March 17, 2008Re: Change of Bylaws

Matt:

Iam concerned about the lack of democratic process in changing the election procedures.Iand other members were not notified of the membership meeting required to change andratify the new bylaws changing the election date and length of term, Was there a meetingheld? If so, where and when, and who attended? In the past notifications were either putin our boxes or mailed to us so that all members were assured of notification and couldparticipate in the process.

I don't believe that executive council is an appropriate venue for such a decision.Certainly, anyone wanting to declare their candidacy would be left totally in the dark asto what to do. Changing the election process without full participation is a definiteviolation of our Constitution and membership's democratic rights.

\

I and other members would like some clarification on this matter.

Guam's Local UnionRECEIVED

By· ~na~e':3 h-P /t; ~" f ;

Pat Nichols

cc Dan Soinerfleck

Box 11567Yigo, GU. 96929653-4262May 2, 2008

Dear Matt,

Due to the lack of information obtainable from e-mail and archives, GFT newspapers,flyers and our recent meeting, our group is concerned about clarifying the process used inchanging GFT by laws and would like you to produce:

minutes (even if not approved) for the meetings on November 30, 2007,December 27,2007 and the meeting in February 2008.

agendas and rosters of those in attendance.\

Our request is that you supply us with this information by May 9, 2008.

This is not the first time our group has requested this information from you. AroundFebruary 15, 2008, I asked you for the above information at the GFT office. As an aside,on January 11, GFT lawyer, Dan Sometflect, told two members during a meeting at hisGFT office spoke about candidacy timelines that he knew nothing of any moveto changeby laws governing our traditional election dates and felt that such changes should takeaffect a year later.

On March 17, 2008, I sent you a letter requesting that you provide us with us with theabove information to clarify the transparency of the situation. There was no response tomy letter.

On April 29, 2008, we set up a meeting with you at the GFT office. We had hoped toobtain the above mentioned documentation; however, it was not forthcoming.

Our purpose is to see that by laws are changed in a manner that upholds the democraticprocess, our constitution and Robert's Rules of Order. If there are discrepancies, theyneed to be faced-up-to and corrected in a manner that keeps this matter in house.

We understand that airing this with the Executive Council carries the risk of publicityleaks. This is of no benefit to us (the Union).

We request your cooperation and immediate attention and response to this matter.

Sincerely, .

/Jd~,td~Pat Nichols

'A Union of Professionals"

Matt RectorPresident

Date: June 16, 2008Tim FedenkoVice-President To: Patricia Nichols

Sanjay SharmaSecretary From: Sanjay H. Sharma, Guam Federation of Teachers Secretary

James LujanTreasurer Subject: Complaint (received by the GFT Executive Council 06/03/08)

Dear Mrs. Nichols:

AFT Local 1581AFL-CIO

According to the GFf Constitution and Bylaws Article VII.C.3.c., "The GFf Secretaryshall file at the GFf Office a copy of all approved minutes within ninety-six hours of themeeting at which they were approved." You received the minutes 'ofthe December 27,2007 special general membership meeting on May 21,2008 regular general membershipmeeting because that is when it was next scheduled to be approved. A copy of theminutes of said date was kept within the main office of GFT, but it was filed as pendinginstead of approved,

In your letter, you state that at least three members who were not present were listed.When the December 27, 2007 special general membership minutes were presented tothe membership on May 21, 2008 for approval, why was nothing said? A motion tocorrect would have been entertained. Albeit the three, there are still ballots of the votescast and there are thirty-six of those. Also, there still would have been a quorum.

Your concern of not being notified was duly noted by the GFT executive council. Thecouncil voted on December 18, 2007 to have a special election on December 27,2007.An electronic update was put forth via email and posted online at www.gfiunion.com.The GFT eUpdate is sent out on a weekly basis. Sign-up is free and open to all peopleinterested. There are thousands of island residents that have signed up. Considerableeffort has been put forth to solicit email addresses from our membership so that they canstay informed. Typically, a membership meeting announcement is also placed withinGFT's Newspaper that is distributed once a month. In this case however, the Decembernewspaper was already distributed. Using bulletin boards within the schools would alsoprove insufficient as a majority of our members would have been on vacation.

GFT undergoes a yearly audit of all hiring practices, minutes, and financial expendituresby a third-party as required by AFT. To have another agency investigate what hasalready been investigated would be a superfluous undertaking.

The GFT Executive Council is regrettably sorry that you feel that your rights as amember were denied when a sincere effort was put forth to have members presentduring the special meeting on December 27, 2007.

Sincerely,

~'i 6~f---Sanjay H. SharmaGFT Secretary

GUAM FEDERATION OF TEACHERS P. O. Box 2301, Haqatfia. Guam 96932 Tel 671.735.4390 Fax 671.734.8085 www.qftunion.comFighting for GovGuam Workers and their Families Since 1965

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Nichols

From:To:Sent:Attach:

"Sol Smith, Organization & Field Services" <ssmith@aft.org><balatsu@netpci.com>Tuesday, July 29,20084:13 PM_AVG certification_.txt

Mrs. Nichols) it appears that you have exhausted all of your local remedies and I, therefore, am willingto personally conduct an investigation and submit my findings to the AFT and GFT. I will need allcorrespondence between you and the GFT that you may have. You can send that electronically to my e-mail address or mail to my office at 2550 N. Hollywood Way, Suite 200, Burbank, CA 91505. I lookforward to hearing from you.

Solomon Smith, AFT Western Regional Director.

Via BlackBerry

5/3/2009

rage 1 01 1

Nichols

From:To:Cc:Sent:

"Sol Smith, Organization & Field Services" <ssmith@aft.org><balatsu@netpci.com> .<mrector@gftunion.com>; "David Strom, Legal" <dstrom@aft.org>Friday, October 17, 200811:38 AM

After conferring with the AFT's gener~1 counselor, it is determined that your conplaint does not meet the standardsfor an investigation set forth in the AFT Constitution for two reasons. The core of your challenge is not about theconduct of an internal election, which would be a proper basis for an investigation request, but instead achallenge to the conduct and notice for a membership meeting. Request for investigation that do not concern aninternal election, must be submitted by the local's officers, the executive board or a petition from at least 30% ofthe membership. (See Article VI, Sections 14 (a) and (b». This request does not have that level of support.

Additionally, this request is untimely. The actual meeting in question took place in December 2007. As anadministrative matter, we do not accept a request for investigation that is more than 60 days old.

While we will not conduct a formal investigation, I will have a detailed discussion with the leadership of GFT aboutyour charges. I'm extremely concened about the allegations and will seek to make sure that nothing like this,whether true or false, will ever happen again.

Please feel free to call me at 213713- 8603 with any questions you may have.

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5/9/2009