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CTA Constitution

 

2070 Jericho Turnpike, Commack, New York 11725

 

CONSTITUTION

OF THE COMMACK TEACHERS ASSOCIATION

 

ARTICLE I                NAME

This organization shall be known as THE COMMACK TEACHERS ASSOCIATION, (The “CTA”).

 

ARTICLE II               PURPOSES

 

The purposes of this organization are: to provide and promote ethical and professional practices; to promote better relationships between and among faculties and administrators of this District; and to act as the collective negotiations representative for all Unit Members.

 

ARTICLE III             MEMBERSHIP AND DUES

 

3.1             Full membership in The Commack Teachers Association is open for all personnel for whom the CTA is the recognized collective bargaining agent. The CTA shall be affiliated with New York State United Teachers (NYSUT) and its national affiliates.

3.2             The Commack Retired Teachers Chapter is recognized as the official association of CTA retirees.

3.3             Membership for other persons shall be open upon terms and conditions prescribed by the Executive Board with the approval of the Representative Assembly.

3.4             CTA, NYSUT, and national affiliate dues will be paid by the payroll dues deduction provisions of the Agreement.

3.5             A teacher hired for one semester will be liable for one-half of the dues payable to CTA. Dues will be collected in the manner set forth in the preceding Article.

3.6             A member shall be deemed in good standing upon compliance with this Article.

 

 

ARTICLE IV             GENERAL ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE

 

4.1             Only members in good standing may attend and vote at all regular and special meetings of the CTA.

4.2             Only members in good standing are eligible to hold office, both elective and appointive.

 

 

 

ARTICLE V              BUILDING ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE

 

 

5.1       A Building must be defined as a school; the collective group of teachers, psychologists, speech teachers, social workers, school counselors, teacher assistants, and nurses; or any other group for which the CTA is the recognized bargaining unit with the exception of those cited in paragraph 5.14.

5.2       Each building will create and maintain its own building organization as prescribed by this

Constitution.

5.3.1       The building organization will consist of one Chief Building Representative, a Building Committee, and the building membership.

5.4     All CTA members in good standing assigned by the District to a building shall compose the             membership of the building and shall be entitled to all the rights and privileges attached to their             membership.

5.5       A member assigned to more than one building shall exercise the membership function at the building where he/she receives his/her paycheck.

5.6       The Building Committee shall be composed of the Chief Building Representative, ex officio, and any additional allotted delegates to the Representative Assembly.

5.7       All members in good standing are eligible to hold building office without restriction upon   successive terms of office.

5.8       The Representatives of the Building Committee shall elect The Chief Building Representative annually and the members of the Building Committee shall be elected by the membership of the building every odd year to coincide with the election of officers. This election shall take place between March 1 and June 25.

5.9      1. The building membership may decide the number of its alternates to the Representative   Assembly and thereby decide the number of members in its Building Committee, except that,         in doing so, it may not enlarge its allotted number in the Representative Assembly beyond the   limit prescribed in Article 6.3 and 6.4.

            2. In the event that a building representative resigns, the alternate who received the highest number of votes shall replace the person who resigned. If no alternate exists, special elections may take place pursuant to this constitution and with notification to the CTA Elected Officers.

5.10    An alternate attending a Representative Assembly meeting in place of the Chief Building Representative is entitled to exercise the powers and functions in his/her office, but may not thereby cast more votes than the building is allotted under Article 6.3 and 6.4.

5.11    a) The Building Committee shall determine the date of the building election in accordance

with the preceding Article 5.8.

b) At least four weeks prior to the election date, the Building Committee shall ask for nominations for representatives from the eligible building membership, without any restriction upon successive terms of office.

c) Nominations shall be closed one week prior to the election date and the names of all nominees shall be made available to the building membership.

:           d) Voting shall take place by closed ballot supplied by the Chief Building Representative.

e) The nominee/s for building representative who receive the greatest number of votes will be declared the winner/s. The Chief Building Representative will then be elected from that group. Those Building Representatives interested in serving as the Chief Building Representative, will make their intentions known to the group.  The group will vote, by closed ballot, for the person best suited for the position.

f) Voting hours will be from one-half hour prior to the official sign in time and continue until one-half hour after the official sign-out time of the particular school.

g) The Chief Building Representative and/or his/her designee will be responsible for conducting the election and the counting of the ballots. Each nominee shall have the right to be present at the time the ballots are counted.

h) In Building Representative elections, when all nominating processes have been completed and only one candidate has been nominated, the CTA Secretary shall cast one ballot for that office. S/he will thereby certify that the officially nominated candidate has been elected to the office.

 5.12   In addition to his/her duties in the Representative Assembly, the Chief Building   Representative shall be in charge of the Building Committee. The Chief Building Representative will be the direct liaison between the staff and the Building Administrator. The Chief Building Representative shall call and hold regular monthly meetings of the building membership.

            The duties of the building committee, (including the Chief Building Representative), shall be as                   follows:

a)     To insure compliance with the Agreement on the part of the building administration and building membership;

b)     To report to the appropriate CTA Officers instances of non-compliance with the Agreement and to institute grievance proceedings in accordance with CTA procedures;

c)      To be effective liaisons and expediters between the building members and the Representative Assembly;

d)     To insure quality education in their buildings by displaying proper and effective liaison between the staff and administration and further, between the staff and the Professional Council; and

             e) To assist the CTA Treasurer in the collection of fees from all Unit Members.

 

5.13    For the benefit of members who either have no building assignment, or are under the direction       of a district-wide coordinator, and have split building assignments, the President will appoint at east one steward for each coordinator or similarly functioning supervisor in the several    disciplines or specialties to which such members are assigned.

5.14    Stewards, as such, will not be members of the Representative Assembly.

 

ARTICLE VI             REPRESENTATIVE ASSEMBLY STRUCTURE

 

6.1             The membership of the Representative Assembly will consist of the several buildings’ Chief Building Representatives and all other allotted delegates to which a building may be entitled under the ratio set forth in this Article, the elected officers of the CTA, and CTA delegates to NYSUT and AFT.

6.2             All CTA Executive Board Officers and CTA delegates to NYSUT and AFT are ex officio members of the Representative Assembly for the terms of their underlying qualifying offices.

6.3             Every building is allotted membership in the Representative Assembly at the ratio of one delegate for each twenty-five members in the building organization, or major fraction of twenty-five members, provided, however, that each building is entitled to a minimum of one representative.

6.4       The Chief Building Representative, for purposes of the building structure, shall be the           building’s sole delegate to the Representative Assembly, if it is entitled to only one. If the           building is entitled to more than one delegate, the Chief Building Representative shall be the           primary delegate.

6.5       All delegates to the Representative Assembly are to be determined in the manner prescribed         in Sections 5.7 through 5.11 of this constitution for the building organization.

6.6       For the purposes of representation in the Representative Assembly, those collectively       considered to be one building, as defined in Paragraph 5.1, would be allotted one delegate to        the Representative Assembly. The delegate shall be elected in the manner prescribed in     Article V for Chief Building Representative.

6.7       The Executive Officers of the CTA shall perform their identical functions for the Representative       Assembly.

6.8       1.  The Representative Assembly will meet ten times in each school year.

            2. Building representatives are required to attend ten R.A. meetings each year.         Representatives will be permitted to substitute two other functions for two meetings. These       functions will be approved by a majority vote of the Representative Assembly. Such alternate    activities may include, but are not limited to, phone banks, participation in the Breast Cancer Walk, attending a NYSUT rally, or walking a picket line.

3. Should a building representative be unable to fulfill the above requirements, his/her stipend will be pro-rated based on the number of events that the building representative attended in relation to the required ten activities and or meetings.

6.9       In addition, special meetings may be called and held at any time by the direction of the         President upon either his/her own initiative, or the written request to him/her of two Chief      Building Representatives; such requests shall be binding upon the President.

6.10         A quorum for a meeting shall be one-half of the total allotments in the Representative            Assembly as determined by Article 6.3 and 6.4.

6.11         The order of business shall be as follows unless suspended by a two-thirds vote of those     present:

a)     Opening remarks by the President;

b)     Executive Vice President’s report;

c)      Secretary’s reports and adoption of minutes;

d)     Treasurer’s report;

e)     Reports of standing committees;

f)        Unfinished business;

g)     New business;

h)      Adjournment

6.12         The Representative Assembly is authorized to act on behalf of the CTA between membership meetings. It shall adopt budgets, approve appointments made by the President and, except for the Negotiations and Grievance Committees, coordinate the activities of all standing and temporary committees.

 

ARTICLE VII                        OFFICERS, TERMS, NOMINATIONS AND ELECTIONS

 

7.1             There shall be the following Executive Officers:

a)     President

b)     Executive Vice President

c)      Treasurer

d)     Secretary

 

7.2             The officers’ duties shall be as follows:

a) The President shall preside at all meetings of the CTA and of the Executive Board and Representative Assembly. He/she shall issue the call for the regular and special meetings of the organization. He/she shall appoint committees not otherwise provided for, with the consent of the Representative Assembly. He/She shall be an ex-officio member of all committees. The President or his/her designee will act as Negotiations Chairman.

b) The Executive Vice President shall be responsible for such activities as assigned to him/her by the President and/or the Representative Assembly. The Executive Vice President shall assume all duties of the President during the absence of the President and shall assume the office of President in the event that the office is vacated. In the event the President’s absence exceeds fourteen days, the Executive Vice President shall be accorded all the rights and privileges of the President for the duration of the President’s absence. In the event the office of the Executive Vice President is vacated, the President may appoint, with the approval of two-thirds of the Representative Assembly, a new Executive Vice President to fill out the remaining days of the term of office.

c) The Treasurer shall be responsible for the collection of all fees. The Treasurer shall have charge of all funds of the CTA and shall disburse them as an authorized by the President or the Representative Assembly. The funds shall be deposited in one or more local banks. At each regular meeting of the Representative Assembly, he/she shall make written reports of the financial status of the CTA.

d) The Secretary shall keep a record of the proceedings at all meetings, regular and special; reproduce and distribute minutes of all meetings of all organizations of the CTA; issue notices of meetings containing the agenda of the meeting after consultation with the President; and conduct the correspondence of the CTA.

e)     The President and Treasurer shall be the only officers authorized to sign checks on behalf of the CTA, and shall be required, at the expense, however, of the CTA, to procure fidelity bonds, in a sum to be prescribed by the Representative Assembly.

f)         Officers will follow the “Bill of Rights of Members off Labor Organizations,” Fiduciary Responsibilities of Officers of Labor Organizations,” and any other applicable sections of the U.S. Landrum Griffin Act, as amended 12/7/87 and as may be amended in the future.

7.3             The officers’ terms of office shall be for two years and elections shall be held in June of odd-numbered years. A new officer’s term shall begin the day after the elections.

7.4             Vacant offices of Treasurer and Secretary shall be filled by appointment of the President and approved by a majority vote of the Representative Assembly.

7.5       A Nominating Committee, appointed by the President, shall submit to him/her one nomination for each office.  All nominees must be members in good standing. In the case of President and Executive Vice President, these two nominees may be placed as a ticket. The President shall cause the report to be published in each building at least twenty school days before the biennial election, which date he/she shall so specify in the same publication as a report.  The election date must be on a regular day of school.

7.6       Additionally, any member in good standing may be nominated for any office by a petition, signed by not less than fifteen members. The petition shall be delivered to the Nominating Committee at least ten school days before the specified election date.

7.7       At least five school days before the specified election date, the Nominating Committee shall       publish in each building a summary of all nominations for the respective offices.

 

 

 

 

7.8       Elections Procedures

a)     The elections shall use secret written ballots, and the voting shall take place in the buildings, except that, in the case of members having no or multiple building assignments, the President shall designate one or more locations to serve as buildings for voting purposes.

b)     Printed ballots shall be furnished to all members at each building. The Treasurer will provide a certified list of members to each building.

c)      Ballots shall be cast in closed ballots boxes provided by the Chief Building Representative of each building.

d)     There shall be a Ballot Counting Committee appointed by the Representative Assembly. A representative of each of the candidates shall witness the counting of ballots.

e)     At the close of the balloting period, the Chief Building Representative of each building will forward the ballots cast to the Ballot Counting Committee in a sealed envelope supplied by that committee.

f)        Ballots will be counted on the day of the election in a place designated by the Ballot Counting Committee. The Ballot Counting Committee will certify as elected to each office the candidate receiving the greatest number of votes for that office.

g)     Any ballots received by the Ballot Counting Committee in unsealed envelopes or envelopes on which the seal has been broken will be declared invalid.

h)      In the event of a tie for any office, a run-off election will be held between the candidates involved in the tie, according to the above balloting procedure.

i)        In District wide Executive Board elections, when all nominating processes have been completed and only one candidate has been nominated for a particular office, the CTA Secretary shall cast one ballot for that office. He/She will thereby certify that the officially nominated candidate has been elected to office.

 

ARTICLE VIII                       GENERAL MEMBERSHIP MEETINGS

 

8.1             The President and Vice President will have scheduled visitations with the members of each building at least twice a year. Notice of this will be sent to the Chief Building Representative in advance for posting. The Treasurer and Secretary will make efforts to join when their schedule allows.

8.2             Special membership meetings may be called by the President. In addition, the President shall call a special meeting upon written request of one-half of the quorum of the assembly.

8.3             A quorum for membership meetings shall be ten percent of the members in good standing.

8.4       Procedures for ratification of collective agreements shall be as follows:

a)     After a tentative agreement has been reached on a new contract between the CTA and the  

      school district, a special advisory committee, comprised of 7 members of the negotiations

      committee including a primary, intermediate, middle school, and high school teacher,

      a school nurse, a teaching assistant, and a non-teaching staff member

      (i.e. school counselor/psychologist/social worker) shall be selected by a vote of the

       members of the negotiations committee. All members of the negotiations committee must

      have prior notification as to when the vote will take place. The advisory committee shall

      meet with the executive negotiations team to discuss and review the tentative agreement.

b)     Prior to contract ratification, at a special meeting convened for elected building  representatives (Representative Assembly), the Union President, Union Executive Board and the “CTA Negotiator” representing the Union, will provide the R.A. with written copies of the Memorandum of Agreement in its entirety and in language as it will appear in the final contract. As such, the Memorandum of Agreement will contain all amendments, deletions and additions to the expiring agreement. At that time, the Union President, et.al. will by way of discussion inform the R.A. of the intent of the Memorandum of Agreement.

c)      An abstract of the tentative agreement, detailing all amendments, deletions and additions to the expiring agreement, will be prepared by the CTA Executive Negotiations Committee and distributed to members. The abstract will also contain the notice for the special ratification meeting. The chief building representative will hold an informational meeting on the next school day to discuss and clarify the abstract.

d)     Between twenty-four and forty-eight hours after the distribution of the abstract with meeting notice, the special ratification meeting will take place for the purpose of discussion and debate as to the tentative agreement, and voting will be by closed ballot. On the day before or of the ratification vote, absentee ballots will be available only from the CTA Secretary. The ballots are for those Unit Members who have prior established district obligations and must be returned immediately to the CTA Secretary.

 

ARTICLE IX                         DELEGATES TO AFFILIATE ORGANIZATIONS

 

9.1       The total allocation of delegates and alternates to the assemblies or conventions of the organizations with which CTA is affiliated shall be the total delegate entitlement as certified by the respective organizations in accordance with their respective constitutions, by-laws, and rules.

9.2       The delegates and alternates to the respective assemblies or conventions described in Article 9.1 shall be elected by the membership in accordance with the Rules and Regulations promulgated by the U.S. Department of Labor pursuant to the Landrum-Griffin Act and in force at the time of nomination. The President shall be chief delegate. The Executive Vice President shall be the number two delegates.

9.3      The delegates or alternates to the assemblies or conventions described in Article 9.1 shall, at the discretion of the Executive Board, receive reimbursement for necessary expenses.

9.4      The delegates or alternates shall attend the assemblies to which they have been designated by election, and shall report to the Executive Board and Representative Assembly the proceedings of those assemblies or conventions.

 

ARTICLE X                          STANDING RULES

 

10.1   The following Standing Committees are appointed by the President upon the approval vote of          the Representative Assembly pursuant to Article 6.12:

 

Executive Negotiations Committee*           Health/Insurance Coordinator

Grievance Committee                                  Publicity Committee

Welfare and Social Coordinator                  Constitutional Revision Committee

Scholarship Fund Committee                      Professional Council Delegation

Health and Safety Coordinator                    Parliamentarian

 

* The Executive Negotiations Committee shall be represented by elementary and secondary Unit members exclusive of the CTA President and Chairperson of the Negotiations Team.

 

10.2Temporary Committees created at membership or Representative Assembly meetings will be     organized as follows: The mover of such a Temporary Committee shall be temporary     chairperson of that committee. Members for the committee should be provided by each       building organization, by appointment or election, as the membership of that building      organization shall stipulate. The committee shall elect its chairperson and secretary, who shall       provide written reports to the Representative Assembly.

10.3Robert’s Rules of Order, Revised shall be the authority on all questions of procedure    specifically stated in this constitution. The President will appoint a Parliamentarian at the     September Representative Assembly meeting to make such rulings as may be necessary.

 

 

ARTICLE XI                         AMENDMENTS

 

11.1        An amendment to this constitution may be introduced in written format to the Executive Board at any time. The secretary would then add this item to the agenda for the next scheduled Representative Assembly meeting in order for the mover(s) to present their proposal.

11.2        When an amendment is introduced, the mover will state the purpose of the amendment and questions may be raised in order for the Representative Assembly to fully understand the proposal.

a) Copies of the proposed amendments shall be furnished to the representatives of the building organizations, who shall then disseminate them immediately to their respective members. These copies must be furnished to the members, at least two weeks prior to the membership meetings, who shall act on the proposed amendments. A two-thirds majority of those voting is required to adopt amendments. Voting will be by closed ballot.

 

 

 

AMENDMENT DATES:   January 12, 1977

                                            February 27, 1985

                                           June 14, 1989

                                           March 20, 2001

                                          May 13, 2002

                                          May 30, 2003

                                         January 19, 2005

                                         June 13, 2006

                                         December, 2009