Turning the pages back...

June 8, 1983

Fifteen years ago, at an annual meeting of the Ukrainian National Association's Supreme Assembly, the merger of the UNA with the Ukrainian Fraternal Association was approved after the 1982 convention gave the go-ahead.

Following are excerpts from The Weekly's 1983 report on the merger issue.

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On June 8, the Supreme Assembly unanimously approved a resolution empowering the Supreme Executive Committee "to prepare a proper contract of merger and take all other steps it deems necessary" so that the merger of the UNA and UFA can be duly effectuated at the 1986 convention of the UNA and of the UFA, or at a special convention to be held by autumn of 1984.

The merger of the UNA and UFA had been discussed the previous day. UNA President John O. Flis reported the following. The UNA's executives continued to meet with representatives of the Ukrainian Fraternal Association and further plans were made for merger at a special joint convention to be held in the autumn of 1984. The merged fraternal would be known as Ukrainian National Fraternal Association, if the merger is approved at that Special Convention. The tentative date of merger is the autumn of 1984. The convention delegates of the two fraternals would meet in a final session if the merger is approved.

Some of the details of the merger, Mr. Flis said, are as follows:

• The main office of the merged organization would be in Jersey City.
  
  
• The proposed by-laws of the new organization are to be drawn by a by-laws committee composed of three members from each fraternal and these by-laws are to be modeled upon the by-laws of other ethnic fraternals.
  
  
• The merged fraternal would retain Svoboda as a Ukrainian daily newspaper, Narodna Volia as a Ukrainian weekly newspaper and The Ukrainian Weekly as an English-language weekly. Forum would continue to be published quarterly, and Veselka would continue to be published as a monthly.
  
  
• The Executive Committee would be composed of nine members. The executive vice-president, the assistant secretary, the assistant treasurer, and the second director for Canada, as well as two out of seven auditors and six of 16 advisors would be elected from the ranks of the Ukrainian Fraternal Association at the 1986 convention..

Mr. Flis concluded his report by pointing out that the UNA Supreme Executive Committee in the past indicated that it is in favor of merger of these two institutions, both bastions of Ukrainian nationalism and American and Canadian patriotism, and stating that the Supreme Executive Committee asks for further authority to bring about this union of the two oldest and largest Ukrainian fraternals. The next day the Supreme Assembly unanimously adopted a resolution approving further steps toward the merger.

* * *

The merger was later rejected by the UFA's convention. The idea has since been resurrected. Last month the UNA's 34th Convention voted to approve the merger (the merger contract is different today); the UFA will take action at its 24th Convention on June 15-17.

Source: "Supreme Assembly approves UNA-UFA merger," The Ukrainian Weekly, June 12, 1983, Vol. LI, No. 24.

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, June 7, 1998, No. 23, Vol. LXVI

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