Role & Responsibilities
As per Article 5, Section 1c of the Constitution, “The Communications Committee shall consist of four elected members of the general membership. It shall be the function of this Committee to keep members informed of YusApuY activities and labour-related developments both on- and off-campus with a newsletter and/or by other means.”
In simple terms, the role of YusApuY’s Communication Committee is to keep the membership up-to-date on the actions of the union and labour-related news. It also promotes union-affiliated events. This is done via the newsletter, website, social media, and email; as well as through special projects.
Members & Composition
The Committee is made up of four elected members from the general YusApuY membership. The Full-Time Officers are ex-officio, non-voting members of the Committee (see Constitution IV, Section 2).
Although it’s not required, it is recommended that the Committee members have some background or knowledge of the field of Communications, be it in print, web, or social media.
Formation Details
The membership of the Committees is governed by Elections according to the YusApuY Constitution with four members elected during the biennial election. Those four members will then decide the Chair and Vice-Chair.
Term
The term for all Communications Committee members is two years and begins on January 1.
A Committee member who does not uphold their responsibilities or misses a significant number of meetings without a reasonable explanation may be asked by the Executive Board to resign from the Committee. If the member refuses to resign, recall/de-appointment action may be taken to remove the member from the Committee (see Article VI, Sections 3 and 4).
Chair
The Chair of the Committee, and Vice-Chair, will be a member of the Committee, elected biennially (every two years) by the Committee (see Constitution Article V, Section 1).
The Chair will:
- Call meetings of the Committee;
- Prepare agendas and Chair meetings of the Committee;
- Draft communications on behalf of the Committee related to the Committee’s work;
- Report to the Executive Board on the work of the Committee;
- Act as a liaison between the Committee and the Executive Board;
- Represent the Committee as a voting member on the Executive Board.
Vice-Chair
The Vice-Chair of the Communications Committee will act in the absence of the Chair.
Communication & Meetings
According to the Constitution (Article X, Section 4) all Committees shall meet as required. The Committee will meet, at minimum, once a month. The meetings are normally in-person, but in special circumstances may be by teleconference or electronically, (e.g. Skype) and are normally one-hour long. If a member is not able to participate in a meeting, that member may speak to the Chair in advance so that the Chair can share the member’s perspective at the meeting. That member may also submit written comments or documents in advance of the meeting. Whenever possible, issues that arise from meetings or between meetings that can be handled via email are done so electronically.
According to the Constitution (Article XVI, Section 2) all meetings shall be governed by the Constitution. In cases where this is inadequate, Bourinot’s Rules of Order shall govern.
Minutes
Minutes should be taken at all meetings and submitted to the YusApuY office for record-keeping and archiving as soon as possible after the meeting.
Quorum
Attendance by fifty percent of the Committee members shall constitute a quorum. Any vacant position shall not be counted for quorum (see Article X, Section 4).
Decision-making
Wherever possible, decision-making by consensus is preferred. If consensus cannot be achieved, the Committee members must agree on how to deal with the outstanding issue (i.e., vote; continue the discussion; table the issue for another meeting; take the issue to the Executive Board.) There shall be no proxy voting or email voting unless explicitly determined by the Committee in advance of the vote.
Accountability & Governance
According to the Constitution (Article V, Section 1) all Committees are responsible to the Executive Board, and according to Section 2 of the same Article, all Committees are required at minimum, to prepare and present semi-annual reports, during the months of May and October, to the Executive Board. The reports will be made available to the membership after having been presented at the Executive Board. Normally the reports will be drafted by the Committee Chair and agreed upon by the Committee members prior to being presented at the Executive Board. The Committee cannot commit the use of YusApuY financial or human resources without prior approval from the Executive Board.