February 6, 2015: Teamster members will vote for International Union officers in 2016. But the election process starts now.
Find out the election timeline and how TDU helps Teamster members organize to win.
Election Rules and the Election Supervisor Early 2015
The International Union election is run by an independent Election Officer under fair rules— a big difference from local union elections.
The Election Supervisor is Richard Mark, who served as Election Supervisor in 2006 and 2011. He will be hiring staff and issuing the Election Rules by May 2015.
TDU will educate members about their election rights—from campaigning to petitioning to running for delegate to voting.
TDU will organize workshops and trainings so members have the tools they need to be effective campaigners. And our legal team will be there to help with election protests and back members’ rights to vote and campaign for change.
Petition Drive to Accredit Candidates June 2015-August 2015
The first big test of the campaign is the Accreditation Petition Drive. To be officially accredited, the slate of candidates for International Union office needs to collect at least 50,000 petition signatures from Teamsters across North America—with proportional numbers needed in various regions.
Accredited candidates get the right to publish campaign ads in the Teamster magazine and they get a copy of the entire Teamster membership list so they can reach out directly to members.
The candidates can’t collect these signatures on their own: it’s too big a job. TDU’s network of rank-and-file volunteers will collect signatures from coast to coast. You can be a part of it.
TDU will be backing a broad coalition of candidates who have the platform, the experience and the guts needed to lead.
Getting Candidates on the Ballot January-June 2016
Candidates, even accredited candidates, don’t have an automatic spot on the ballot.
To get on the ballot, candidates must be nominated at the Teamster Convention in June 2016 by at least five percent of the convention delegate in each region.
That means we need to elect hundreds of convention delegates who will nominate coalition candidates.
Convention delegate elections will be held in all local unions—with most elections being held between January and April 2016. These elections are overseen by the Election Supervisor.
In the last election, many local unions whose members voted against Hoffa in the election were represented at the convention by officers who nominated Hoffa and Hall and tried to keep all opposition candidates off the ballot. We can’t let that happen again.
TDU will organize workshops and trainings for Teamsters who are interested in fielding a slate for convention delegate. We’ll explain the rules and how to organize a winning campaign.
Running for convention delegate is much easier than running for local union office. You’re serving a five-day term, not a three-year term. And it’s much easier to win. Reform slates win about half the time they run in convention delegate races.
Campaigning and Voting
Being fed up with Hoffa and Hall won’t get them out of office. Teamsters who want change will need to build grassroots campaign committees and get the word out to Teamster members to vote for change.
Ballots will be mailed to all Teamster members in October 2016 and they will be counted in November.
It will take about 200,000 votes to win the International Union election. That’s an achievable goal but only if we’re organized.
Team up for Change with TDU
Do you want to vote out Hoffa and Hall and elect International Union leaders who will fight for the members? Then team up with Teamsters for a Democratic Union.
TDU will be backing a coalition of Teamster candidates in the 2016 election. We need you to be part of our national network of Teamster members who will be campaigning for change.
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