 members.

Examples:
• IBT international must affiliate at least 15,000 members (at a dues level of $22,500) in
order to lift this limit.
• SEIU has not been subject to this limit – the justifications that have been offered are that
1199 has at times functioned as the SEIU NYS council within SEIU and at least one
SEIU local has affiliated more than 15,000 members.

Deadlines

After May 1, an affiliate’s voting strength is based on its payment (or compliance with an
approved payment plan) as of 60 days prior to the vote. Before May 1, an affiliate’s voting
strength is based on its dues paid during the previous year.

Payment plans

Affiliate dues shall be paid on or before the last day of February. Affiliates that are unable due to
budgetary or organizational constraints to comply with this deadline shall, on or before the last
day of February, declare their dues level for the year and develop a payment plan with the
Executive Director. The Executive Director must report all payment plans to the Executive
Committee. Any affiliate whose payment plan is rejected by the Executive Director may appeal
to the Executive Committee.

Affiliates’ votes on the NYC coordinating council.

An affiliate’s votes on the NYC Coordinating Council are the same as its votes on the State
Committee, but limited by the number of members it has in New York City.

Example:
o An organization that has affiliated 10,000 members statewide (at a dues level of $15k)
but has only 4,000 members in NYC will have 5 votes on the state committee but 3 votes
on the NYCCC.

Vote scale

The vote scale on both the NYCCC and the SC is:

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Affiliates
100 members 1 vote
1,000 members 2 votes
4,000 members 3 votes
7,000 members 4 votes
10,000 members 5 votes
15,000 members 6 votes
20,000 members 7 votes
25,000 members 8 votes

No single organization may hold more than 8 votes.

Add section on Chapter and club votes

Add section on citywide endorsements requiring 2/3.

Chapters or “Borough Committees

100 members 1 vote

200 members 2 votes
250 members 3 votes
300 members 4 votes

Clubs
50 members 1 vote
100 members 2 votes
200 members 3 votes
300 members 4 votes

**
Citywide Endorsements*

According to Section 8.2 of the Coordinating Council rules, Council endorsements for citywide races
must be approved by a 2/3 vote.