Vote for Financial Transparency: Do not forget to select the ETA candidates for WTU Board of Trustees

You must vote separately for the WTU Board of Trustees: Elizabeth Corney, Mekra Mack and Syreetta McArthur

Learn more about how to vote for our candidates for the WTU Board of Trustees as well as the current state of the Board and what the WTU Bylaws have to say about it

Have you ever read a WTU Quarterly Report from the Board of Trustees? Neither have we.

For more than three years, the WTU Board of Trustees has failed to meet and perform its duties under the WTU Constitution and Bylaws (See Article 8 Section 7). Instead the WTU President has had a "Finance Committee" made up of the treasurer and several Board Members - including ETA Candidate for Treasurer Paige Veliz-Gilbert and Candidate for President Laura Fuchs. This committee rarely send out agendas in advance, rarely had Board of Trustees Members in Attendance, did not write and produce reports beyond what is already provided by the treasurer, rarely provided receipts upon request, and did not provide specific and dedicated opportunities for WTU Members to weigh in on how our finances were spent.

The concentration of financial power between the WTU President and Treasurer has led to:

• Less transparency - requiring Board and Rep Assembly members to rely on verbal word only

• Little Democracy - there are almost no changes to have a say on how member dues are spent, and the few checkpoints that are met (i.e., Rep Assembly vote on the WTU Budget, was often attempted to vote on with no report in hand at all).

• Troubling Spending Practices - The WTU often goes outside the specific confines of the budget without convening the WTU Board of Trustees nor having the WTU Executive Board vote, justifying it because the overall spending is below the budget.

ETA's Commitment:

• The candidates running for the WTU Board of Trustees with Educators Taking Action are prepared to do the hard work to create a quarterly report that holds the WTU accountable to members.

• Our slate is committed to providing full transparency to the Board of Trustees and will do everything necessary to ensure they can meet and have access to all the documents they need to produce the report.

• We will ensure that the Report is proactively sent to members in a variety of formats to ensure that members know where their dues are being spent.

• We are also committed to immediately proposing a set of Bylaws Amendments to the WTU Membership by September's Membership meeting that will give greater authority to the WTU Executive Board over the finances, further improving financial transparency and reducing the unilateral power of the WTU President. This is in alignment with the AFT's Model Constitution and Bylaws that they suggest to other local unions.