ARTICLE I – Name

The name of this organization shall be Caucus of Rank and File Education Workers (CREW).

ARTICLE II – Purpose

CREW is an unofficial caucus1 of active California Faculty Association (CFA) members working to make the CFA a more participatory, democratic, effective and stronger union that can not only organize the membership for power but for a CSU system that better serves the diverse needs of faculty, staff, students and our communities. To see our statement of unity, see here.

ARTICLE III – Members and Supporters

Section 1. Eligibility for Membership

CREW is open to all members who are or have been members in good standing of the CFA in the past year who openly agree with and complete our statement of unity here.

Members are entitled to vote at regular membership meetings and through all other methods determined by the Election Committee, and to be elected to officer positions.

Section 2. Supporters

Those who are not ready or able to join as members can sign up as Supporters to get our email announcements. Supporters are entitled to attend regular membership meetings but may not vote or be elected to officer positions.

Section 3. Dues

CREW is self-funded and strongly asks that all members commit to contribute to help with costs including online conference fees, printing, web hosting and design, graphic design and other expenses.
Suggested optional CREW dues are means-based, and set at 0.1% (that is, 1/1000th) of a member’s gross CSU pay. (For comparison, CFA dues are 1.35%) As an example, someone earning the 2025 full time Lecturer A minimum of $66,000 annually from the CSU, would have CREW dues of $66 per year, or $5.50 per month. Someone earning the 2025 Professor Maximum of $182,000 would have dues of $182 annually, or $15.16 per month. Dues will be used only for the purpose of organizing CREW members including but not limited to, the cost of in person caucus meetings, hosting the website and other communications tools. No salaries will be paid with dues money.

In case of financial hardship, members can get a dues waiver by contacting the CREW Treasurer or Finance Committee.

Section 4. Maintenance of Good Standing

  1. In order to maintain good standing in the organization, members must:
    • Remain in good standing and act in good faith as CFA members;
    • Attend CREW meetings or communicate with steering about absences/obstacles;
    • Contribute to CREW projects;
    • Organize members on their home campus; and
    • Annually contribute financially to CREW or receive a dues waiver.
  2. A member in good standing shall be eligible to vote in elections and run for officer positions.
  3. Members need to abide by the rules set forth in this Section. If an individual member fails to abide by the rules, a majority vote of the Steering Committee will be required to revoke the individual’s membership or to suspend said membership for a period of time determined by the Steering Committee. A proposal to revoke an individual’s membership must be signed by at least 10 active CREW members. The individual will have the right to move reversal of the Steering Committee’s decision at a meeting of the general membership. The Steering Committee shall have the right to rescind its own previous decisions to suspend or revoke membership based on a later appeal.
  4. When any conflict between CREW members arises that impedes the work of the caucus, the members involved may be referred by majority vote of the Steering Committee or of any General Membership meeting to the Conflict Resolution Committee. The Conflict Resolution Committee shall be set up by the Steering Committee to oversee a process of restorative justice that seeks a voluntary or cooperative resolution.
  5. Upon conclusion of a cooperative resolution, the Conflicts Resolution committee shall report on the actions and plan for the resolution to the Steering Committee. If the conflict cannot be resolved in this manner, then each participant (including the committee) shall write a proposed resolution and submit it to the Steering Committee. The Steering Committee will then vote on a course of action, which may or may not include any of the sanctions reserved for rule breakers.
  6. Criteria for Membership Revocation
    • Rule 1: No CREW member may harass or discriminate against anyone on the basis—real or perceived—of race, religion, creed, ethnicity, age, disability, gender, gender presentation or expression, or sexual orientation.
    • Rule 2: Whenever a candidate for any office related to the CFA has been endorsed by the caucus, no member may stand for that position in opposition to the CREW-endorsed candidate. If a member has been nominated for the position prior to CREW’s endorsement, the member must withdraw their candidacy for the position.
    • Rule 3: CREW members may not violate a decision voted on affirmatively by a majority of any membership meeting. At least one week notice of such vote must given in the call for the meeting.

ARTICLE IV – Steering Committee

Section 1. Steering Committee

A. Composition

The Steering Committee shall consist of the following elected officers of CREW elected to serve one year terms with a maximum of two consecutive terms:

  • Two Co-Chairs, no more than one of them a tenure line member;
  • Secretary;
  • Treasurer (Finance Committee member);
  • Membership Director (Membership Committee member);
  • Communications Director (Communications Committee member);
  • Three Organizers; and
  • Voting representatives of each Special Committee.

When a Special Committee is created (see Article VI), that committee shall elect an interim Chair who will serve as an Interim Steering Committee representative. If this representative is not already a Steering Committee member, the representative will be added to the Steering Committee as an additional member. If the Special Committee still exists in the semester of the next election for members of the Steering Committee the Chair of the Special Committee shall be elected by the eligible Members. No one shall have more than one vote on the Committee.

B. Responsibilities

Membership meetings are the highest deciding bodies of CREW. The Steering Committee serves as the executive agent of the members.

  1. The proposed agenda for regular meetings of the General Membership Committee meetings shall be generated by the Steering Committee;
  2. The decisions for direct action, campaigns, and other business shall be generated by the general membership meetings, and the Steering Committee between membership meetings. The Steering Committee decisions, where possible, shall be voted upon by the membership at the next scheduled General Membership meeting;
  3. General communications from CFA and all other organizations working with CREW shall be shared with the membership at General Membership meetings;
  4. The Steering Committee is the central location for all communication with members, and thus, must make itself available and open to communication to and from all members.
  5. Requests to CREW for petition sign-ons and endorsements of outside actions and statements shall ordinarily be approved by majority vote at General Membership Meetings. However there is an exception for cases where these requests are time-sensitive such that the next General Membership Meeting would be too late for the request to be effectively fulfilled. In such cases, the Steering Committee can vote to approve the endorsement/sign-on under the name “Caucus of Rank and File Education Workers Steering Committee”. Or, the Steering Committee can announce and open an electronic vote, with a voting period of at least 48 hours, for the general membership to approve the endorsement under the name “Caucus of Rank and File Education Workers”.

Section 2. Duties of Officers

All Officers will strive to complete their term and shall serve as chair of a standing or special committee.

  1. Co-Chairs. The co-chairs shall:
    1. serve as chairs of the Steering Committee;
    2. facilitate or arrange facilitation of Steering Committee Meetings and General Meetings
    3. keep current with the work of the various committees as ex-officio members
    4. recruit and developing new candidates for steering committee positions, especially those who would increase the diversity of the committee
    5. be the points of contacts with CFA statewide officials
  2. Secretary. The secretary shall:
    1. Be the chair of the Bylaws Committee when formed;
    2. be responsible for taking accurate minutes of all meetings;
    3. be responsible for maintaining and distributing the minutes to all members;
    4. be responsible for maintaining, making available, and recording updates to these bylaws
    5. have the ability to appoint an assistant Secretary to fulfill duties in case of temporary inability.
  3. Treasurer. The treasurer shall:
    1. be the chair of the Finance Committee;
    2. be responsible for the receipt and deposit of dues and other income into accounts at such banks as the steering committee directs;
    3. keep accurate records of monies received, held, and expended;
    4. make a financial report at each steering committee meeting;
    5. submit a yearly budget for adoption by the steering committee;
    6. have ability to appoint an assistant Treasurer to fulfill duties in case of temporary inability
    7. report back about to the Steering Committee about the work of the Finance Committee
  4. Membership Director
    1. be the chair of the Membership Committee;
    2. be responsible for convening the Membership Committee meetings;
    3. be responsible for maintaining and updating the lists of CREW members in good standing and of supporters, and reporting membership totals at meetings
    4. report back about to the Steering Committee about the work of the Membership Committee
  5. Communications Director. The Communications Director shall:
    1. be the chair of the Outreach/Communications Committee when formed;
    2. be responsible for all contacts with the press;
    3. coordinate dissemination of all literature, materials and information about CREW via email,
    4. Discord, social media, website, or other means;
    5. have ability to appoint assistant Communications Director to fulfill duties in case of temporary inability
  6. Parliamentarian. The parliamentarian shall:
    1. ensure the organization follows the parliamentary procedures as laid out in the bylaws;
    2. adjudicate questions of interpretation of parliamentary procedure where conflicts arise;
    3. provide interpretation of the bylaws themselves when questions arise as to their scope and application;
    4. educate members about how to participate in procedure
  7. Organizers. The Organizers shall:
    1. be the chair of the Organizing committee when formed;
    2. work as needed to increase the effectiveness of CREW
  8. Special Committee Chairs
    1. be a voting member of the associated Special Committee
    2. report back to the Steering Committee about the work of their Committee

Section 4. Procedures for Nominations and Elections of Steering Committee Members

  1. All members in good standing are eligible to run for Steering Committee or Chair of
    Special Committees. No member may run for more than one position at a time.
  2. Elections will be overseen by an Elections Committee established by the Steering
    Committee. It will consist of Members in good standing who hold no other positions and are not running for a position on the Steering Committee.
  3. Nominations will be open as of the April General Meeting. Nominations can be made during the April or May meeting, or submitted to the Elections Committee by email at least 24 hours before the May General Meeting.
  4. Elections will be carried out by the June General Meeting, through a secret ballot.
  5. All members in good standing as of the May General Meeting will be eligible to vote. The list of eligible voters will be provided by the Secretary to the Elections Committee.
  6. Terms of Steering Committee office will be for one year, starting the day after the June General Meeting and continuing through the day of the next year’s June membership meeting.

Section 5. Vacancies in Office

  1. Temporary Vacancies. In the event that a member becomes ill, or is otherwise unable to serve temporarily, and does not have an assistant in place (per Article 4, Section 2), the other members of the Steering Committee can appoint a member to serve in the interim by majority vote.
  2. Resignations. Steering Committee members may resign by doing so in writing at least fourteen (14) days before the regularly scheduled General Meeting. Vacancies in office shall be filled within thirty (30) days by a designee voted in by the Steering Committee and shall serve until the end of the ongoing term, at which time all open positions will be filled by regular election. If the member resigning was elected by a Committee rather than in the annual elections, that committee will be responsible for electing a replacement within 30 days of the resignation.
  3. Removal from Office. Any Steering Committee member who misses two (2) consecutive Steering Committee meetings without prior notification shall be considered derelict in duty and the office declared vacant. Any steering committee member who is otherwise derelict in their duties may be removed by a two-thirds vote of the steering committee. Removal can be appealed to the General Membership Meeting, and reversed by a simple majority vote of the General Membership Meeting. These vacancies shall be treated as other vacancies per Section 4B above.

ARTICLE V – Meetings

Section 1. General Membership Meetings

  1. General Membership meetings are open to all CREW members and supporters and unit members who are interested in joining CREW.
  2. CREW shall strive to make all decisions in the General Meeting.
  3. General Membership meetings will occur at least once a month. Meeting days and times will be set out for the full semester at the first meeting of that semester.
  4. An agenda and link to the meeting will be distributed to the discord and email lists at least one week before the meeting.
  5. The agenda will include time for report backs, discussion, and voting on proposals from each Committee and the Steering Committee.

Section 2. Steering Committee Meetings

  1. Steering Committee meetings will occur at least once a month. Meeting days and times will be determined by those attending the first Steering Committee Meeting for at least one semester.
  2. The Steering Committee will give a report back at each General Meeting and will strive to present all proposed actions to the General Membership meetings for discussion and a vote.
  3. Steering Committee meetings are open to all CREW members.
  4. Only Steering Committee members can vote in Steering Committee Meetings.

Section 3. Committee Meetings

  1. Committees meetings will occur at least once a month. Meeting days and times will be determined by those attending the first Committee Meeting for at least one semester.
  2. Committees will give a report back at each General Meeting and will strive to present all proposed actions to the General Membership meetings for discussion and a vote.
  3. Committee meetings are open to all CREW members.

Section 4. Special Meetings

Special Meetings may be called by three methods:

  1. a majority vote of the General Membership Meeting
  2. a majority vote of the Steering Committee
  3. A written or on-line petition signed by at least 20 Members in Good Standing delivered at either a General Membership or Standing Committee meeting at least 10 days prior to the date of the proposed meeting.

Section 5. Quorum

A quorum shall be one-third of the number of standing members on the Steering Committee plus one.

ARTICLE VI – Committees

The responsibilities of all Committees shall be:

  1. Announce their meeting days, times, location, agenda and online links to the
    membership on the discord server, email list, minutes and any CREW publication at
    least two weeks before the meeting whenever possible.
  2. At the conclusion of each meeting the minutes shall be posted to the membership on the discord and the email list.
  3. Give a brief report to both the Steering and General Membership Committees.

Section 1. Standing Committees

Each Standing Committee shall elect a voting representative to attend the Steering Committee meetings.

A. Finance Committee

The Finance Committee will be responsible for requesting contributions from all CREW
members, managing all funds and issuing a bi-monthly financial report to both the
Steering and General Membership Committees.

B. Membership Committee

The Membership Committee will be responsible for monitoring all new member
registrations. It shall strive to contact all new members within 5 days by email or phone
to welcome them to CREW and on board them to our work and to recruit them to join a
committee.

C. Outreach/Communications Committee

The Outreach/Communications Committee will be responsible for all social media
accounts, email list, discord, publication of an internal newsletter, maintaining the
website and writing and issuing press releases, op eds and other communications.

Section 2. Creation of Special Committees

Special Committees may be formed by a majority vote of the Steering Committee, followed by a majority vote of the General Meeting. A proposal to form a committee should include a brief overview of the objectives and focus of the committee and at least three CREW members and their campus affiliations and contact information who will serve. A proposal signed by at least three CREW members to the Steering Committee will also be voted on by the Steering Committee in the next scheduled meeting after the proposal is received.

The Steering Committee will determine whether additional standing committees will be needed during a contract campaign or at other times. Other Standing Committees will include:

  1. The Organizing Committee shall be formed during contract campaigns and strike
    and other organizing.
  2. The Special Committee shall appoint an Interim Chair according to the process in
    Article IV, Section 1A.
  3. A Bylaws Committee shall be formed when an amendment is proposed according
    to Article VIII.
  4. An Election Committee shall be formed for the purpose of electing officers to the
    Steering Committee, Special Committee chairs, and to hold a vote by members
    in good standing on proposed amendments to the Bylaws specified in Article VIII.

Section 3. Process for Dissolving Committees

  1. Committees may propose that they be dissolved upon a majority vote by the committee at least two weeks prior to the next scheduled Steering and General Membership Committee meetings. Before dissolving the Committee should present their decision for approval to both committees before the committee is officially dissolved.
  2. A Committee that no longer has at least three active members shall be considered dissolved by the Steering and General Membership Committee meetings.

ARTICLE VII – Parliamentary Authority

The rules contained in the current edition of Robert’s Rules of Order Newly Revised shall govern CREW in all cases to which they are applicable and in which they are not inconsistent with these bylaws and any special rules of order CREW may adopt.

We recognize that Robert’s Rules can be cumbersome, that knowledge about how they work is unevenly shared and that this uneven-ness is often exploited to gain unfair advantage within organizations. However since CFA runs on Robert’s Rules, it is important that CREW members gain expertise with them. CREW will proactively work to share knowledge of Robert’s Rules widely among members.

ARTICLE VIII – Amendments

These bylaws may be amended by a majority vote of the membership. This vote must be prompted by submission of a written or on-line petition signed by at least 10 percent of the CREW members in good standing or by a majority vote of the Steering Committee. Once this requirement is met a vote by the members in good standing shall occur in no less than 1 month from the date of the submitted petition or the Steering Committee vote. The vote will be held by a Special Elections Committee described in Article VI, Section 2.1e.

An amendment that is approved by a simple majority vote of members in good standing shall be considered passed. The amendment will be announced on the discord, email list, minutes and any CREW publication. The voting results of all amendments shall be announced within 24 hours of the vote.

Upon the passage of the amendment the Steering Committee shall appoint a Bylaws Special Committee to complete the amendment to the bylaws and inform Members in good standing by email, minutes, and all other available forms of communication.

  1. We are not a formally recognized caucus of CFA but a group of members organizing together to improve our union, inspired by groups such as the Chicago Teachers Union’s Caucus of Rank-and-File Educators, Teamsters for a Democratic Union, and the United Auto Workers’ Unite All Workers for Democracy. ↩︎