Over the last several months, the PROTEC17 constitution committee has continued their important work (virtually) to revise the governing document of our union. Started as a Regional Executive Committee (REC) project in 2019, the first revision – to allow for electronic balloting – was voted on and passed by the membership in early March. 

The PROTEC17 constitution contains articles guiding the objectives, governance, membership, election procedures, policies, and more for our union. It is an instrumental document that sets the structure of our organization. 

The constitution committee – consisting of REC delegates Marc Anderson (King County), Rachael Brooks (City of Seattle), Ulysses Hilliard (City of Seattle), Jake Jacobovitch (King County), Dan Santon (King County) and Sean Simmons (WSDOT) – is continuing to go through the document line-by-line to ensure it’s up-to-date and integrates and improves upon current technologies and processes. 

The PROTEC17 constitution has not been heavily revised since 2011 when our members voted to disaffiliate from IFPTE, our international union. At that time, the constitutional language was cleaned up to reflect changes to our name (PTE17) and new independent status. In 2020, the committee will also be updating the language to reflect our 2019 rebranding to PROTEC17. 

The next round of proposed revisions will go to members this summer for a vote – this time via electronic ballot – likely at the beginning of August, barring any COVID-19 related delays. Members should expect to receive more information about constitutional changes via their personal email. If you need to update your contact information to ensure you receive a ballot, please email .