The Referendum Has Passed
On February 13, 2023, the referendum ballots were removed from the post office and transported to the AFT-Oregon office. The ballots were then counted in the presence of four observers, and the referendum has passed by a vote of 578 to 61.
This means that all future AFT-Oregon conventions will be hybrid events, so that local delegates and alternates can attend either in-person or remotely. Interested members will be able to watch the convention online.
Referendum Overview
On October 28, 2022, six AFT-Oregon locals submitted a referendum to amend the AFT-Oregon constitution. This webpage has an overview of the proposed amendments, the question to be voted on by our members, and the referendum process.
The specific changes to the constitution are detailed in the Proposed Constitutional Amendment. The reasons behind the proposed changes are explained in the cover letter written by the six locals.
The referendum process is described in Article XI of our constitution. For your convenience, the pertinent sections are in this Article XI Summary.
The question to be voted upon by our members is:
Shall the AFT-Oregon constitution be amended to require all conventions to be hybrid events with remote attendance and participation options for 1) delegates to fully participate, and 2) general members to observe?
Per Section 5, November 9, 2022 began “a period of six weeks during which the proponents and opponents shall be given the opportunity to debate the issue through the regular channels of AFT-Oregon.”
To participate in this debate, there was a Zoom meeting for members on Saturday, December 3 from 10 am to 1 pm. Members could also send an email to President Jaime Rodriguez at jaimer@aft-oregon.org and the comments would be compiled on our website, but no comments were submitted.
This period of debate ended on December 21, 2022. The following day, the president sent "...to the individual members of all locals in good standing ballots upon which the members shall cast their votes.”
Due to the holidays, our union printer was able to print and mail the ballots on January 11, 2023.
Section 7 states, “The closing date of the referendum shall be thirty (30) days from the date the ballots are mailed from the state office.” Therefore, ballots must be returned by February 10, 2023.
Section 10 states, “The president shall notify the locals of the results of the referendum as soon as possible, but no later than two weeks following receipt of the count. The president shall also publish the results in the official publication of AFT-Oregon.” Therefore, the results will be announced no later than February 24, 2023.