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Proposed Constitutional Amendments

The following page is a resource to help you vote on the constitutional amendments proposed at the January 25, 2007 Membership Meeting. Check out the list of resources available on this website and for download in PDF format to help you make your decision as you are voting. Below that, there is a list of all of the articles of the constitution for which amendments have been proposed and a brief summary describing what is covered in each of those articles. You can follow the links in that section to find more information about the articles as well as the full text of both the current language and the proposed amendment.

On your ballot, you will be asked to vote YES or NO in response to the following statement:

I approve the CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS proposed by the GEO membership
at the January 25th, 2007 meeting.

Don't forget to vote for BOTH the proposed Constitutional Amendments and the proposed Dues Bylaw. If you need help filling out and returning your ballot, click here. If you have any additional questions, please feel free to contact umgeo [at] umich [dot] edu.

Resources

Below is a list of resources that will give you more information about the constitutional amendment proposals.

A Letter from the Stewards

A letter from the departmental stewards encouraging all members to vote and a brief explanation why the stewards endorsed these proposals. [html] [pdf]

Summary of Proposed Changes

This document is an article-by-article summary of all of the proposed changes to the constitution and specific reasons why each change is being recommended. [html] [pdf]

Amendments

Below are the articles with changes proposed at the membership meeting. Each link below contains a summary of the changes as well as the full text of both the article as it is currently in our constitution and the full text of the proposed amendments. The changes are also available in a PDF for download.

Article III: General Principles and Guarantees

This article deals with members' guaranteed rights within the organization, including the right to be a member, to hold fair elections, to access accurate information about accounting and organizational finances, and participation in decision-making.

Article IV: Membership

This article covers membership eligibility and types of membership available within the organization. Significant changes include: Clearly defining full membership and associate membership, as well as the rights given to each.

Article V: Meetings, Referendums, and Elections

This article covers the guidelines for meetings and votes of the membership.

Article VI: Officers

This article defines the officers of the union, requirements for holding office and the procedures for filling vacancies and recalling elected officers.

Article VII: Duties of Officers

This article defines the duties of the officers.

Article VIII: Committees

This article defines standing and ad hoc committees.

Article IX: Departmental Stewards

This article establishes the Stewards' Council as well as defining the eligibility, role and number of stewards in a department.

Article X: Dues

This article provides the mechanism for the membership to approve GEO dues.

Article XI: Amendment

This article establishes the process for amending the constitution.

Article XII: Bylaws

This article establishes process for creating bylaws to govern the functioning of GEO.

The Graduate Employees' Organization (GEO) is the labor union representing Graduate Student Instructors (GSIs) and Graduate Student Staff Assistants (GSSAs) at the University of Michigan. GEO was founded in 1970 and we won our first contract in 1975, making GEO one of the oldest graduate employee unions in the United States.