Shown on this page are the current pending Amendments for the ILEU Constitution and By-Laws. These motions shall be debated and voted upon at the April Membership Meeting which will be on Monday April 17th, 2023 on Zoom. The proposals are shown with the original language included with proposed additions in bold and proposed removals as strikethroughs.
Proposed Constitution Amendments
1.) Change All instances of “ExxonMobil Research and Engineering Company” to “ExxonMobil Technology and Engineering Company”
Specifically change Article II to read: “Every employee of ExxonMobil Research and Engineering Company ExxonMobil Technology and Engineering Company or its successor company, not employed as a Confidential, Professional, Executive, Managerial, or Supervisory employee as defined in the National Labor Relations Act, shall be eligible for membership of this Union.”
And Change Article VI Section 1 to read: “The Executive Board shall consist of the Officers, Delegates, and Stewards of this Union from ExxonMobil Research and Engineering Company ExxonMobil Technology and Engineering Company together with any others deemed necessary by the Executive Board.”
2.) Change Article VI Section 5 to read: “The Executive Board shall hire a Certified Public Accounting Firm to annually audit the books of the Treasurer as required by law, said audit to be in April. The Auditing Firm will audit and approve all claims against the Union. The Auditing Firm will report its findings The findings and report of the Auditing Firm shall be presented, in writing, at the next Regular Membership Meeting after it is issued. The Executive Board will provide the bonding of the Treasurer in an amount equal to no less than 40% of the Union’s current cash and investment asset value when the policy is purchased.“
3.) Change Article VI Section 4 to read: “The Executive Board shall, in May of each election year, designate voting divisions. Each voting division shall be entitled to representation on the basis of one or more Shop Stewards. Delegates may be selected by and represent more than one voting division.”
4.) Add Article I Section 2 which shall read: “The Union Shall maintain a physical address as required due to its incorporated status in the state of NJ. Decisions about leasing or property ownership shall be made by the Executive Board.”
5.) Change Article XIII Section 2 to read: “Such election will be conducted by a mail ballot and shall be held during the period commencing 8:00 a.m. the day following the nominations for office at the Regular Membership meeting in October of each election year. It will continue until the second Friday in November (or next business day if the post office is closed due to Veterans Day) of each election year.”
Change Article XIII Section 6 to read: “The Election Board shall rent a post office box of suitable size and shall ask the Postmaster to retain the keys of such box and deliver them only to the Election Board at 9:00 a.m. on the second Friday in November (or next business day if the post office is closed due to Veterans Day) of each election year. Upon delivery of the key, the Election Board shall open the post office box and remove all of the returned ballots contained therein. Ballots received by the Post Office after this time shall not be counted by the Election Board, but shall be destroyed unopened at once.
Change Article XIII Section 8 to read: “The instruction sheet to be included with each ballot mailed out shall read as follows: “INSTRUCTIONS” “This is your ballot for the election of Officers to the designated officers in the Independent Laboratory Employees’ Union. Mark an “X” or check mark in the square box to the left of the name of the candidate for the office for which you wish to vote. Vote only for one candidate for each office unless otherwise indicated. If you wish to write in a candidate who does not appear on the ballot, write the candidate’s name in the blank space provided for that purpose, and then place an “X” or check mark in the box to the left of the name you have written in. When you have completed your voting, fold the ballot, place it in the self-addressed envelope provided, and mail as soon as possible. Ballots received after 9:00 a.m. on the second Friday in November (or next business day if the post office is closed due to Veterans Day) will not be counted.” Any ballot envelope received with the registration number on the envelope rubbed out, cut out, or in any way illegible to the Election Committee shall be destroyed unopened. “
Change Article XIII Section 9 Subheading 5 to read: “All ballots or parts thereof shall be invalid where more than one candidate for the same office shall have been voted for, where the marking shall be upon the line distinguishing one candidate from another, where a line shall have been drawn through the name of a candidate, where write-in votes are obviously facetious in nature, where a write-in candidate shall be ineligible for the office and where the ballot shall have been received after 9:00 a.m. on the second Friday in November (or next business day if the post office is closed due to Veterans Day) of each election year.”
6.) Change Article VIII Section 1 to read: “The President shall appoint the Chairs of the following five standing committees of the Union: Benefits, Membership, and Organizing; Equal Employment Opportunity; Resolutions; Safety; and Welfare. Other Members of these Standing Committees may be appointed by the chair of the committee. The Executive Board may remove any member of a Standing Committee at its discretion. If such a removal occurs, that individual cannot serve on any committee for one (1) year from the date of their removal by the board.”
Change Article VIII Section 2 to read: “Special Committees, except as otherwise provided, shall be created by the Executive Board, and their Chairs appointed by the President. Other Members of a Special Committee may be appointed by the Chair of the committee. The Executive Board may remove any member of a Special Committee at its discretion. If such a removal occurs, that individual cannot serve on any committee for one (1) year from the date of their removal by the board.”
7.) Change Article IX Section 1 to read: “The Constitution may be changed or amended at any time through the following procedure: A proposal shall be submitted in writing to the Resolutions Committee. The Committee will then advise the submitter of conflicts with other provisions of the Constitution or Law within thirty (30) days. The submitter will have fifteen (15) days to respond with any amendments, to withdraw the proposal entirely, or to proceed as written. If the submitter wishes to proceed, amended or not, the proposal will then be presented at the next Regular Membership Meeting along with the Resolution Committee’s recommendation for adoption. The proposed change will then be posted on the Union Bulletin Boards and/or Web Page for at least ten (10) days prior to the succeeding Regular Membership Meeting where the change must be passed by a 2/3rds majority vote from the members present.Amendments may be made to this Constitution once yearly in April provided that such amendments are reported by the Resolutions Committee at the Regular Membership meeting in February, and are passed at the following meeting in April by two-thirds of the members present, or if a quorum is not present at the April meeting, the next succeeding meeting at which a quorum is present. Such amendments as may be proposed must be presented to the Chairperson of the Resolutions Committee by January 2nd of each year. Notice of proposed changes in the Constitution must be posted on the Union Bulletin Boards and/or Web Page at least ten days prior to the Regular Membership meeting at which changes would be brought to vote.”
8.) Change Article V Section 7 to read: “It shall be the duty of the President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer, Delegates and Stewards to attend all Executive Board meetings, and membership meetings, and all assigned Training sessions. It is the further responsibility of the President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer and Delegates to attend all meetings of the Bargaining Committee. Required training sessions may be assigned by the Executive Board but shall not be more numerous than one session per calendar month. Absences from any of these meetings or trainings shall be excused by a notification in writing prior to the start of a meeting. The Executive Board shall approve absences as excused based on reasonableness of the excuse but shall generally approve all absences due to sickness within immediate family, vacation, death within immediate or extended family, and scheduled work. Up to 5 excused absences may be approved in each calendar year. Up to 2 unexcused absences may occur in each year of Election Term (as defined in Article IV, Section 3). For each absence beyond the excused or unexcused limit, a Union official shall forfeit 25% of their yearly stipend. If a Union Official has 4 absences above these limits (and thus forfeited their entire stipend), an official reprimand shall be issued by the Executive Board. Any further absences shall trigger a malfeasance hearing as described in Article VII. Any excused absence due to scheduled work shall not count towards the excused absence limit and shall not result in a stipend penalty or reprimand if that limit has already been reached.Loss of time from work for such attendance will be reimbursed by the Union. For each meeting missed, whether Membership or Executive Board, without acceptable excuse, the Union official will forfeit one-tenth of his or her stipend for that year. No Officer, Delegate, or Steward will suffer any loss due to sickness, vacation, death in the family or Union business.”
9.) Change Article XIII Section 1 to read: “In September of each election year, the Secretary or his/her designee shall post on the Union Bulletin Board and/or Web Page the Union offices to be filled in the next succeeding election, together with the terms of such offices. Nominations for office in this Union shall be made from the floor at the Regular Membership meeting in October of each election year. All nominees for any of the elected Union Positions shall have been employed by the Company for two years or more prior to nomination and must have been Union Members in good standing for at least the preceding 12 months. Each nominee must also have attended at least two Union Meetings in the 24 months immediately preceding their nomination Nominees for the Office of the President and Vice President must also have attended at least four Union Meetings in the two years immediately preceding their nomination. Officer positions shall have been employed by the Company and a Union Member in good standing for at least 2 consecutive years prior to the nomination. All nominees for Delegate positions shall have been employed by the Company and a Union Member in good standing for at least 1 full year prior to the nomination. All nominees for Shop Steward positions shall be a member in good standing at the date of nomination. All nominees for Delegate and Shop Steward positions must work within at least one of the voting divisions they will represent. Appointees for these positions made by the Executive Board in the event of a vacancy may be from other voting divisions. Nominees for the Office of the President and Vice President must also have attended at least four Union Meetings in the two years immediately preceding their nomination. A nominee may not run for more than one office. Following the nominations to such offices at the Regular Membership meeting in October, the names of the nominees shall be posted on the Bulletin Boards and/or Web Page. Any appointee to any Union Leadership position must be a member in good standing in the Union.”
10.) Change Article XIII Section 3 to read: “In the month of October August of each election year, the President shall appoint from the members nominated by the Executive Board, an Election Board of three members, no two of which shall be from the same voting division within the same Company. The members of the Election Board shall receive pay for time lost from work for such duties, but the total of such time shall not exceed twenty hours for each member. Officers, Delegates, members running for office, or Chairpersons of any standing committees, will not serve on the Election Board.”
11.) Add Article V Section 10 which shall read: “Whenever a Union Official’s term ends or when they resign, all Union owned equipment, documents, and digital files shall be turned in to the then current President or Secretary prior to distribution of a final stipend. For any equipment lost or damaged, the cost to replace (in kind) or repair this equipment shall be deducted out of the Official’s final stipend.”
12.) Change Article VIII Section 3 (a) to read: “The Union ExxonMobil Bargaining Committee shall consist of the President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer, Delegates, and any others selected by the Executive Board deemed necessary by the Committees. If negotiations do not result in ratification of a contract prior to the expiry of the previous contract and any agreed upon renewals, the Treasurer and Delegates will cease to attend bargaining so that the worksite is covered for day-to-day issues. Exceptions to this rule shall be decided by the Executive Board. Prior to bargaining with ExxonMobil, The Bargaining Committee shall appoint from within, a Chairperson for the duration of bargaining. That Committee may, by majority vote of those deemed eligible in Article V Section 8, enter into a joint agreement with the responsible representatives of Management with respect to a working Agreement on all matters of collective bargaining and mutual interest. Minor changes to the agreement, such as Side Letters of Agreement, Non Precedent Setting Agreements, and other small changes may be ratified by the majority of the Executive Board. All other matters, such as contract renewals and other major amendments between the Union and Management must be ratified by a majority of the members present at a Regular or Special meeting called for such purposes before any such Agreement can be signed by the Union representatives.”
13.) Change Article XII to read: “At Regular and Special Meetings, the members present shall constitute a quorum
Section 1: At Regular and Special Membership Meetings, 20% of the current Union membership or 20 people, whichever is lower, shall constitute a quorum.
Section 2: At Executive Board Meetings, 50% of the current Executive Board shall constitute a quorum.
Section 3: At Committee meetings, 50% of the current Committee members, including the chair, shall constitute a quorum.”
Proposed By-Law Amendments
1.) Change By-Law 1B to state: “A contribution of $3 per member per year from the dues received shall be made to a welfare fund for the purpose of helping a Union Member in the case of extreme hardship. This contribution shall be transferred into the Welfare fund in January of each calendar year. A maximum of $500.00 may be dispersed from this fund to any member within a two-year window. The Welfare Committee shall vote to approve disbursements from this fund for extreme hardship. A welfare fund of $0.25 cents per month per member from the regular dues was established for the purpose of helping a Union Member in the case of extreme hardship. A maximum of $2000.00 dollars will be allotted for this fund. The reason for, and the amount of any award(s) from this fund shall be determined by a majority vote of the welfare committee.“
2.) Change the first paragraph of By-Law 2 to state “Members leaving the employ of the Company for any reason, or members going on military leave may, upon request, receive from the Treasurer a withdrawal card and upon returning to active employment within the Company, again become qualified members upon resuming payment of dues. Any member who is more than ninety days delinquent in the payment of dues shall be suspended by the Executive Board. Reinstatement must be ratified by the Executive Board. Any suspended member or member that had previously resigned their membership will have reinstatement to membership status contingent upon a reinstatement fee equal one (1) month of dues as if they were currently a member. This fee shall be paid by check made out to “Independent Laboratory Employees’ Union Inc.” or by an alternate payment type approved by the Treasurer.”
3.) Change By-Law 3 to state “In the event of a vacancy of any elected administrative office, except that of the President, the Executive Board will select an individual to fill such vacancy until the next succeeding election the Secretary or another official directed by the President, shall send written notice to the membership calling for nominations to the vacant position. All nominations must be sent in writing and copied to the nominee so that they may accept or decline. All nominees must meet the election eligibility requirements at the time of appointment. At the next Executive Board meeting that is at least 14 days from the date of the written notification to the membership of an open position, the Board shall select an individual from among the nominees to serve until the next regularly scheduled election. If less than 30 days remain to be served in the term, the vacancy shall remain unfilled. The Presidency, if vacated, shall be filled by the Vice President.”
4.) Change By-Law 4 to state “In the event of an extended absence of more than 45 days from the office of a Delegate or Shop Steward, the Executive Board may call for nominations for an interim Delegate or Shop Steward following the same procedure as if there was a vacancy. The interim appointee must meet the election eligibility requirements at the time of appointment. If the original Delegate or Show Steward returns within 180 calendar days from the first date of absence, they shall be reinstated to their position, if desired. The interim Delegate or Shop Steward shall serve the remainder of the term if the original union official’s absence lasts longer than 180 days. In case of a vacancy from the office of an employee Delegate or Shop Steward, the President will appoint a new employee Delegate or Shop Steward within 30 days. In case of an extended absence of more than 45 days from the office of an employee Delegate or Shop Steward, the President may appoint an interim employee Delegate or Shop Steward. In either instance, the appointed Delegate or Shop Steward shall have been employed in the company for one year and must be a member in good standing in the Union for a least six (6) months prior to appointment. If the original employee Delegate or Shop Steward returns within 8 months, they may return to their position pending approval from the Executive board. The interim Steward or Delegate will receive the portion of the stipend for the time served.”
5.) Change By-Law 5 to “For the protection of the Union and its membership, at least two Union Officers or one Officer and one member, or one Shop Steward and one member, must be present where a potential agreement is discussed. Union officials, including at least one Union Officer or Delegate, must be present at any meeting with company management in which an agreement or deal is discussed. Final agreement must be approved approval of agreements with the company that are not covered under the terms of the Constitution and the By-Laws shall be made by the President.”
6.) Change By-Law 6 to “The Treasurer and Officers shall prepare and present a yearly operating budget to the Executive Board by the end of February each year. At the April Regular Membership Meeting this budget shall be submitted for the membership’s approval. Expenses that exceed the proposed budget shall be approved by the Executive Board at an Executive Board Meeting and shall be disclosed at the next Regular Membership Meeting. No disbursement exceeding $1,000,00 except normal operating expense, may be made by this Union except under the following procedure: A resolution must be introduced at a Regular Membership meeting authorizing the disbursement of the desired sum. Such resolution must be passed by a majority of the members present,. Appropriate sums may be disbursed after approval by a majority of the members present. In circumstances where the above is impractical, or not worth the additional expense of a special meeting to achieve a majority vote by the members. The Executive Board present at the Executive Board Meeting will be sufficient to authorize such expenditure. A report of such action will be made at the next regular membership meeting.” (Additional amendment likely to be proposed by Treasurer in April)
7.) Change By-Law 7 to “The Union will meet hold Regular Membership meetings in October, December, February, and April, and July. Special Membership Meetings may be called at any time by the President or three (3) members of the Executive Board but must be announced at least 48 hours in advance in written communication to the membership as well as posted on the Union Bulletin Boards and/or web page.”
8.) Remove By-Law 8 in its entirety. Renumber the By-Laws Accordingly.“Upon the death of a member, or anyone in the immediate family or household of any Union member, the Health & Welfare shall send a floral or spiritual bouquet, a bible or donations to recognized charities in lieu of floral or spiritual bouquets, valued at no more than $100.00. Immediate family shall mean: husband, wife, natural or adopted child, mother, father, sister, brother, father-in-law, mother-in-law. Household shall be a person making his or her home with the Union member.”
9.) Remove By-Law 9 in its entirety. Renumber the By-Laws Accordingly.“Any Union member who has been in continuous good standing for five years or more (excluding non-voluntary periods), and who shall be retired by the Company, shall be entitled to a retirement gift valued according to the following guide:
5–9years-$25
10–15years-$50
16–20years-$100
21–25years-$150
26–30years-$200″