The Board of Governors (BOG) is composed of not more than eighteen CREA members, elected in a secret ballot by the membership for two-year terms. Each division or office is entitled to at least one governor. Their duties are formally laid out in the Constitution. Generally, the BOG is the policy making arm of CREA; specifically, it:
- Establishes procedures for the conduct of its weekly meeting
- Advises and instructs the President on collective bargaining agreement (CBA) issues and on matters of policy and other activities related to employee/management relations
- Approves of committee appointments recommended by the President
- Recommends amendments to the CREA Constitution, the amount and schedule of union dues, and other matters that are then voted on by the CREA members
- Calls membership meetings for the purpose of officer or governor removal and calls other special membership meetings
- Authorizes the arbitration of grievances
- Approves the annual budget prior to the beginning of the new fiscal year and authorizes all other non-budgeted expenditures
- Establishes a Financial Committee of three Board members to oversee union expenditures and arrange for an independent financial review every three years
- Elects officers in the case of vacancies
Many of these activities involve the discussion and resolution of internal affairs and must occur on non-duty hours. Although a BOG member’s time commitment will depend upon his/her participation in various board directed projects or board committees, generally, these activities consume from one to three hours per week. As established by the CREA constitution, three BOG members are appointed to the union’s grievance committee.