NEW YORK NURSE: July/August 2009
The NYSNA board of directors has approved the following proposed bylaw amendments for presentation to the 2009 Voting Body.
If additional bylaws are submitted after this issue of New York Nurse goes to print and “at least thirty days before the date of the annual membership meeting” – as required by current NYSNA Bylaws Article XXI – they will be mailed to all members within thirty days of the business meeting. Adopted bylaws go into effect immediately; if the proposed amendment to Article XXI is adopted, it will go into effect for any bylaw amendments being noticed and considered in 2010.
Proposed amendments to Article XVIII and Article XXI were included in the Committee on Bylaws printed report to the 2008 NYSNA Voting Body and were noticed in the July-August 2008 issue of New York Nurse. They were not considered in 2008 because of the lack of a quorum at the 2008 Annual Meeting. They are being presented to the 2009 Voting Body as originally noticed in 2008.
SECTION 1. DEFINITION
The Congress of Bargaining Unit Leaders (The Congress) is an organizational unit comprised of at least one representative and not more than two representatives from each of the association’s local bargaining units. Each local bargaining unit has one vote in the Congress. The Congress is the broadest democratic unit representing the collective bargaining interests of the association members within the Economic and General Welfare Program.
SECTION 2. PURPOSES
The purposes of the Congress of Bargaining Unit Leaders are to:
SECTION 3. ACCOUNTABILITY
The Congress of Bargaining Unit Leaders shall operate under its own rules which shall be in conformity with the bylaws and policies of the association.
Renumber all subsequent articles accordingly.
Rationale: This amendment formalizes and gives permanence within the association’s bylaws to the Congress of Bargaining Unit Leaders.
Amend Article XVIII – Organizational Membership in American Nurses Association by striking Section 3 c) and the proviso.
The language to be deleted is as follows:
c) No delegate shall serve more than four consecutive terms nor a total of more than eight consecutive years.
Proviso: This limit on eligibility to serve as a delegate shall commence with the election of delegates in 2001; delegates may be elected to serve four consecutive terms from that point forward irrespective of previous tenure as delegates.
Rationale: NYSNA has experienced increasing difficulty in recent years in seating a full delegation because of multiple demands on members’ schedules. The delegate allotment for the 2010-2011 biennium has increased from 86 to 139 delegates. Only 109 candidates are running for delegate in the 2009 election for the 2010-2011 biennium. Approximately two-thirds of the current delegation (2008-2009) is made up of members who were not in the group elected in 2001 when term limits commenced, thereby satisfying the intent of term limits by providing a diverse delegation. The effectiveness of term limits for an elected group as large as the NYSNA delegation is questionable given the amount of turn-over cited above. The restriction limits choice on the part of voters and prospective candidates, and potentially deprives the delegation of valuable experience. Term limits were instituted based on the level of participation required by an annual House of Delegates; beginning in 2006 delegates have the opportunity to participate in only one house in the course of their two-year term.
Amend Article XXI Amendments, Section 1, second paragraph, by striking out “thirty” and inserting “seventy-five” so that the sentence would read: “All proposed amendments shall be in the possession of the secretary of this association at least seventy-five days before the date of the annual membership meeting or special meeting, as the case may be, and shall be appended to the call for such meeting.”
Rationale: This amendment would enable the association to continue the current practice of publishing bylaws proposals with the call to meeting in New York Nurse.
At its June 24 meeting, the NYSNA Board of Directors approved bringing forward a motion for consideration by the 2009 Voting Body to establish a dues amount of $100 for retired members.