IN RE: TOM KRAUSE,
Protest Decision 2001 EAD 143
Issued: February 7, 2000
OEA Case No. PR012513AT
Tom Krause, a member of Local 992, filed a pre-election protest pursuant to Article XIII, Section 2(b) of the Rules for the 2000-2001 IBT International Union Delegate and Officer Election ("Rules") against Local 992. Krause alleges that Local 992 failed to post notices concerning the election protest in a timely manner as required under the Rules.
Election Administrator representative J. Griffin Morgan investigated the protest.
Findings of Fact
Local 992's delegate and alternate delegate nomination meeting was held on January 14, 2001. Local 992 recording secretary Dale Shreve caused postings stating the results of the nomination meeting and the notice of the delegate election to be timely mailed to the local union's stewards with instructions that the postings be immediately placed on the local union's bulletin boards at the worksites of all Local 992 members. Notices were timely mailed to, among others, Keith Hartman, the steward for the dock area at the Roadway Express facility at which Krause is employed.
Hartman, an independent candidate for delegate, says that he cannot recall whether he received the notices in the mail from the local union. He says he was on vacation or sick leave during the time when they would have arrived, and claims that he has been having problems with his mail. In any case, he admits that he did not post the notices mailed to him by the local following the nomination meeting. Shreve states that notices were not mailed to any of the dock area stewards at the Roadway facility other than Hartman.
Shreve says that as soon as he received a copy of the instant protest, he went to the Roadway facility and checked dock area bulletin boards and the two other bulletin boards on which the postings were to have been placed. He states that the notices were on two of the three bulletin boards, but were not on the dock area board. He immediately posted the notices there. While Krause claims that the Notice of Election was not on the city driver's bulletin board, Shreve says that notice was posted on that board. We credit Shreve, who was candid with our investigator concerning the failure of Hartman to post the required notices on the dock board.
Analysis
Article II, Section 6(a) requires that local unions post the results of their nomination meeting within five days of that meeting. Article II, Section 7(d) of the Rules requires that local unions post the Notice of Election on all Union bulletin boards. (Although no time is expressed in the Rules by which the Notice of Election must be so posted, it must be posted in a reasonably prompt manner.) Neither provision was complied with here with respect to the notices mailed to Hartman.
We accordingly GRANT the protest.
Remedy
When the Election Administrator determines that the Rules have been violated, he "may take whatever remedial action is appropriate." Article XIII, Section 4. In fashioning the appropriate remedy, the Election Administrator views the nature and seriousness of the violation as well as its potential for interfering with the election process.
Here, Local 992's failure to post notices on one of several bulletin boards at Roadway was its first failure to timely do so in this election cycle. In such circumstances, an order that all future postings be timely is sufficient. We so order.
Unless otherwise stayed, this order takes immediate effect. Lopez, 96 EAM 73.
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, c/o International Brotherhood of Teamsters, 727 15th Street NW, 10th 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
2001EAD143
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Patrick Szymanski
IBT General Counsel
25 Louisiana Ave. NW
Washington, DC 20001
Fax: 202.624.6884
Bradley T. Raymond
Finkel, Whitefield, Selik, Raymond,
Ferrara & Feldman
32300 Northwestern Highway
Suite 200
Farmington Hills, MI 48334
Fax: 248.855.6501
J. Douglas Korney
Korney & Heldt
30700 Telegraph Road
Suite 1551
Bingham Farms, MI 48025
Fax: 248.646.1054
Barbara Harvey
645 Griswold
Penobscot Building
Suite 1800
Detroit, MI 48226
Fax: 313.963.3572
Betty Grdina
Yablonski, Both & Edelman
1140 Connecticut Ave. NW
Washington, DC 20036
Fax: 202.463.6688
Tom Leedham c/o Stefan Ostrach
110 Mayfair Lane
Eugene, OR 97404
Fax: 541.607.4484
IBT Local 992
10312 Remington Dr.
Hagerstown, MD 21740
Tom Krause
7012 Great Cove Rd.
Warfordsburg, PA 17267