IN RE: PATTY MOHAWK-DAVIS,
Protest Decision 2001 EAD 117
Issued: January 30, 2001
OEA Case Nos. PR012211WE and PR012311WE
Patty Mohawk-Davis, a member and business representative of Local 572, filed pre-election protests pursuant to Article XIII, Section 2(b) of the Rules for the 2000-2001 IBT International Union Delegate and Officer Election ("Rules"). Mohawk-Davis alleges that the "572 Members for a Stronger Union slate" (the "MSU slate") submitted a slate declaration that is void under Article VIII of the Rules.
Election Administrator representative Dolly Gee investigated the protests.
Findings of Fact
Article II, Section 9 of the Rules provides that candidates for delegate and alternate are permitted to seek nomination, be nominated, campaign and appear on the ballot as members of a slate of candidates, regardless of whether the slate is a full or partial slate. Article II, Section 10(b) provides the members of each slate shall determine the order of each candidate's name within the slate listing. "Slate" is defined in Paragraph 40 of the Definition Section of the Rules as any grouping by mutual consent of two or more candidates.
Article VIII of the Rules deals with the formation of slates. Article VIII, Section 1(b) provides that to form a slate, there shall be mutual consent between and among all candidates running on the slate. Such mutual consent shall be evidenced by the signing of a declaration by all members of the slate, giving the position that each candidate seeks and the name, if any, of the slate to be formed. Slate declaration forms for delegate and alternate delegate nominations and elections are to be submitted to the local union's secretary-treasurer (with a copy to the Election Administrator). Amended declarations may be submitted adding additional candidates, provided that the deadlines specified in Article VIII are met. Article VIII, Section 1(c) provides that in the case of delegate and alternate delegate nominations and elections, such slate declaration shall be filed at the earliest possible date but in no event later than three (3) days after the local union's final delegate nomination meeting.
The Slate Declaration form provided by the Election Administrator provides the following instructions:
"IMPORTANT: All names and signatures of candidates forming a slate must be obtained on a single form. The name of all of the members of the slates must be entered before any signatures are entered. In addition, the exact count of candidates must be filled in below before any signatures are executed. To expand a slate, a complete new Slate Declaration form must be executed by each member of the slate."
The body of the Slate Declaration form reads:
"I, the undersigned, hereby affiliate with the slate of candidates listed below. I declare that I am a candidate for the position listed next to my name. I further declare that I have agreed to form a slate with all candidates listed, and that they have agreed to form a slate with me. I have confirmed that the figure filled in under 'Number of Candidates on Slate' (Required) above conforms with the number of candidates who are members of my slate and whose names appear below. I declare that I am a member in good standing of my Local Union and that I am not a member of another slate".
It should be noted that the instructions that appear on the Slate Declaration form are not reflected in the wording of the Rules themselves.
Mohawk-Davis alleges that the MSU slate's declaration forms were faxed to slate members for signatures, in violation of the Rules, that a slate member's name was crossed off after some or all candidates had signed the slate declaration, that Local 572 did not receive the slate declaration within three days of the local union's January 17, 2001 nomination meeting, and that the signatures on the slate declaration forms were neither originals nor authenticated.
Lupe Ramirez, Frank Halstead and others testified for the MSU slate. Witness Lupe Ramirez testified that she handwrote the slate members' names on the declaration form, and that as she was doing so she made an error, crossed out the error (because she had no extra blank copies of the form). She says that she wrote the full list of slate members names on the form before signatures were sought. Halstead corroborates Ramirez, and in the absence of contradiction, we credit their account.
Ramirez further states that she obtained original signatures for slate members one (Jack Rice) through nine (Gilmer Morales). She witnessed each sign their names, except for Rice and Teixeira. As to these two, Ramirez left the slate form on their respective desks and later retrieved the signed form. Both Rice and Teixeira confirmed that they had personally signed the slate form. After obtaining these nine signatures, Ramirez then faxed the slate form to Halstead, who in turn personally obtained original signatures on the faxed form for candidates ten (Halstead) through nineteen (Reynaldo Miramontes). Later, Ramirez provided Halstead with the sheet containing original signatures for candidates one through nine.
Another candidate placed his original signature on another faxed copy of the slate declaration form. Therefore, there are three documents containing original signatures of the MSU slate candidates.
Halstead unsuccessfully tried to fax a copy of the fully signed slate form to Local 572 on Friday, January 19, 2001. He faxed a copy to investigator Gee and Election Administrator Regional Director Christine Mrak on that date. On Saturday, January 20, at 11:35 a.m., Halstead hand delivered the slate declaration to Local 572. The secretary originally stamped the document as received on January 22, 2001, but then crossed out that date and restamped the form as received on January 20.
As Mohawk-Davis alleges, Teixeira attempted to retract his slate declaration after he had signed, but has since stated that this retraction was withdrawn. Article VIII, Section 2(a) of the Rules, in any case, precludes such retractions.
Analysis
As noted above, the requirements with respect to entry of names of the members of a slate before any signatures are entered and the requirement that the exact count of candidates be filled in before any signatures are executed are not requirements which appear in the Rules. These requirements appear only on the Election Administrator's slate declaration form. The declaration form goes on to provide that each of the candidates listed has agreed to form a slate and has agreed to form a slate with the other people listed. No member of the MSU slate has filed a protest against the slate's declaration asserting that he or she did not mutually consent with each of the other slate members to form the slate. The protest was instead filed by Mohawk-Davis, a non-member of the slate.
The purpose of the Rules is to ensure "fair, honest, open and informed elections". Rules, Article I. The purpose of the directions on the slate declaration form is to ensure that there is indeed "mutual consent between and among all candidates running on a slate" to their doing so. Article VIII, Section 1(b) of the Rules provides that "[s]uch mutual consent shall be evidenced by the signing of a declaration by all members of the slate, giving the position that each candidate seeks and the name, if any, of the slate to be formed."
Here, there is sufficient evidence of the requisite mutual intent to form the challenged MSU slate. Thus, we credit the uncontradicted testimony of slate members that signatures were not solicited until after all names were placed on the form. By signing the form in this manner, the slate members indicated their mutual consent to run together as members of a slate.
We also reject the protestor's claim that all original signatures must appear on the same document, and that slate members may not overcome the difficulties posed by the geographic separation of their workplaces by obtaining signatures on counterpart originals using facsimile transmissions. To hold otherwise would be to unduly restrain the right of candidates to form slates within the tight time constraints imposed for submission of slate declarations.
We also reject the protestor's other claims based on the facts established by our investigation. Thus, contrary to the protestor, the slate declaration was timely submitted to the local union within three days of the local's January 17 nomination meeting. Further, Ramirez' testimony contradicts the protestor's claim that a slate member's name was crossed off after some or all candidates had signed the slate declaration. In addition, we are satisfied that the signatures on the slate declaration forms are authentic.
For these reasons, the protest is DENIED.
Any interested party not satisfied with this determination may request a hearing before the Election Appeals Master within two (2) working days of receipt of this decision. The parties are reminded that, absent extraordinary circumstances, no party may rely upon evidence that was not presented to the Office of the Election Administrator in any such appeal. Requests for a hearing shall be made in writing, shall specify the basis for the appeal, and shall be served upon:
Kenneth Conboy
Election Appeals Master
Latham & Watkins
Suite 1000
885 Third Avenue
New York, New York 10022
Fax: 212-751-4864
Copies of the request for hearing must be served upon all other parties, as well as upon the Election Administrator for the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, 727 15th Street NW, Tenth Floor, Washington, DC 20005, all within the time period prescribed above. A copy of the protest must accompany the request for hearing.
William A. Wertheimer, Jr.
William A. Wertheimer, Jr.
Election Administrator
cc: Kenneth Conboy
2001 EAD 117
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IBT Local 572
Attn: Patty Mohawk-Davis
450 Carson Plaza Drive
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Frank Halstead
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