Protest Decisions

            Fred Zuckerman, member and principal officer of Local Union 89 and candidate for IBT Central region vice president on the Gegare-Sheard slate, filed a pre-election protest pursuant to Article XIII, Section 2(b) of the Rules for the 2010-2011 IBT International Union Delegate and Officer Election (“Rules”).  The protest alleged that Hoffa-Hall 2011 impermissibly sent campaign material by email to employees of local unions using email addresses supported by local union resources.

            Election Supervisor representative Joe Childers investigated this protest.

Findings of Fact and Analysis

            The protest alleged that on August 25, 2011, employees of Local Unions 89, 120, and 279 received a campaign email from James Hoffa, candidate for re-election as IBT General President.  The subject line of the message read, “Get Your Hoffa-Hall 2011 Bumper Sticker.”  The body of the message stated that the Hoffa-Hall 2011 slate “is united and ready to lead,” and asked recipients to join and be a part of the campaign.  The message concluded with the following disclaimer: “This email is distributed by Hoffa-Hall 2011, which is solely responsible for its contents.  The message has not been reviewed or endorsed by the IBT.  Titles are for identification purposes only.” 

            The protest asserted that the distribution impermissibly used email addresses provided by local unions to communicate the campaign message to recipients.  According to the protest, this use was impermissible because Article VII, Section 12(c) prohibits use of union resources to campaign, unless advance written notice of the availability of such resources is given to all candidates.

            Investigation showed that the Hoffa campaign email was distributed using an email list compiled by the IBT.  The IBT list consists of those email addresses provided by visitors to www.teamster.org who have signed up for “alerts.”  While most of the email addresses on that list likely are those of active members of Teamsters local unions or other affiliates, the list also contains email addresses for Teamster retirees and other non-members.  Some of the email addresses on the list, including those about which the protest here was filed, are those of officers and employees of Teamster local unions.

            Notice of the availability of the IBT list for use in campaigning is provided by the Rules[1]and by Advisory.[2]  The IBT has identified a third-party vendor to receive the campaign material from candidates and send it to the email addresses on the IBT list.  Investigation showed that Hoffa-Hall 2011 followed the procedures laid out in the cited Rules provision and the Advisory, including inserting the disclaimer required by the Advisory in the emailed campaign message.

            Under these circumstances, we find no violation of the Rules.  Hoffa-Hall 2011 fully complied with Article VII, Section 7(a)(4) with respect to access to the IBT email list.  To the extent that the IBT list contained email addresses that are supported by local union email servers, Article VII, Section 12(d) was not violated because all candidates had advance written notice of the availability for campaign use of the list containing these addresses.

            Accordingly, we DENY this protest.

            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 Supervisor 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

885 Third Avenue, Suite 1000

New York, NY  10022

Fax: (212) 751-4864

Copies of the request for hearing must be served upon the parties, as well as upon the Election Supervisor for the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, 1801 K Street, N.W., Suite 421 L, Washington, D.C.  20006, all within the time prescribed above.  A copy of the protest must accompany the request for hearing.