EDITORIAL: The UNA convention approaches (04/28/02)

EDITORIAL

The UNA convention approaches

Readers will notice that the front page of this issue is a little unusual in appearance because it carries the program of the 35th Convention of the Ukrainian National Association, which is scheduled to be held on May 24-28 in Chicago. The reasons: tradition and significance. Tradition, because we do this once every four years, which is how often UNA conventions are held, bringing together fraternal activists from various venues throughout the United States and Canada. Significance because the UNA, our publisher, is a solid community organization that has 47,681 members and $66.69 million in assets. During its 108 years of existence, the UNA has led and served our Ukrainian community, thus, its fate should be of concern to all community members.

Inside this issue, readers will also find plenty of material that deals with significant convention events, issues to be discussed and proposals for by-laws changes submitted by UNA officers, districts, branches and individuals. Our purpose here is to provide a brief summation of the issues delegates will be asked to consider and to bring these issues to the fore.

UNA executives who work full-time at the Home Office are proposing several changes to the UNA By-Laws for consideration at the convention. The principal proposal is a reduction in the size of the General Assembly from 25 to 14 members: four executive officers (president, vice-president, secretary and treasurer), three auditors and seven advisors. The execs argue that the 25-member General Assembly has to be reduced to reflect the decrease in UNA membership in the recent past.

Others, however, are asking: But is smaller better? Is it really a good idea to decrease the UNA's representation throughout the territory it serves? They also point out that the argument of proportionality, i.e., that the size of the assembly has to be reduced to reflect the smaller size of the general membership, is not truly valid as the assembly composition was never tied to the number of UNA members; it size was meant to provide a broad representation of the membership across North America.

There are other by-laws issues as well, including the question of whether employees of the UNA should be allowed to serve on the General Assembly, whether advisors should have more defined responsibilities, and whether an honorary member should be allowed to run for office if he/she relinquishes that honorary title.

Another major issue to be discussed in Chicago is the UNA's Canadian membership, which is on the decline at the same time that the expense of doing business in Canada is increasing. In fact, according to the UNA's actuary, the UNA's Canadian business "is barely sufficient to be self-sustaining." Which evokes the question: is it necessary to maintain separate structures for Canada in order to have Canadian members in the UNA? Or should members from Canada simply enroll through the U.S.?

In addition, there is the painful matter of Soyuzivka, the beautiful upstate New York resort owned by the UNA, which continues to post large deficits - close to $500,000 - every year. To be sure, the simplest and quickest solution would be to just sell the resort. But is that what the UNA membership and the broader Ukrainian community want? The UNA is now seeking partners, preferably our Ukrainian American credit unions, to save Soyuzivka. It has also engaged consultants to help the UNA prepare a vision for the resort that will allow it to continue to serve the Ukrainian community. The General Assembly's Standing Committee on Soyuzivka will present a special report to the convention and consultants will be on hand to speak of the Soyuzivka that they envision - a new Soyuzivka that, hopefully, will attract more guests and thus improve its bottom line.

Of course, delegates will also be voting on the UNA's new leadership. At this writing it is uncertain for whom delegates will be able to cast their ballots, not only because of potential by-laws changes that will eliminate some positions on the General Assembly, but also because no one - not even the incumbents - has clearly and publicly announced his/her intentions regarding the offices they seek.

Thus, our advice to delegates is that they read and listen to the outgoing officers' reports, ask questions of candidates once they are known, and insist on getting the answers they need to wisely use their power of the vote.

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