Protest Decisions

IN RE: BOB Doss,
Protest Decision 2001 EAD 401
Issued: June 28, 2001
OEA Case No. PR061411WE

Bob Doss, member of Local 63 and delegate, 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"). He alleges that Ralph Ekelman, Local 63 member and delegate, passed out campaign literature to members while on duty at Yellow Freight.

Election Administrator representative Lisa Sonia Taylor investigated this protest.

Findings of Fact and Analysis

Ekelman is employed at Yellow Freight in San Bernardino, California where his shift begins at 8 o'clock in the morning. Doss' witness Ron Seamans, a Local 63 business agent, stated that on June 12, 2001 at approximately 8:15 a.m., he observed Ekelman placing literature on tables in the break room at the Yellow Freight facility in Sam Bernardino, California. Doss claims that the literature was campaign related and therefore Ekelman was campaigning on company time.

Ekelman denies that he was campaigning on company time the morning of June 12, 2001. He states that he was merely showing members copies of portions of an LM-2 report that he had received the previous day. Unions file LM-2 reports with the Department of Labor. Among other things, they disclose the salaries of union officials. Doss states that the LM-2 report was campaign material. While Doss' witness Seamans claims that Ekelman also placed campaign flyers in the break room, he was unable to produce a copy of the flyer. We find that Ekelman's material was limited, as he claims, to copies of LM-2 excerpts.

Another business agent, Rob Kniss, claims that after Ekelman came out of the break room and approached a group of business agents, including Kniss, who were gathered outside with members. Kniss says that the business agents were conducting a yard visit that morning and that Ekelman distributed copies of the LM-2 excerpts to the group.

We DENY the protest. There is insufficient evidence linking the distribution of the LM-2 excerpts here to the International officer election, and accordingly Ekelman's conduct is not governed by the Rules.

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 15^th Street, N.W., 10^th Floor, Washington, D.C. 20005 (fax: 202-454-1501), all within the time 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 401

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