DISCIPLINARY POWERS and PROCEDURES in UNION CONSTITUTIONS Bulletin No. 1350 UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF LABOR W. Willard Wirtz, Secretary BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS Ewan Clague, Commissioner Digitized for FRASER http://fraser.stlouisfed.org/ Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis DISCIPLINARY POWERS and PROCEDURES in UNION CONSTITUTIONS Bulletin No. 1350 May 1963 UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF LABOR W. Willard Wirtz, Secretary BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS Ewan Clague, Commissioner For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C. 20402 - Price $1.25 Digitized for FRASER http://fraser.stlouisfed.org/ Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Digitized for FRASER http://fraser.stlouisfed.org/ Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Preface This study of union disciplinary powers and procedures is the third in a series of bulletins analyzing union government and administration. Earlier studies dealt with constitutional provisions governing the election and tenure of union officers (BLS Bulletin 1239, 1958) and trusteeship arrangements (BLS Bulletin 1263, 1959). The present study reflects current interest in the extensive provisions regulating disciplinary actions which are embodied in the Labor- Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959. Federal legislation dealing with union behavior creates new needs for comprehensive studies to provide background information for (1) administration, enforcement, and evaluation of the act, (2) review by unions of their procedures, and (3) public understanding. The study is concerned with the formal rules of discipline in the con­ stitutions of national and international unions in the United States. Within the framework of union constitutional law, it is comprehensive both in terms of the number of unions covered and in the scope of the disciplinary process studied. The study attempts to describe the whole— hence, the frequentuse of statistics— and to illustrate the specific by the ample use of excerpts from identified constitutions. The extent to which actual practice represents a modification or departure from the written clause, or operates in the absence of a specific clause, was not investigated; this limitation is brought to the reader's attention at appropriate places in this report. The Bureau of Labor Statistics initiated this study shortly after the LMRDA was enacted, at the request of, and with financial assistance from, the Bureau of Labor-Management Reports, which administers those provisions of the act for which the U. S. Department of Labor has responsibility. Although the study relates basically to union disciplinary rules existing at the time the act was put into effect, the final chapter describes changes in this area subsequently introduced into union constitutions. These changes presumably were designed to conform to the act's requirements as interpreted by the unions. The Bureau of Labor Statistics, which takes responsibility for the contents of this bulletin, is grateful for the assistance and cooperation tendered by the Bureau of Labor- Management Reports. This bulletin was prepared in the Bureau's Division of Industrial and Labor Relations by Harry P. Cohany, Leon E. Lunden, and David A. Swankin, under the general direction of Joseph W. Bloch. m Digitized for FRASER http://fraser.stlouisfed.org/ Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Digitized for FRASER http://fraser.stlouisfed.org/ Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Contents Page Chapter I. Introduction -------------------------------------- 1 Scope and method ________________________________________________________________________ 2 Sum m ary of fin din gs---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4 Chapter II. Summary discipline of members and local union officers ---------------------- 9 Discipline for nonpayment of financial obligations ------------------------------------------------- 10 Summary discipline for offenses other than nonpayment of financial obligations ---- 15 Appeals from sum m ary action ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 22 Chapter III. Grounds for discipline requiring trial of local union officers and m em bers --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 25 General grounds _________________________________________________________________________ 26 Grounds in local as against international trials ----------------------------------------------------- 34 Chapter IV. Trial powers and procedures at the local union level _____________________ 36 Prevalence of provisions ________________________________________________________________ 36 P erson s subject to trial --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 38 Invoking trial m achinery -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 39 Composition of the trial agency -------------------------------------------------------- 48 Scope and penalties ______________________________________________________________________ 55 Chapter V. Trial procedures of local union officers and members at the international union level ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 65 Prevalence of provisions _____________________________________________________________ 65 P erson s subject to trial _________________________________________________________________ 66 Extent of international jurisdiction _____________________________________________________ 67 Compositions and powers of trial authority ----------------------------------------------------------- 78 Chapter VI. Rights of the accused and related matters -------------------------------------------- 85 Status of the accused ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 85 D ue-process safeguards --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 91 Notice safeguards ________________________________________________________________________ 102 Appeal provisions ________________________________________________________________________ 106 Tim e lim its --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 117 Chapter VII. Discipline of internationalofficers --------------------------------------------------------- 128 Sum m ary discipline of international officers --------------------------------------------------------- 129 Impeachment of international officers ------------------------------------------------------------------- 132 D ue-process provisions --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 140 Recall of international officers _________________________________________________________ 146 D isciplinary powers available to the AFL-C IO ------------------------------------------------------- 152 Chapter VIII. Influence of the labor-management reporting and disclosure act on discipline provisions of union constitutions---------------------------------- 154 Applicable provisions of the l a w _________________________________________________________ 155 Amendments to union constitutions ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 156 Illustrative constitutions --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 162 T a b le s: Chapter I. 1-1. Constitutions of national and international unions studied by union size and affiliation, early 1961 ------------------------------------------------------------ 1-2. Procedures for disciplining members, local officers, and international officers, national and international union constitutions, early 1961 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Digitized for FRASER http://fraser.stlouisfed.org/ Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Contents— Continued Page T ables---Continued Chapter II. II-1. Summary discipline for nonpayment of financial obligations and for other reasons, national and international union constitutions, early 1961_______ 9 II-Z. Summary discipline for reasons other than the nonpayment of financial obligations, by persons affected and affiliation, national and international union constitutions, early 1961 ------------------------------------------ 10 II-3. Summary discipline for reasons other than the nonpayment of financial obligations, by persons affected and level initiating disciplinary action, national and international union constitutions, early 1961 ----------------------- 11 II-4. Discipline for nonpayment of dues, national and international union constitutions, early 1961 --------------------------------------------------------------------- 1Z II-5. Discipline for nonpayment of fines, national and international union constitutions, early 1961 ____________________________________________________ 1Z II-6. Discipline for nonpayment of assessments, national and international union constitutions, early 1961 13 II-7. Selected grounds for summary discipline by level, persons affected, and penalties, national and international union constitutions, early 1961 _____ 17 II-8. Specified provisions for appealing summary actions, national and international union constitutions, early 1961 ------------------------------------------ Z3 Chapter III. Ill- 1. Provisions referring to grounds for disciplining members and local officers at local or international