Article XII of the union’s bylaws outlines the process for amending them. There is a lot of confusion about how this process should work. Changes proposed in October 2024 did not proceed according to the process. Another illegal bylaw change was overturned in January 2025. As long as I have been involved, the process has broken down somewhere. I want to break the process down step-by-step. I hope this write-up makes things easier for reformists.
Step 1: Petition the President
“All proposed amendments to the Local Lodge Bylaws must be presented… in writing, signed by at least (5) five members in good standing of the Local Lodge.”1
So you want to change the bylaws? The first thing you need to do is reduce the proposal to writing. At least five union members must sign your proposal. Then, someone must present the proposal to the President.
When I have made proposals in the past, I have written a cover sheet with attachments. Click here to see a template to add a History Committee. Feel free to copy me and make whatever changes are necessary to suit your proposal’s needs. The template has 10 lines for signatures. Remember, you only need 5. Having extras makes it harder for anyone to contest your petition.
Step 2: The President Appoints a Bylaws Committee
Upon receipt of the proposed amendment(s) the Local Lodge President shall immediately appoint a committee of five (5) members to study the proposed amendment.2
When the President receives your proposal, he should immediately appoint a bylaws committee. It is the committee’s job to judge the merits of your proposal, not the President or anyone else’s. If the President does not appoint a bylaws committee immediately, call the District at 207-442-3145.
Step 3: The Bylaws Committee Studies the Proposal
The committee’s primary purpose is to judge the constitutionality of any proposal. The IAM Constitution explains:
“All [Local Lodges]… may adopt bylaws supplementary to this Constitution for the conduct of their subordinate internal affairs and business; provided, however, that none of the provisions of such bylaws shall be in conflict with any of the provisions of this Constitution, duly adopted resolutions, or the established policies of the I.A.M.”3
The union cannot amend the bylaws to abolish the position of the President, for instance. This is because the IAM’s constitution requires we have one.4 Other violations may not be so clear.
Step 4: The Bylaws Committee Makes a Recommendation
In the end, the committee must make a recommendation for or against adopting your proposal:
“The committee’s recommendation shall be made to the Local Lodge Executive Board at its next meeting, and shall then be referred from the Local Lodge Executive Board to the following regular membership meeting for membership action, approval or disapproval or referral.”5
First, the committee makes its recommendation to the Executive Board. Then, the President adds the committee’s report to the agenda for the next membership meeting. There, they repeat their recommendation to the general membership. The meeting minutes should note the recommendation. Voting does not happen until the following month’s meeting. For example, assume you submit your proposal in October. The recommendation should happen at the October meeting, but the vote should not happen until the November meeting. These steps ensure everyone has plenty of notice before the vote. One more requirement furthers this goal:
“Notice of any proposed amendment shall be posted in its entirety at least ten (10) working days prior to the regular membership meeting.”6
In the example above, that would be 10 days before the November meeting. Note the word “entirety.” The Trustees must post your entire proposal throughout the Yard. It is unacceptable if the only reference to your proposals is in the meeting minutes. If this is not corrected within 10 days of the vote, you may have grounds to contest the results.
Step 5: The Membership Votes on the Recommendation
Constitutional violations are not the only reason to recommend against a proposal. Be prepared for ideology to have an impact. In September, the Yard’s LGBT+ community advanced a proposal to add a Pride Committee. The appointed bylaws committee recommended against it for purely ideological reasons. (I intend to write a more in-depth analysis of the Pride vote later.) Fortunately, the committee’s recommendation is informative rather than instructive. The members always have the final say:
“A two-thirds (2/3) vote of the members present at the Local Lodge regular membership meeting shall be required for passage and adoption.”7
The motion will be “to accept the bylaws committee’s recommendation.” If the committee recommends ratifying your proposal, vote yay. If the committee recommends against ratifying your proposal, vote nay. The double negatives cancel each other out.
It is in your best interest to rally as many people to your cause as possible. Convince them to attend the meeting for the vote. The threshold to pass an amendment is much higher than to propose one. You may only need five signatures to bring your proposal to a vote, but you will need a two thirds majority to win.
The chair of the meeting should ensure an accurate count. A 2024 amendment was overturned because it had been called without a 2/3 majority. Bylaws cannot pass by voice vote. To pass, two thirds of present members must vote yay, not just voting members. Abstentions are essentially nays.
Two thirds or no, nobody can make the same proposal for a year:
“A Proposed amendment to the Local Lodge Bylaws which is approved or defeated cannot again be proposed or resubmitted to a vote of the Local Lodge members for a period of at least one (1) year.”8
When You Win
Amendments do not become effective until the IAM’s International President approves them. The amendment will pass through several hands before reaching his desk. Even then, only:
“When five (5) Bylaw Amendments become effective, the Bylaws shall be updated.”9
A few months may go by before any amendment becomes effective. The union may not announce the new bylaw for several months, if at all. It may become prudent to reach out to the Recording Secretary at 207-442-2063.
What to do when you lose?
Try as hard as you may, it’s always possible you lose. There’s always next year. Always keep organizing! Members come and go, administrations rise and fall. By the time you make your next proposal, it may come before an entirely different union. In this article, I highlighted common places the amendment process can break down. It is possible the union does not follow the process handling your proposal, either. If so, reach out to the District at 207-442-3145. The District should investigate your complaint, and we’d love to report on it, too. Please reach out to us at From the Deckplates with any questions, concerns, or tips.
- IAM Local S6 Bylaws (June 2023), 26; The ellipsis omits a reference “to the Local Lodge Recording Secretary” because it is confusing. The literal language suggests any proposal should go to the Recording Secretary first. It hides that the President actually receives proposals from petitioners. Later, he presents the document to the Recording Secretary to keep record. ↩︎
- IAM Local S6 Bylaws (June 2023), 26. ↩︎
- IAM Constitution (2023), 2. ↩︎
- Ibid, 100. ↩︎
- IAM Local S6 Bylaws (June 2023), 26. ↩︎
- Ibid. ↩︎
- Ibid. ↩︎
- Ibid., 27. ↩︎
- Ibid. ↩︎
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