The AFM International Executive Board has authorized AFM President Tino Gagliardi to negotiate with Local 802 over the purchase of our building. We are thrilled that this option is moving forward and hopeful that we can make the numbers work for both sides. We expect this negotiation to begin within the next two weeks and expect that it will go quickly. However, it resolves, we will report on this at the membership meeting on October 22 at 5pm (register now for this important meeting).

Whether or not this negotiation succeeds, it is looking more and more that we will have to give up our building to ensure the future financial security of our union. A review of the process entailed in selling our building is in order, so please continue to read below. First, the relevant bylaws followed by an explanation of what they mean. (As always, members in good standing can download our complete bylaws at https://info.local802afm.org. Click on MEMBER DOCS after you log in.)

Article VIII, section 7 deals with membership referendums:

Section 7. Referendum. 

(a) A referendum shall be deemed to be a secret-ballot vote, mailed to the entire membership of the Local. 

(b) A referendum shall be held on any particular proposal provided that a petition for the referendum signed by at least one thousand members in good standing is submitted to the Recording Vice President of the Local, and provided further that a motion to submit the question contained in said petition to a referendum is carried by a majority of those present and voting at a membership meeting, providing, however, that the said petition for the referendum shall have been published in the official Journal prior to the membership meeting at which same has been submitted for approval, and further providing, that the proposal to be voted on in the referendum must be clearly stated in the petition. 

(c) No proposal shall be submitted for a referendum more than once within a twelve-month period. And it shall not be permitted to submit a proposal the contents of which are similar in nature to a proposal already acted upon by referendum, unless twelve months have passed since the original proposal has been acted upon. 

(d) Voting on the Referendum. When a referendum has been called for as hereinabove set forth then it shall be the duty of the Executive Board to provide all the machinery and make all necessary appropriations and take all necessary steps for the holding of such referendum. 

(e) Not less than fourteen days notice of the holding of the referendum must be given to the membership, either by publication in the official Journal or by mail prior to the referendum vote date. The Executive Board shall set forth the time and limit for the mailing of the ballots to be returned to the Local after having been voted on by the membership. But in no event shall less than fourteen days elapse between the time that the Local mails the ballots to the membership and the deadline when such ballots must be returned to the Local. 

(f) The Executive Board shall publish the result of the referendum in the issue of the official Journal next following the completion of the tabulation of the votes. 

Article III, section 9 (building fund) deals with funding the building and a sale of the building:

Section 9. Building Fund 

(a) There shall be a Building Fund of the Local separate and apart from the General Fund which shall derive its funding pursuant to Section 5(a) of the Article. 

(b) The Building Fund shall be used, at the discretion of the Executive Board, to finance building maintenance, repairs and renovations of the Local’s property at 322 W. 48th St. 

(c) In the case of extraordinary expenses incurred in the maintenance, repair or renovations to 322 W. 48th St, any amount over two million dollars ($2,000,000) in the Strike Fund may, at the discretion of the Executive Board, be transferred to the Building Fund. Additionally, amounts below two million dollars ($2,000,000) in the Strike Fund may be lent to the Building Fund at the discretion of the Executive Board. 

(d) Building Sale 

The Executive Board shall have the right to sell the Local’s property at 322 W. 48th St, but may do so only after gaining the approval of the membership through a referendum vote. Upon execution of such a sale, monies in the building fund shall revert to the general fund of the Local. 

Considering both these bylaws simultaneously, the building bylaw mandates a referendum to gain permission to sell. Therefore, on counsel’s advice, we would skip step one of the referendum process (“a petition for the referendum signed by at least one thousand members in good standing is submitted to the Recording Vice President of the Local”).

The reason we can skip this step is that the petition is only required to authorize a referendum. We would proceed to and begin with step 2 of the referendum bylaw: the vote of the members present at a duly convened membership meeting. A motion would be needed calling for a secret ballot vote of the entire membership (the referendum). If that passes, we would proceed to the referendum itself which entails snail-mailing a ballot on the question to every member of 802. This process will certainly take weeks or even months, so we hope to start it at the October meeting, but the agenda is already heavy and we may need to wait to address this motion at the February meeting.

There is little other news on the building since our last report. We have been working to secure the building with a new security system and updated fire system as there are no immediate plans to occupy the building again soon. We also shut off the water.

Thank you to all who attended the three building meetings in person or on Zoom over the last three months. They were intended to offer facts and numbers that accurately describe the status of the building project now. They were also a forum for any and all questions from members and I was encouraged to hear the level of engagement expressed in the many intelligent and cogent questions asked. I did my utmost to answer every question fully and transparently, as much as I was able, and I hope it was useful for all who participated. Please feel free to ask me more (at scutler@local802afm.org) and to talk to your co-members and colleagues to share your understanding of where we are headed.

One more thing. I’d like to quote from Karen Fisher’s report in this issue of Allegro: “I hope that our building situation is not a shock or surprise to you. For the past year, we’ve been writing about it, posting about it, e-mailing about it, and have hosted three public meetings (both in-person and on Zoom) open to all members. The most recent meeting took place on Sept. 18, 2025. We publicized all of these meetings on our social media as well as through e-mail blasts to all members. We’ve tried to be as transparent as possible.”

I look forward to our membership meeting on Oct. 22, when we will hopefully have some good news to impart!