THE CONVENTION ELECTIONS
The highlight of a convention of any democratically-structured organization is the election of officers. It is important to elect dedicated and competent officers to conduct the business of our union between conventions.
The fourth issue of this series, "The Convention Delegate", dealt with the qualities and abilities to be sought after when electing a delegate. Much of what was contained in that issue applies equally to the election of Component Officers.
There actually will be a number of elections taking place at convention. These include ten (10) Regional Vice-Presidents in each region and the three (3) national officers. Delegates to the Triennial Convention of the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) are also elected at the UTE Convention. A Nominations Committee will be appointed by the Executive Council, subject to the ratification of the Convention.
As our By-Laws presently exist, our Executive Council consists of the following: a President, First and Second Vice-Presidents and ten Regional Vice-Presidents.
Elections for the offices of President, First and Second Vice-Presidents are conducted during a plenary session. Elections for Regional Vice-Presidents are conducted in regional caucuses, which are held sometime during the convention period.
The election of delegates to the Public Service Alliance of Canada Convention will be held sometime during our Convention. Usually the delegates adopt a resolution to provide for elections on a regional basis which are conducted by each caucus. All elections will be by secret ballot and decided by a majority of the votes cast. Each region adopts its own election procedure in voting for delegates to the PSAC Convention, must be compliant with UTE By-Laws and Regulations and PSAC Constitution.
Under the PSAC Constitution, our union President becomes a sitting member of the PSAC National Board of Directors, immediately on election, and by reason of this office is automatically granted delegate status to the PSAC Convention.
Nomination forms will be made available electronically at commencement of Convention and may be filed electronically with the Nominations Committee at the following email address: nominations2021@ute-sei.org prior to the actual elections of the National Officers. In addition, nominations will be accepted "from the floor" at the appropriate time. The nominee, nominator or the seconder of a nominee will be permitted to speak on his/her behalf for whatever time the Convention allocates for that purpose.