That Oct. 23 three-judge ruling resulted in the voiding of a lower court's restraining order against a merger between the UTU and the Sheet Metal Workers International Association.

The purpose of the petition for rehearing by all the court's judges was to clarify the earlier ruling, which was interpreted as inconclusive even though it served to void the restraining order.

What is crucial to UTU members, however, is that there is nothing in the March 17 Sixth Circuit order, or the case itself, that requires implementation of the merger. In fact, there was never an allegation before the federal district court in Akron, or before the Sixth Circuit, that the merger must go forward.

"We are the UTU today and we will be the UTU tomorrow," said UTU International President Mike Futhey.

Indeed, in July 2009, the UTU Board of Directors unanimously passed a resolution that a merger between the UTU and the Sheet Metal Workers International Association "cannot and should not proceed."

In passing that resolution, the UTU Board of Directors took note that:

• A former UTU International president "erroneously determined" not to present a SMART constitution to the members with the ratification materials for the stated reasons that it would have been too costly and confusing to the UTU membership, and that he anticipated that the UTU constitution would be amended at the August 2007 UTU convention.

• As a consequence of this error, UTU members were deprived of a critical document upon which to base their merger vote.

• Prior to the merger ratification vote, the former UTU International president and the SMWIA general president repeatedly assured the UTU Board of Directors and the UTU membership that there were no conflicts between the UTU and SMWIA constitutions, but after the vote, a SMWIA memo identified 42 potential conflicts between the two documents.

• The UTU Board of Directors is aware that UTU International President Mike Futhey has made every effort to negotiate a SMART constitution to be ratified by the membership with the general president of the SMWIA, who has refused to commence negotiations of a SMART constitution to be presented to the UTU membership for ratification without unreasonable preconditions.

• The UTU Board of Directors recognizes that the UTU Constitution grants authority to the UTU International President to set policy as it pertains to the UTU's execution of a merger with another union.

It was therefore resolved by the UTU Board of Directors that:

"The UTU Board of Directors fully supports and concurs in the position of International President M.B. Futhey that the merger ratification vote conducted in 2007 did not approve a merger with the SMWIA because a critical document, the SMART constitution, was not provided to the UTU membership; that a material misrepresentation was made to the UTU membership when it was represented that there were no conflicts between the SMWIA constitution and the UTU Constitution, and therefore a merger with the SMWIA cannot and should not proceed."