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Delegate Ballots · United We Scan

• 0:34
  Hey, welcome back everybody. What is this 154 going off the
• 0:39
  cuff as I am remotely in tonight, but this is just going
• 0:44
  to be a quick little episode, but we wanted to get it out for
• 0:48
  everybody because it is that time of year again.
• 0:52
  So guys, go ahead. So we thought well, last Sunday
• 0:57
  when we were talking at the end of it, I remembered we didn't
• 1:00
  talk about us getting ballots in for the delegates for the
• 1:06
  National Convention. So I thought we would do like a
• 1:09
  little quick episode in regards to what those are.
• 1:14
  So if you're a union member, you most likely either last month or
• 1:20
  this month and I'm actually going to pull up my magazine
• 1:23
  right now. A lot of people have started
• 1:26
  having their state conventions or they're most of us in the
• 1:30
  entire country have them in the beginning of June.
• 1:34
  And because of that, we also have the election for the
• 1:39
  delegates who get chosen to go to the National Convention.
• 1:44
  And they are the people who get to vote on what changes they
• 1:49
  want to see. They are the ones who get a vote
• 1:52
  on the resolutions and they are also state paid or nationally
• 1:58
  paid depending on the amount of votes and a whole bunch of
• 2:02
  stipulations about that. But so you probably most likely
• 2:07
  got that ballot in the mail and you're probably opening it up
• 2:12
  and going, what is this? If you're not very involved, who
• 2:18
  are these people? And very confused about what you
• 2:23
  need to do with that. So and actually hold on, hold
• 2:28
  on. So in yeah, June has one.
• 2:31
  There's like a bunch of people. I know some states already have
• 2:35
  their state convention, but like I said, a majority of them are
• 2:39
  are coming up here in the next next week or the next two weeks.
• 2:45
  So when you get that ballot, I would suggest that you open it
• 2:50
  up and look at all the names. Depending upon what state you're
• 2:54
  in, they're going to base how many people that you can vote
• 2:58
  for based on how many delegates were allowed for that state from
• 3:05
  the last year's National Convention, last year's union
• 3:09
  membership numbers. And each delegate represents
• 3:14
  about 100 people in your state. And so if you are a state that
• 3:21
  has a newsletter, which I think most of them do, you guys both
• 3:24
  do, you can look with your ballot and go through and see,
• 3:31
  hey, I agree with what this person said in the magazine.
• 3:37
  And you know, a lot of the time your state board is who is on
• 3:44
  that ballot. And some states also allow for
• 3:49
  the people who are running to become a delegate to write like
• 3:53
  a little blurb in their newsletter and which I think
• 3:58
  they all should do. Do both of your guys's states do
• 4:01
  that? Mine does not.
• 4:03
  My mine does. I believe they took it out one
• 4:08
  time but it has been put back in at the request of individuals.
• 4:13
  It's just a 25 word blurb, that's all.
• 4:16
  You get 25 words to say hey this is me, vote for me, you know,
• 4:22
  type thing. Yeah.
• 4:23
  And and so like my state, we have, we allow them to write
• 4:27
  like 100 word blurb and then they're all public doing that.
• 4:31
  Yeah, but we, I mean it, I think it also depends upon, you know,
• 4:36
  each individual state, how many delegates each state might have.
• 4:41
  Because like, you know, Texas has what like 90 delegates, I
• 4:46
  want to say versus like Rhode Island or Wyoming, they only
• 4:52
  have two. So it's kind of a a fluctuation
• 4:57
  based upon those instances. Like, I think North Carolina is
• 5:02
  another one that has a lot of delegates.
• 5:05
  Florida. We have, we have I think 51
• 5:09
  delegates with 90 names on the ballot, so.
• 5:12
  Yeah. So it, it can be kind of a a
• 5:14
  daunting, a little bit overwhelming if you're looking
• 5:18
  at it and you're not really involved in in the union stuff.
• 5:21
  So it's good for you to look through that magazine.
• 5:26
  If you're still not agreeing with that.
• 5:29
  I would, you know, I would remember back to some of the
• 5:33
  union meetings that you've been to or, you know, of like, let's
• 5:38
  say that your local offices steward is in there or you have
• 5:43
  coworkers who are involved in the union and they're not
• 5:45
  necessarily, you know, on the state board, you know, talk with
• 5:51
  some of those people and kind of get an idea for who you want to
• 5:56
  vote for. And so on each of the ballots,
• 6:00
  it'll tell you how many people that you can vote for.
• 6:02
  And you don't necessarily have to vote for that maximum number.
• 6:08
  You can vote for one person. You know, it's, it doesn't have
• 6:11
  to be, well, I want to vote for this person or this person.
• 6:15
  You know, the other thing that I would recommend for people to do
• 6:21
  is on social media on, on Facebook, there is numerous rule
• 6:27
  carrier Facebook groups and I jokingly call them the trash
• 6:32
  groups on Facebook, even though I'm in them because sometimes
• 6:37
  there's some real bad information, but there's also
• 6:40
  some, some, some good information on those.
• 6:43
  And a lot of times each of the groups will have like a post
• 6:49
  about April or May and they'll ask for people who are running
• 6:54
  as delegates to put their name. I know I've personally done
• 6:58
  that. And I've actually had random
• 6:59
  people message me before that I've never spoken to in my
• 7:04
  state. So, you know, it just it's kind
• 7:07
  of a, a word of mouth sorts of election process with it.
• 7:15
  Now, the other part of it is that you for the for the
• 7:20
  Department of Labor and like postal rules, you can't campaign
• 7:24
  on the workroom floor. But let's say, you know, you're
• 7:28
  somebody who is a adult wanting to become a delegate.
• 7:32
  You could go and speak with, you know, a manager at one office
• 7:36
  and be like, hey, is it OK if I stand outside, like where the
• 7:40
  employees are coming in and hand out Donuts, maybe give some
• 7:43
  stamps to people so that they turn in their ballots and, you
• 7:47
  know, get that permission from that.
• 7:50
  There's a lot of different options.
• 7:53
  And some people, you know, I know in the larger states like
• 7:57
  Texas, it's going to be a little bit more daunting than in your
• 8:01
  smaller states where you aren't electing as many.
• 8:06
  But it's, it shouldn't be that difficult, I don't think a lot
• 8:12
  of the time, you know, sometimes it's, it's the same people who
• 8:17
  end up going and then you'll have a trickle of some newer
• 8:20
  people and newer faces. I know last year my state, we
• 8:24
  had four first timers go, which my, my state only, we only have
• 8:29
  about 12 delegates, but there's 19 names on our ballot this
• 8:33
  year. And there's a couple people on
• 8:35
  there who have never gone and they're trying to get more
• 8:38
  involved in the union. And this is like that step in
• 8:42
  that direction. Now the other portion of this is
• 8:46
  that come your state convention, typically you're going to have
• 8:52
  an election and a credential, sorry, an election committee who
• 8:56
  is going to be counting those ballots.
• 8:58
  And they have their own separate process.
• 9:01
  And typically they're the ballot has to be in at the when there's
• 9:07
  like a hard cut off date that it states on your ballot of when
• 9:13
  that ballot needs to be received by.
• 9:15
  So if even if you have a little bit of time to your next state
• 9:21
  convention, to your state convention, I would recommend
• 9:23
  filling those out immediately or as close as you can to now so
• 9:30
  that you know and ensure that your vote is being counted.
• 9:34
  And there's like a secrecy envelope that you have to put
• 9:37
  the ballot into. And then you have to put the
• 9:40
  secrecy envelope into the letter, the letter so that it
• 9:45
  can go back to your election of office PO Box and make sure, I
• 9:52
  know a lot of people get nervous about it, but you need to make
• 9:54
  sure that you put your return address on the outside of that.
• 9:59
  It won't be how it it it won't be judged for how your vote is
• 10:05
  being cast. It's only to make sure that the
• 10:08
  people who are voting are union members.
• 10:12
  So if you just left your ballot not in the secrecy envelope,
• 10:17
  that could be a cause for it to become disqualified.
• 10:21
  So just make sure that you follow the directions on there
• 10:25
  to AT and turn that ballot in pretty quickly.
• 10:30
  Yeah, I will say I was, I don't, I was going to just touch base
• 10:34
  on that real quick. Whatever the date, like for
• 10:38
  example, my convention opens unofficially Sunday afternoon
• 10:44
  and officially business starts Monday morning.
• 10:48
  At whatever time that they've designated, the election
• 10:53
  committee will go to the PO Box of the post office local to
• 10:57
  where the convention is, where they set up that PO Box.
• 11:01
  They will collect all the ballots, all the envelopes, and
• 11:05
  bring them back to where they're going to count them.
• 11:08
  The first thing they do is they're going to look at the
• 11:10
  envelope, the outer envelope, and look at your name and
• 11:12
  address and verify, yes, you are eligible to vote.
• 11:16
  They will then open that envelope, pull out your secret
• 11:20
  ballot envelope and put it in a pile.
• 11:24
  After they bare get through the verification process of all the
• 11:28
  ballots and they only have secret the secret ballot
• 11:33
  envelopes, that's when they start opening them.
• 11:36
  So there's no way that they would know who's who's whose
• 11:40
  ballot came out of what initial envelope.
• 11:44
  Yeah, it adds to the secrecy of the, of your vote.
• 11:47
  So don't have any paranoia. You know, I, there's, there's a
• 11:51
  lot of checks and balances that happen with this because of
• 11:55
  Labor law. And you know, it's they're,
• 11:59
  they're trying to make sure it's as you have to have a, a fair
• 12:01
  election for this. So like I said before, fill your
• 12:06
  ballot out, send it in now so that, you know, your votes
• 12:10
  getting cast and counted. We only receive, the union only
• 12:16
  receives about 10% of ballots returned.
• 12:21
  And that's with the ratification and with delegate nominations.
• 12:26
  And that that's, you know, I've communicated with other States
• 12:29
  and figured out, you know, how many ballots did you guys get
• 12:31
  received the last year? And it's usually about 10%.
• 12:35
  And it's kind of disappointing. I, I really hope 20%.
• 12:38
  Like let's just, you know, I want everybody to vote, but it's
• 12:42
  one of the benefits of you being a union member is having that
• 12:46
  ability to vote for the people who can make changes for for us,
• 12:52
  for the rule craft. And, you know, it's it, it's a
• 12:56
  little by little thing, but this is a very important step in
• 13:01
  ensuring, you know, the democratic process of what we
• 13:05
  have in in this, you know, that our democracy of having the
• 13:11
  ability to vote for people. So it's very important for you
• 13:16
  to make sure that you fill it out.
• 13:19
  And, you know, I know I've had people like get, you know,
• 13:22
  really annoyed that they're like, I don't know who half of
• 13:25
  these people are. And that's why I'm saying, you
• 13:28
  know, check on social media, you can read the articles that some
• 13:32
  of them have written. You can maybe, you know, if you
• 13:37
  know another person who knows them, maybe that person can give
• 13:41
  them your phone number, You know, if you're OK with that.
• 13:43
  It just kind of depends on your situation and who you are.
• 13:48
  But it's always exciting when you see how many new faces and
• 13:52
  new people are coming to the National Convention because it's
• 13:56
  such a, it's like our Super Bowl.
• 14:00
  It's like it, really. Is.
• 14:03
  And I mean, I think I, I think about it almost every day
• 14:08
  because it's such a pivotal moment for us.
• 14:13
  And the other thing that that the delegates end up doing is
• 14:17
  they vote in the national board. But this year specifically, this
• 14:21
  is the last round of resolutions that the National Board will be
• 14:27
  able to take to contract negotiations this next year.
• 14:32
  So it's pivotal to make sure that if you want something in
• 14:36
  this next contract or, or have the ability for the union to
• 14:40
  negotiate into the next contract, that these resolutions
• 14:44
  are getting voted on by people that we that you have voted for
• 14:48
  to go that it's a collection of, of this.
• 14:53
  And I could get into it. I know there's some people who
• 14:56
  think that we should all be 1 member, one vote for everything,
• 15:00
  but that's not, that's not the case for this.
• 15:04
  The other thing too is that the the people who the delegates who
• 15:09
  have the least amount of votes, like in the let me back up 10
• 15:16
  steps here. When the election committee
• 15:19
  conducts the the auditing of the of the ballots, they're going to
• 15:24
  list the members and the delegates by number of votes,
• 15:30
  and each different state has their own way of tie breaking.
• 15:34
  If two people have the same amount of votes but the lower
• 15:39
  range of them, depending upon how many delegates your state is
• 15:44
  allotted, those people will also will become the alternate
• 15:47
  delegates. And depending on what state
• 15:50
  you're in, some states have multiple paid state paid
• 15:56
  alternates and some states only have maybe one or two and I
• 16:00
  think. Or none.
• 16:01
  Or none. So I was about to say I know
• 16:04
  like 2 states. I have none.
• 16:06
  So it just kind of depends upon, you know, the structure of your
• 16:10
  state. And a lot of that information
• 16:14
  comes out at the state convention.
• 16:16
  So if you can attend your state convention, I would also
• 16:19
  recommend doing that, especially if you are running to be a
• 16:23
  delegate on the ballot, just so that you'll know.
• 16:27
  And then you'll hear probably from your secretary, treasurer's
• 16:32
  or state president about whether or not you became a delegate or
• 16:35
  not or elected to be 1. Now, just because you didn't run
• 16:41
  to be a delegate this year, you weren't elected.
• 16:44
  You weren't even an alternate. You can still go to the National
• 16:48
  Convention, you just won't have the ability to vote on things.
• 16:52
  And you're, you're just an observer and you're just a
• 16:57
  member there. You know, you can speak with
• 16:59
  other people to speak on your behalf, or you can ask for
• 17:03
  somebody to suspend the rules and allow for a just a member to
• 17:08
  speak. You know, there's that too.
• 17:10
  But the main way for you to enact some change in the Union
• 17:15
  is becoming a a state paid or nationally paid delegate so that
• 17:21
  you have that trying to think of what else?
• 17:24
  All the I, I just want to clarify too, for those people
• 17:27
  that wonder, those that are on the ballot committee that count
• 17:32
  the votes, their names are not on the ballots.
• 17:37
  They're specifically chosen because their names are not on
• 17:42
  the ballots. So there is no interference with
• 17:44
  that at. All, Yeah.
• 17:49
  And there was another one, but I think Josh touched on it.
• 17:53
  But you know, I've always said in the past, and you guys can go
• 17:56
  back, you know, to the very beginning, I've always said that
• 18:01
  the bare minimum that you can do as a union member is to vote.
• 18:08
  Yep, Yep. And again, if you're unfamiliar
• 18:10
  with names on the ballot, ask somebody, if you know you have
• 18:14
  an active person in your office, ask them, you know, reach out
• 18:20
  and and ask somebody within your state.
• 18:22
  Again, you know, we don't always agree with what's gets posted on
• 18:26
  the social media groups, but that gives you a chance to see
• 18:30
  who these people are and how they interact as well.
• 18:33
  Nobody's saying you have to reply to anything or whatnot.
• 18:36
  You know, you get, you get you a feel on where they stand as well
• 18:40
  if you know that they're active on those social media platforms.
• 18:44
  Oh, and then another way that you can look up some of the
• 18:47
  names if you're a weirdo like I am and reread the minutes of the
• 18:52
  National Convention. You can go to prior national
• 18:55
  conventions and the the minutes for them are on the national
• 19:00
  website, orthenrlca.org under the National Convention tab.
• 19:05
  The minutes are there for the last four years and you can open
• 19:09
  that PDF document and look up a name and see if they said
• 19:12
  anything, you know, just be there and I'll say, you know,
• 19:16
  just because they might not have said anything, you know, it
• 19:19
  doesn't necessarily mean that they weren't participating.
• 19:23
  Some people are just it's it's nerve racking to speak in front
• 19:26
  of that many people, but or or or.
• 19:31
  Sometimes you get a comment or, or you could be standing in line
• 19:34
  to speak at the microphone and somebody calls the question and
• 19:37
  you don't get a chance to speak, but you know, it's yeah.
• 19:44
  Or, you know, going through the proceedings, kind of skim
• 19:47
  through them. The four past four years are
• 19:50
  under the National Convention, but you can get previous ones to
• 19:54
  that if you go under the national magazine.
• 19:57
  Archives because they. Used to be printed in the
• 20:01
  National magazine. And then it went separate away
• 20:05
  from that cost efficiency, basically.
• 20:09
  And so, but yeah, you can still look up previous ones under the
• 20:13
  National Magazine archives. Yeah.
• 20:15
  It just gives you, you know, an idea of who, who some of these
• 20:19
  people are from your state. Yeah.
• 20:21
  And it's just, it's just another, I just try and think of
• 20:24
  any way that you possibly can to look up who some of these people
• 20:27
  are. I've seen some balance in other
• 20:30
  states too. And I was like, who are?
• 20:32
  These people. You know.
• 20:34
  And and because of Department of Labor regulations, there is you
• 20:40
  can't put on a ballot who's retired and who's not, so you
• 20:45
  know. With their status, retired,
• 20:47
  active, are they a world career or an RCATTF?
• 20:54
  You can't distinguish. I know that's, that's the
• 20:57
  Department of Labor thing. No matter how what people want
• 20:59
  to try and do to get around that, it's not going to happen.
• 21:03
  That's where it's handy if you know somebody that knows people,
• 21:06
  just, you know, to get an idea of who people are and who you
• 21:09
  want to vote for. There's some excellent retirees
• 21:11
  out there still fighting the good fight that keep themselves
• 21:14
  up to date. And I, you know, I applaud them.
• 21:17
  I really do because they are mentors to a lot of us and up
• 21:21
  and coming. So yeah, you guys.
• 21:24
  You know, voting is very important, especially for your
• 21:27
  delegation. You know, it's especially for
• 21:31
  electing your national officers. And those resolutions and even
• 21:35
  some of the constitutional changes that could happen that
• 21:38
  in binding resolutions that you know, a lot of people don't know
• 21:42
  the difference and binding is something that the union can
• 21:45
  enact on right away. Non binding is our wish list for
• 21:49
  future contracts. So, you know, it's, that's what
• 21:53
  your delegates get to vote on. It's it's not a party at
• 21:56
  National Convention. We're not all getting paid to be
• 21:59
  there to to party it up. Trust me, those are long days on
• 22:04
  the convention floor. Or or sitting outside of the of
• 22:07
  the banquet going through the rest of the resolutions.
• 22:11
  Yeah, why there's still. People in on the dance floor
• 22:13
  partying it up and we're out of the table going through
• 22:16
  resolutions and, you know, it's, you know, we went and got
• 22:21
  something to eat and like, all right, let's go back to
• 22:23
  resolutions now. So yeah, you got that, you know?
• 22:27
  Yeah, you get it. You see a lot of pictures that
• 22:29
  get posted of people, you know, having a good time.
• 22:33
  But if you look, it's usually dark out.
• 22:35
  And at that point, we're all kind of relaxing because we've
• 22:38
  gone through mental meltdown for 8 to 10 plus hours on the
• 22:43
  convention floor that day. So it's just a way.
• 22:47
  And then a lot of times we're discussing resolutions while
• 22:50
  we're all together. You know, we're still discussing
• 22:54
  what happened during the day. Yeah, why?
• 22:58
  Why enjoying an adult beverage if you choose to and just relax
• 23:02
  for the evening before you go to bed, get up early and do it all
• 23:05
  over again the next day. So.
• 23:11
  Yeah. Well, then there was not Orlando
• 23:14
  this year, but a couple years ago Friday night with elections.
• 23:18
  We were there until what, 101045?
• 23:21
  Yep. Yeah, going through at night,
• 23:24
  going, going through the election process.
• 23:26
  Yeah, that was 2022. Because we hadn't had one for
• 23:30
  two years. So it went.
• 23:32
  Yeah. Yeah, I remember I ran that
• 23:34
  year. We we have, I mean, Friday night
• 23:39
  goes until we're done with elections.
• 23:41
  There's no getting out of it. I mean, this past year we were
• 23:45
  done with elections by lunch break, but we still had
• 23:47
  resolutions to go through. And so, you know, we had to get
• 23:51
  through those before we could get done.
• 23:54
  So because as the elections happen, we're going through
• 23:57
  resolutions why the tellers committees are counting the
• 24:00
  ballots for that election and then we'll stop when the tellers
• 24:05
  committee comes back out, they'll announce a winner if
• 24:08
  there is one. If there's multiple people and
• 24:12
  they don't have enough votes to declare a winner, well, then we
• 24:15
  get to vote again. And then after the tellers
• 24:18
  committee leaves to go count the ballots, we're right back where
• 24:21
  we left off undoing resolutions. I mean, it's it's a process and
• 24:28
  it is for very long days and caucus nights.
• 24:32
  I've seen caucus nights go till part near midnight, you know,
• 24:40
  again, Orlando 2022, I think my last.
• 24:47
  Yeah. And when you have a times,
• 24:50
  however many people are running, you know, and, and then they're
• 24:55
  literally, I mean, they're not only doing a 15 minute speech
• 24:58
  and answering some questions and, and whatnot, but then
• 25:01
  they're leaving from that room and trying to find their way to
• 25:04
  another one. And it, it's literally a
• 25:06
  marathon. As those of us who have ran, we
• 25:08
  know what a marathon it is. But you know, it, it's
• 25:15
  definitely, you know, accessing your right to vote as a union
• 25:19
  member is very important. I mean, it is very sad to see
• 25:25
  the union, whether it's your state side or national side, the
• 25:29
  amount of money that they put into sending out ballots, not
• 25:33
  just delegates, but contract ratifications or whatever else a
• 25:36
  vote needs to go out for to the people and then only having 1010
• 25:42
  to 10 to 16% being sent back. So now your moment to shine.
• 25:48
  Send that ballot in. Yeah.
• 25:52
  Yeah, if if nothing else, if nothing else, find at least one
• 25:57
  person on the ballot that you feel is going to vote in your
• 26:01
  best interest in your, you know what how you feel is, you know,
• 26:05
  has similar opinions to you on how what we should, you know, we
• 26:09
  should do in regards to the future of the union.
• 26:13
  That is key. Mail it in.
• 26:17
  Yes, and follow the directions to AT again, no additional
• 26:21
  marking, no write insurance, nothing of that nature because
• 26:24
  if you do that, then that is going to disqualify and make
• 26:29
  that, Yep, a spoiled ballot. The same with not putting it in
• 26:33
  the secret ballot envelope. You know you have to do that as
• 26:37
  well as not putting your return address on there.
• 26:40
  That will also spoil the ballot as well and it will not get
• 26:43
  counted. Yep.
• 26:45
  Vote. Make sure you vote.
• 26:48
  Vote, vote and vote properly yes.
• 26:53
  Send it in now. Ladies.
• 26:56
  I know mine, mine came in this weekend but I'm not home so I'll
• 27:01
  get it when I get home tomorrow and it'll be back in the mail on
• 27:05
  Tuesday. Yeah, mine came in on.
• 27:07
  Wednesday mine came in the later part of this week, it's filled
• 27:12
  out and it's already back in its envelope and with my return
• 27:16
  address. I just found down a stamp and
• 27:20
  get it back out which will be like Tuesday or Wednesday.
• 27:24
  Yep, I'll drop mine in the outgoing mail as I walk into the
• 27:27
  office Tuesday morning. Yeah, I will too.
• 27:31
  Yeah. That's why I like I looked at it
• 27:34
  and went we probably should do an episode about that.
• 27:37
  I was. Like, yes, it is that time of
• 27:39
  year again, like I said, guys, this is just a really short
• 27:41
  episode and you know, because, well, I'm not home at the
• 27:47
  moment. I'm at mom's but.
• 27:51
  Yeah, so. It's, you know, but yeah,
• 27:55
  that's, that's what I'm thinking is that that's good.
• 27:57
  You know, guys vote, you know, if you, if you still, if your
• 28:00
  ballots are coming in and you still have that time, please
• 28:04
  vote. Get those in please.
• 28:06
  Yes, yes, So, well, I think we covered it.
• 28:10
  I hope everybody doesn't have a a bad day after the holiday on
• 28:14
  Tuesday. Hopefully it's not super bad.
• 28:18
  Tomorrow's Memorial Day, and I don't want to say happy Memorial
• 28:21
  Day because it's kind of a it's a somber.
• 28:24
  It's a somber. Holiday but.
• 28:27
  Let's remember all those that we have lost that have fought for
• 28:31
  our freedoms. Yes.
• 28:32
  Yes. So, but yes, on that note, I
• 28:37
  think I think we covered it. So have a good.
• 28:40
  Week, everybody. Yep, we will talk to you next
• 28:45
  time.