Current Board Practice

The Union’s budget is one of the most important decisions made each year because it determines how millions of dollars in member dues are allocated. Decisions about staffing, organizing, representation, legal support, training, communications, travel, and other priorities are all reflected in the budget.

The Board of Directors reviews the proposed budget and can amend individual line items before final approval. This allows elected representatives from across the Union to ask questions, shift priorities, reduce spending in one area, increase funding in another, and ensure that the budget reflects the needs and concerns of the members they represent.

The proposed bylaws state:

“The Board shall approve or reject the budget as a whole and shall not amend individual line items.”

Why this is controversial

Under the proposed bylaws, Board members would lose the ability to make changes to specific spending decisions. Instead of debating and adjusting individual items, they would be forced to vote either yes or no on the entire budget.

This significantly limits the ability of elected representatives to exercise oversight over how dues money is spent. Even if Board members identify concerns with a particular expenditure, they would no longer have the authority to modify it without rejecting the entire budget.

The realistic effect is that more power shifts to the individuals who draft the budget and less power remains with the elected representatives who are supposed to review it on behalf of the membership.

This raises a fundamental question: Should elected representatives have the authority to shape how dues money is spent, or should they be limited to accepting or rejecting a budget that has already been written by others?