[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 29, Volume 2]
[Revised as of July 1, 2005]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 29CFR452.41]

[Page 181-182]
 
                             TITLE 29--LABOR
 
  CHAPTER IV--OFFICE OF LABOR-MANAGEMENT STANDARDS, DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
 
PART 452_GENERAL STATEMENT CONCERNING THE ELECTION PROVISIONS OF THE 
LABOR-MANAGEMENT REPORTING AND DISCLOSURE ACT OF 1959--Table of Contents
 
        Subpart E_Candidacy for Office; Reasonable Qualifications
 
Sec. 452.41  Working at the trade.

    (a) It would ordinarily be reasonable for a union to require 
candidates to be employed at the trade or even to have been so employed 
for a reasonable period. In applying such a rule an unemployed member is 
considered to be working at the trade if he is actively seeking such 
employment. Such a requirement should not be so inflexible as to 
disqualify those members who are familiar with the trade but who because 
of illness, economic conditions, or other good reasons are temporarily 
not working.
    (b) It would be unreasonable for a union to prevent a person from 
continuing his membership rights on the basis of failure to meet a 
qualification which the union itself arbitrarily prevents the member 
from satisfying. If a member is willing and able to pay his union dues 
to maintain his good standing and his right to run for office, it would 
be unreasonable for the union to refuse to accept such dues merely 
because the person is temporarily unemployed. Where a union constitution 
requires applicants for membership to be actively employed in the 
industry served by the union, a person who becomes a member would not be 
considered to forfeit his membership in the union or any of the 
attendant rights of membership merely because he is discharged or laid 
off.
    (c) Ordinarily members working part-time at the trade may not for 
that reason alone be denied the right to run for office.

[[Page 182]]

    (d) A labor organization may postpone the right to run for office of 
members enrolled in a bona fide apprenticeship program until such 
members complete their apprenticeship.