Executive board

Does John Samuelsen have the right or the authority to appoint any member of the executive board to chair its meeting? The simple answer is yes. In both the TWU Constitution and the by-laws of the TWU Local 100 there isn’t any clear statement that states that it can not be done. However appointing Steve Downs a division chair to chair the executive board meeting led to infighting. 

Clearly by this appointment John Samuelsen is saying that the following vice presidents are not good enough to chair the executive board meeting: Stephan Thomas of the TA Surface, Maurice Jenkins of the stations, Nelson Rivera of car equipment, Brian Clarke of Mabstoa, Tony Utano of maintenance of way, John Day of MTA bus, Kevin Harrington of rapid transit operations. They are capable to chair the executive board meeting however grand vizier Steve Downs has the inside track thus he will outmaneuver the above constantly. Under TWU Constitution article xvi duties of local officers - section 2 states the following: The Vice President ... and during his/her absence shall perform the duties of the president - thus affirming section 1. the president shall preside at all meetings...a reasonable member will conclude the intent of the constitution is that the president shall preside. We have to be clear here due to the fact that some may conflate between running the local versus chairing the executive board meeting. In addition to the blanket defense that the president is afforded in section 1. He/she shall be responsible for the proper conduct of the affairs of the local union... now what is ‘proper’ as defined by the TWU Constitution. This is a vague statement that should be clarified further since it leaves room for interpretation. 

There is no argument that John Samuelsen does not have the authority to delegate running the local to his grand vizier Steve Downs. Now the other side of the coin is whether chairing the executive board meeting rises to the level of running the local. That is debatable and depends on which camp you fall in. What impels John Samuelsen to keep appointing grand vizier Steve Downs to chair executive board meetings while he is aware that the above vice presidents might feel slighted? That may sow the seeds of disharmony furthering the infighting- clearly Samuelsen rhetoric does not hold water. Maybe John Samuelsen is saying that there is really not one person with an education or background in the entire executive board qualified to chair the meeting.

Membership has a right to worry that this may turn into a pattern from John Samuelsen. Maybe he is incapable to lead or execute his duties thus he has to rely on grand vizier Steve Downs repeatedly to leap frog the above vice presidents thus disregarding the chain of command. Can you imagine any other responsible organization to operate in this manner? They wouldn’t be in business very long.