The Board of Electors, at its Oct. 19, 1999 meeting, adopted a rule with respect to GCIUNet consistent with Article XIII, Section 20 of the International Constitution, which provides:

"No union funds of any kind or character may be expended to support the candidacy of any candidate in any International election and local unions will afford all candidates equal treatment."

In keeping with this constitutional provision, the board decided not to allow messages of a political nature to be posted on the GCIUNet because the Net is paid for with Union funds. It advised all users by posting a warning on the Net, that such messages would be deleted. The Board made clear that this rule would not apply to e-mails sent and received on privately owned computers and using privately paid for Internet access services.

During the course of the campaign, five messages were deleted from the GCIUNet. In each case, the deletions were made because the message specifically used the name of a candidate the message writer was opposed to and made statements of a derogatory nature. The board adopted an internal rule that any reference to any candidate by name in a derogatory manner would make that message one of a "political nature" and therefore subject to deletion from the Net.

In one case, the author of the message contacted the chairman of the Board of Electors and agreed to changes in the message which deleted the offensive references. The board then agreed to permit the message, as modified, to remain on the Net. In another case, the board let a message remain on the Net which raised legitimate questions about a policy issue (per capita taxes) but did not refer to any candidate by name. This was in keeping with a policy of freedom of expression of viewpoints while prohibiting attacks by name on individuals. Candidates or their supporters who wished to make such personal, political attacks could always do so by using their personal computers and accessing GCIU members through their individual e-mail addresses, rather than posting a message on the GCIUNet.

The board did not respond to attacks upon its integrity because of this policy during the campaign to avoid being drawn into political debates with candidates or their supporters. However, the board at all times administered its policy in an impartial and fair manner, and all decisions were made unanimously.

Respectfully submitted,
Board of Electors