THE ADMINISTRATORSHIP OF THE DEARBORN FEDERATION OF SCHOOL EMPLOYEES

WHEREAS, in the course of the litigation to establish the administratorship over the Dearborn Federation of School Employees (DFSE), the DFSE responded with a counter motion attacking the administratorship. The AFT responded, in part, that the DFSE could not make any claim against the AFT because it had not exhausted internal remedies provided by the AFT constitution. The AFT cited Article VI, Section 10, which states:

Section 10. The executive council shall have the power to interpret and enforce this constitution and to make rules not in conflict with this constitution and shall report such rules to the succeeding convention for approval or rejection. Any interpretation of the constitution by the executive council may be appealed at any subsequent convention; and

WHEREAS, the DFSE then took an appeal to the AFT convention. The matter became moot when the case was dismissed after the administratorship was established and an election held in which a new group of officers was elected; and

WHEREAS, the AFT constitution requires that the executive council approve any administratorship (Article VI, Section 15 (b)). The approval by the executive council is an interpretation of the AFT constitution that, in the case before it, an administratorship is or is not appropriate. Therefore, an injured party would have redress in the form of an appeal of that decision to the ensuing AFT convention; and

WHEREAS, in order to ensure that there is no confusion that a right of appeal to the convention exists, a resolution to that effect should be adopted by the executive council:

RESOLVED, by the executive council, that a determination by it approving an administratorship over any subordinate body is an interpretation of the AFT constitution concerning that matter; and

RESOLVED, that the aggrieved party shall have a right to appeal that determination to the ensuing convention of the AFT.