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From the May-June 2009 issue of Union Democracy Review #179
"Continuous standing" = farce in TWU local
election
The farce being enacted in Transport Workers Local 100 is called an election of officers. That's the big union of NYC subway and bus workers. For one thing, votes are cast in June and then go into deep freeze to be counted in December. Members have been disqualified because the union claims they violate a rule which requires that candidates remain in continuous good standing for at least one year before the voting. Note that tricky "continuous" which means that you may have been a good active member for 10 years, but if you were reportedly even one day late just once in the months before the election you are out of it. Note, too, our word "reportedly" because it is the union administration that controls the books and decides what the official records show. According to The Chief, eight candidates are appealing their disqualification.
The continuous good standing rule is popular in unions, especially where incumbents are delighted to use foxy methods to trip up aspiring rivals. In TWU Local 100, these days, it is especially devious because the local lost the checkoff of dues after its recent strike and the members and the records have been in a state of confusion. About half the members are still in bad standing. Take two recent cases:
Christine Williams, a candidate on the opposition Take Back Our Union slate, was disqualified under the "continuous" rule. She could prove that she had paid a whole year in advance and so was reinstated. Tom McNally, another TBOU opposition candidate, was not so lucky. He found himself in a farce within a farce. At first he was disqualified. Then he was reinstated after he produced dated checks to show he had always paid on time. But not so fast. On second thought, the local election committee reversed the reversal and concluded that he was disqualified after all.
The election committee attorney, Arthur Schwartz, told The Chief that many members thought they were in good standing but actually had paid several days late. "People got knocked off, " he said, "The rule is the rule." Quite true. And the farce is the farce.
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