[RinTinTin]

I am a member of a collective bargaining unit in New York State that has been horribly mismanaged. The union's by laws are very specific about the requirements for a duly constituted negotiating board (most importantly a quorum of 7 out of 9 board members).

For the longest time two seats had been vacant after board members resigned. In March a third board member resigned bringing the number of people down to 6 making them no longer duly constituted. On top of that all incumbent's terms had expired 12/31/08 and there have been no elections. In short they have been playing fast and loose with the by laws and now - I suspect - federal law.

This defacto board ignored vehement calls from membership to hold elections immediately. The 6 individuals on that defacto board then proceeded to negotiate with management to have our pay reduced by 10% after management made a request to re-open the contract. We were informed they had reached an agreement with management, a vote on the measure was rushed through and conducted via the internet polling too Zoomerang and today we were informed by one of the 6 defacto board members that it was adopted.

I maintained all along and with 30 other co-workers have maintained for months (and put it in writing to them) that this defacto board had no authorization to negotiate or speak with management on our behalf. They did anyway.

What is our recourse in this situation? Can we get an injunction to halt the pay cuts? How do we stop management from taking money out of our paychecks? Can we sue the members of the defacto board for mismanagement? We are at a bit of a disadvantage because the "union attorney" apparently works for this defacto board and not union membership. What can we do?

[JudyKayTee]

The people who are unhappy retain their own counsel.

Please post your question once, in one category. Duplicate postings cause the volunteers to spend unnecessary time.

[JudyKayTee]

Asked and answered on legal board - please don't post twice

[RinTinTin]

No it wasn't. That post was deleted.

[Fr_Chuck]

I must have been deleting the other post while you were answering, happens sometimes.

But yes, you have to either deal directly with the main union, asking them to stepin, hire attorneys to sue