8.1 AFFILIATES

a. Affiliates of the Association shall be chartered by a majority vote of the Executive Committee.

b. Each affiliate shall conduct elections with open nominations and a secret ballot except as may otherwise be provided in the Constitution, these Bylaws, or the Standing Rules. A secret ballot shall not be required in elections in which the number of candidates nominated does not exceed the number of positions to be filled.

8.3 GOVERNANCE AFFILIATES

a. A local affiliate, the basic unit of self-governance within the Association, may be organized in a manner which comprises any compatible group, meeting at least the minimum standards of affiliation.

b. An organization shall not be eligible for Association affiliation as a dual-national local affiliate unless:

1. The organization is from a jurisdiction:

i. which, by operation of law, has been created by combining, in whole or in part, other jurisdictions in which both Association and American Federation of Teachers local affiliates had representational status; or

ii. in which the Association membership and the American Federation of Teachers membership were relatively equal (i.e., neither organization had more than sixty (60) percent of the combined membership); or

iii. in which, during the preceding six (6) years, both the Association local affiliate and the American Federation of Teachers local affiliate had been officially recognized as the employee representative; or

iv. in a state in which there is a dual national state affiliate; and

2. The creation of the organization has been approved by at least a two thirds (2/3) vote of the board of directors (or equivalent governing body) of the relevant state affiliate and by at least a two thirds (2/3) vote of the board of directors (or equivalent governing body) of any pre-existing local affiliate of the Association that was a predecessor of the organization seeking to be a dual-national local affiliate.

c. A state affiliate shall be the association within each state or commonwealth and the associations representing the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the Federal Education Association, and such other comparable associations that meet at least the minimum standards of affiliation.

8.7 STANDARDS FOR LOCAL AFFILIATES

The Association shall not affiliate a local association, including a dual-national local affiliate, unless it meets the following minimum standards:

a. Each affiliate shall apply the one-person-one-vote principle for representation on its governing bodies except that (i) the affiliate shall take such steps as are legally permissible to achieve ethnic-minority representation at least proportionate to its ethnic-minority membership and (ii) the affiliate may adopt a provision in its governing documents that would permit that local to allocate a minimum of one (1) representative or delegate to members at each work site of a school district or higher education institution within the jurisdiction of the affiliate.

Where an all-inclusive affiliate exists, it shall provide proportionate representation between its non-supervisor members and its supervisor members;

b. The affiliate shall conduct all elections with open nominations and secret ballot;

c. The affiliate shall require membership in the Association and in its state affiliate where eligible.

If an affiliate enrolls educational support personnel in any membership category and as a matter of policy seeks to recruit and represent such members, the affiliate (i) shall grant them full rights of participation and (ii) shall require them to be members of the Association and its state affiliate where eligible;

d. The affiliate is comprised predominantly of persons who are eligible for active membership (or the equivalently designated membership category) in the state affiliate, unless the state affiliate by action of its board of directors (or equivalent governing body) approves such affiliation. This requirement shall not apply to any local association that was an affiliate of the Association as of the effective date of this amendment.

e. The affiliate shall be reviewed by the Association to determine compliance with minimum standards for affiliation at least once every five (5) years;

f. The affiliate shall have the same membership year as that of the Association;

g. The affiliate shall guarantee that no member of said affiliate may be censured, suspended, or expelled without a due process hearing, which shall include an appropriate appellate procedure; and

h. The affiliate shall deny membership to an individual while said individual is denied membership in the Association pursuant to Bylaw 2-3.d.

8.9 LOCAL AFFILIATION BY STATE

A local association meeting the requirements for affiliation stipulated in the governing documents of the Association and of the state affiliate shall be granted affiliate status by the appropriate state affiliate.

8.17 CHARTER FOR AFFILIATION

a. The Association shall charter no more than one (1) local affiliate within the same jurisdictional boundaries, with the exception that affiliates not competing for the same category of membership may be chartered. Where two (2) or more local affiliates of the same category of membership qualify for affiliation in the same jurisdictional boundaries, the Association shall charter the prospective local affiliate with the greater number of active members.