Monthly Publication
August 2019
SPEEA Tellers oversee union elections, Council district boundaries and the auditors’ annual report. They also
hear election charges. Shown here are Saher Ahmad, NW Teller, Michael Knopp, NW Teller secretary, and
Steve Karich, NW and SPEEA Teller chair who just retired. Other Tellers include Lynda Maynard, SPEEA
NW Teller and SPEEA Teller secretary. RG Reser, Midwest Teller chair, just retired, too.
Council officers’ bios – P4
Auditors’ Report – P5-10
ILCA LABOR MEDIA WARD WINNER
Election committee
members make a
difference
Steve Karich served in many roles for SPEEA, but nothing felt quite as rewarding as counting ballots, looking at
spreadsheets, reviewing auditors’ reports and
hearing election charges.
Karich, an environmental engineer, retired Aug.
1, after 30 years at Boeing. He became a Teller
when former SPEEA President Cynthia Cole
recruited him in 2012 to join the committee
which oversees union elections.
At the time, he was serving on the Judicial
Review Committee (JRC).
“It wasn’t satisfying,” he said about the JRC.
“There was no real mandate – we only met if
someone filed charges.”
As a Teller, he has counted ballots for contract
votes, Council Rep elections and Executive
Board elections, Council motions and Council
votes for new and interim officer elections in
addition to other Teller duties.
“I learned way more than I thought. You get
to see what goes on in the union in ways you
can’t foresee.”
He encourages others to join – the Tellers are
operating with fewer members than needed in
both the Northwest and Midwest.
“Do it if you’re interested in seeing how your
union operates and functions,” he said, but
added, “be prepared to read the governing
documents over and over.”
Karich, who worked for Boeing Facilities, spent
30 years in aerospace. In college, he interned for
two summers at Weyerhaeuser, a timber company, and had a job offer after graduating. Just
before graduating, he received a letter saying the
job was no longer available. He went to work at
Boeing as a lab chemist, but only stayed three
weeks because he took another job offer doing
waste dump treatment design. “I wanted to do
Continued on page 2
Go to page 11