SECTION 1. The E.C. shall consist of the Sector Officers of TNG-CWA, nominated in Sector Conference and elected by referendum vote.

SECTION 2. (a) The Sector Officers shall be a Sector Chairperson of TNG-CWA, a President (who shall also serve as a CWA Vice-President), a Secretary-Treasurer, 10 Vice-Presidents, and a Director of TNG Canada. Two of the Vice-Presidents shall be elected at large and eight shall be elected by regions, one each from Regions 1 through 6 and two from Canada. The Director of TNG Canada shall be elected from Canada.

(b) Effective in 2002 at the completion of the current term, the Executive Council shall be reduced to 12, composed of the Sector Chairperson, President, Secretary-Treasurer, Director of TNG Canada and eight (8) Regional Vice-Presidents.

(c) The current electoral regions are as follows:

Region 1-Connecticut (excepting the counties of Fairfield, Hartford, Litchfield and New Haven), Delaware, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, the New Jersey counties of Atlantic, Burlington, Camden, Cape May, Cumberland, Gloucester, Hudson, Ocean and Salem; New York (excepting the counties of Bronx, Cattaraugus, Chautauqua, Erie, Kings, Nassau, New York, Niagara, Orange, Queens, Richmond, Rockland, Suffolk and Westchester), Pennsylvania (excepting the counties of Allegheny, Beaver, Butler, Crawford, Erie, Fayette, Greene, Lawrence, Mercer, Venango and Washington), Rhode Island and Vermont.

Region 2-Alabama, Arkansas, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and West Virginia.

Region 3-Indiana (excepting the counties of Lake and Porter), Michigan, the New York counties of Cattaraugus, Chautauqua, Erie and Niagara, Ohio, and the Pennsylvania counties of Allegheny, Beaver, Butler, Crawford, Erie, Fayette, Greene, Lawrence, Mercer, Venango and Washington.

Region 4-Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming.

Region 5-The Connecticut counties of Fairfield, Hartford, Litchfield and New Haven; New Jersey (excepting the counties of Atlantic, Burlington, Camden, Cape May, Cumberland, Gloucester, Hudson, Ocean and Salem); and the New York counties of Bronx, Kings, Nassau, New York, Orange, Queens, Richmond, Rockland, Suffolk and Westchester.

Region 6-Colorado, Illinois, the Indiana counties of Lake and Porter, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wisconsin.

TNG Canada-All of Canada. The Director of TNG Canada shall be elected from the entire region. One Vice-President shall be elected from that portion of Canada east of Manitoba and one from that portion west of Ontario. Candidates for Vice-President shall not seek election or hold office in a geographic region in which they do not work.

SECTION 3. (a) Nominations for Sector Chairperson, President, Secretary-Treasurer, [and] all Vice-Presidents and Director of TNG Canada shall be made one by one by Sector Conference vote.

(b) If more than two candidates be nominated to the office of Sector Chairperson, President, Secretary-Treasurer, any Regional Vice-Presidency, or Director of TNG Canada, the Sector Conference shall ballot by a roll-call vote; the candidate receiving the least number of votes in the first ballot shall be eliminated and such balloting shall continue until only two names remain; these two shall then be declared the nominees of the Sector Conference. Only the delegates of the regions concerned, and the two electoral areas into which Canada is divided, shall ballot upon the nominations for their respective Regional Vice-Presidents and for Director of TNG Canada; provided that for purposes of this Section delegates of the United States Wire Service Local shall be deemed delegates of the region in which their bureaus are located and the delegates of each region shall cast a number of votes according to application of Article VII Section 2(b) to the number of members of the Wire Service Local in their region; provided further that for purposes of this Section delegates of the Translators' Local shall be deemed delegates of the region in which their workplaces are located and the delegates of each region shall cast a number of votes according to application of Article VII, Section 2(b) to the number of members of the Translators' Local in their region; and provided further that for purposes of this Section all delegates of the Canadian Media Guild shall be deemed delegates of the electoral area of Canada in which their workplaces are located.

(c) Names of all nominees shall be placed on the referendum ballot except that any candidate unopposed in the Sector Conference shall be declared elected. No candidate shall be declared a nominee or declared elected unless he or she declares in writing his or her willingness to serve. Such acceptance must be made prior to the close of the Sector Conference. No member shall hold office so long as he or she is barred from office by Section 504 of the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959. Nominees or their representatives shall at the Sector Conference draw lots for positions on the ballot.

(d) In the first issue of the Guild Reporter following the Sector Conference, a complete list of nominees, their records and a complete record of the roll-call votes on all contested nominations shall be published.

(e) In a post-Sector Conference issue of the Guild Reporter selected by the Sector Election and Referendum Committee, but not later than the third issue following the Sector Conference, the Guild Reporter shall provide equal space for a statement by each candidate and shall publish a complete official list of candidates.

(f) Separate ballot forms shall be printed for each E.C. region containing the names of all candidates for general offices, but in each region the names of the candidates for Regional Vice-President and Director of TNG Canada from that Region only shall be listed as candidates for Regional Vice-President and Director of TNG Canada. The election of Regional Vice-Presidents and Director of TNG Canada shall be by ballot of the members in the regions they represent. For the purpose of this Section, a member of the United States Wire Service Local shall vote in the region in which his or her bureau is located; a member of the Translators' Local shall vote in the region in which his or her workplace is located; all members of the Canadian Media Guild shall vote in the electoral area of Canada in which their workplaces are located.

(g) Elections shall be by majority vote of the referendum. The officers elected shall take office when certified by the Sector Election and Referendum Committee. They shall hold office until the opening day of the annual CWA Convention in 1999, and thereafter for three year terms beginning on the opening day of the annual CWA Convention.

(h) No member of the E.C. except the President, the Secretary-Treasurer and the Director of TNG Canada shall be a salaried officer or employee of TNG-CWA or of any Local.

(i) Any member of the E.C. who thereafter becomes a salaried officer or employee of TNG-CWA or any Local shall automatically be retired from the E.C.; except that this shall not prohibit a member of the E.C. from performing temporary work for TNG-CWA or for any Local and receiving compensation for loss of pay while performing such work.

SECTION 4. (a) Within five days after a vacancy occurs in any elective Sector office, the E.C. shall notify the Locals concerned.

(b) For any vacancy that occurs no less than six months prior to the next regularly scheduled Sector Conference (except for a vacancy in the three principal offices), the EC shall include in the local notice a call for nominations. Each local so notified shall be responsible for communicating the call for nominations to its membership.

(1) Any member in good standing may nominate a candidate for such interim vacancy by submitting the nomination in writing to the Secretary Treasurer of TNG-CWA. (Only members of Canadian locals may nominate candidates for a vacancy in the office of Director of TNG Canada; only members of locals located within a concerned Region may nominate candidates for a vacancy in the office of a Regional Vice President.) Nominations, as well as the nominees’ written declarations of their willingness to serve, must be received by the Secretary-Treasurer no later than 15 days following the EC call for nominations. The Secretary-Treasurer shall immediately notify locals of the nominees.

(2) If there is only one nominee for a vacancy, such nominee shall be declared the temporary successor.

(3) The temporary successor shall be the candidate receiving the majority of votes cast by the governing bodies of the concerned Locals, based on the voting strength to which each Local was entitled at the last Sector Conference. Votes of each concerned Local shall be counted in proportion to the number of votes cast for each candidate by each member of the governing body of the Local. Within 30 days of the call for nominations each concerned Local must certify the local vote results to the Secretary-Treasurer in writing, signed by two Local officers. The Secretary-Treasurer shall tabulate the results and notify the affected locals within 35 days of the EC call for nominations.

(4) If no candidate receives a majority of the votes cast, the Local vote conducted in accordance with paragraph (3) shall be considered a runoff vote and the two candidates receiving the highest number of votes shall be declared the final candidates. Local governing bodies shall then conduct a vote between the two final candidates based on the voting strength to which each Local was entitled at the last Sector Conference, and votes shall be counted in proportion to the number of votes cast for each candidate by each member of the governing body of the Local. Locals shall certify the local runoff vote results to the SERC in writing, signed by two Local officers, within 50 days of the call for nominations.

(5) Any temporary successor officer shall take office upon certification of the SERC and shall serve until a successor officer is certified by the SERC in accordance with the nomination and referendum procedures outlined in Section (d) below.

(c) In the event of a vacancy in any of the three principal offices, there shall be a temporary succession pending the election of a new officer. The Sector Chairperson shall thus be succeeded by the President, the President by the Secretary-Treasurer and the Secretary-Treasurer by the President, the temporary successor retaining also the duties of his or her own office. In the event of a vacancy in the office of Director of TNG Canada, there shall be a temporary succession pending the election of a new officer. The Director of TNG Canada shall thus be succeeded by the Deputy Director of TNG Canada who shall have voice but not vote on the E.C.

In the event of a contingency not met by these procedures, the E.C. shall take necessary action to provide for administration of TNG-CWA.

In the event of a vacancy in any elective Sector office, successor candidates shall be nominated at the next regularly scheduled Sector Conference and an election shall be held by referendum in accordance with this Article. The successor officer shall take office upon certification by the SERC and shall serve the remainder of the term of his or her predecessor.

SECTION 5. (a) The E.C. shall meet three times a year, the time and place to be set by the E.C. E.C. meetings at Sector Conference shall be deemed one meeting. Upon the written request of three members, the Secretary-Treasurer shall call a special meeting of the E.C.

(b) The E.C. may levy assessments, and act in other emergencies by mail or telegraphic vote, as prescribed by rules adopted by the E.C.

SECTION 6. At all regular and special meetings of the E.C., fifty percent of the E.C. membership shall constitute a quorum.

SECTION 7. The E.C. shall elect its standing committees. These shall include a Finance Committee of five E.C. members; and a Contracts Committee of not more than five members, at least two of whom shall be members of the E.C.

SECTION 8. The E.C. shall set the salaries of all Sector Representatives, and the salaries of all TNG-CWA employees.

SECTION 9. The E.C. shall interpret this Constitution between Sector Conferences.