Staff hold an important position in a rank-and-file union; they are by no means simply “hired guns.” Staff not only build the union through new organization, but also provide the critical link between the national and regional officers and rank-and-file members. They represent the national officers and help carry out the national union’s policies.
A member-run union employs staff to assist members in carrying out their plans. The staff serve as organizers and teachers. They play an important role in the union, but they are not a substitute for elected leadership, or for members doing the work of running their own locals. In teaching and assisting members to run their own local, staff (however well intentioned) must not step in and run it for them. Staff should offer their advice on grievances, contracts and other struggles, but the final decision must rest with the proper rank-and-file body. Staff must also take care not to do work that members should be doing — they are not secretaries.
In UE, staff do not set union policy. UE takes pride in the fact that only a limited number of staff are invited to attend the union’s convention. Those who are invited are there to work and assist the officers, not to influence elected rank-and-file delegates.
UE staff are members of the union and pay dues to a local union of their choice. They have rights as a member of their local, including the right to run for regional and national office, but must take care not to use their role as staff to try to influence the union’s democratic functioning. UE ensures membership control by spelling out the relationship between the union’s officers, members and staff in the union’s constitution.
UE National Constitution Article 25, UE Rank & File Principles
Rank and file control is established in each organizational unit in the UE structure by the membership and leadership of that unit – locals, regions, and national.
The local membership and leadership run the local union.
The regional membership run the region through their elected regional delegates, regional executive board and regional officers.
The national membership through their elected convention delegates, general executive board and national officers run the national union.
This democratic structure is welded into a strong national union by the fact that, while practicing autonomy, all bodies of the union are united by the union’s national constitution, and the policies and program adopted by rank-and-file delegates to the national convention. It has always been UE policy that each level in the structure operate without interference by others. It has also been policy that each level accepts and respects the role of the others — local, region and national.
It is the duty of elected officers at all levels to ensure that all bodies operate according to UE policy, programs and constitutions.
The UE staff, except as they are dues-paying members of a local union and exercise the rights of all other members of the local, are not a part of the rank and file structure of UE. Proper staff conduct reinforces rank and file unionism and makes staff a vital part of UE democracy.
The UE staff is employed by the membership through the national officers and general executive board and implements the leadership’s decisions to build the union membership, to assist the locals and regions in solving their problems, and to effectuate UE programs and policies. Staff members have no right to interfere with UE rank-and-file control, including election processes, at any level of the union. To deviate from this policy would lead to a staff-controlled union.