UNION CREDIT CARDS

Our Local has a practice of giving Officers credit cards. The International has found credit cards in the name of other Locals to be a source of fraud and theft from those sister Locals. It is recommended that Local 720 move to a policy of the reimbursement of receipts. This would help avoid the problems that some other labor unions have seen. I would like to help usher Local 720 into getting rid of any credit cards.

Our Constitution already requires that the Executive Board approve any legitimate expenses. By getting rid of credit cards we can stay with our Constitution that allows the Executive Board to approve reimbursements for legitimate expenses. This oversight is missing with the use of Union credit cards. Charges to credit cards immediately become the liability of Local 720.

While serving as the Interim Secretary-Treasurer, President Jaynes and I discussed this issue. After the conversation, I created a standardized form for submitting receipts so that the Executive Board could always see a clean summary on the cover page that accompanies the receipts that President Jaynes and Business Rep Thorne are now using. This has been shown to work very well since February. The members of the Executive Board can see the full receipts that come with the form before they approve expenses.

I would like to help Local 720 to take the steps necessary to close our credit card accounts completely.