IN RE: LEEDHAM SLATE,
Protest Decision 2001 EAD 406
Issued: July 5, 2001
OEA Case Nos. PR062711NA
Stefan Ostrach, for the Tom Leedham Rank and File Power Slate, 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"). It alleges that on during the IBT convention the IBT discriminatorily provided access to the convention floor to media representatives sympathetic to the Hoffa administration and denied access to media sympathetic to the Leedham campaign.
Election Administrator representative Michael Nicholson investigated the protest.
Findings of Fact and Analysis
William Jenkins is a representative of the Chicago cable television program Labor Beat, as well as a representative of a Chicago area FM radio station. He attended the IBT convention in that capacity. He is alleged by the Leedham campaign to be sympathetic to it. On Tuesday of convention week, June 26, 2001, he was standing in the designated media area in the convention hall, which was separated by a rope line from the area of the convention floor where convention delegates were seated. He observed a film crew gain entrance to the delegate seating area. He asked for similar access, but was refused, and was directed to the media center. He did not gain access to the delegate seating area that day.
The film crew that Jenkins observed on the convention floor was filming a documentary on the Overnite labor dispute for a production company under contract with the HBO cable network. The film they are shooting will not be aired until 2002. No footage will be publicly available before then, and none will be issued to the IBT or to any International office candidates. The documentary has been shot at a number of locations, not just the IBT convention. The crew was given access by the IBT because of the special nature of their project.
In addition, IBT convention production officials from time to time during the convention escorted members of the media into the delegate seating area to film or photograph delegates and/or the convention podium close up. When this protest was discussed with a member of the IBT production staff, he readily agreed to provide Jenkins with the same floor access as was being provided to other members of the media, and immediately did so.
Based on the foregoing, this protest is deemed RESOLVED. Jenkins received the floor access he sought, and any earlier refusal of access that may have occurred was remedied.
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, (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 406
DISTRIBUTION LIST VIA UPS NEXT DAY AIR:
Patrick Szymanski
IBT General Counsel
25 Louisiana Ave. NW
Washington, DC 20001
Bradley T. Raymond
Finkel, Whitefield, Selik,
Raymond, Ferrara & Feldman
32300 Northwestern Highway
Suite 200
Farmington Hills, MI 48334
J. Douglas Korney
Korney & Heldt
30700 Telegraph Road
Suite 1551
Bingham Farms, MI 48025
Barbara Harvey
Penobscot Building
Suite 1800
645 Griswold
Detroit, MI 48226
Betty Grdina
Yablonski, Both & Edelman
Suite 800
1140 Connecticut Ave. NW
Washington, D.C. 20036
Tom Leedham Rank and File
Power Slate
c/o Stefan Ostrach
110 Mayfair
Eugene, OR 97404
William Jenkins
37. South Ashland
Chicago, IL 60607
James Wallington
Baptiste & Wilder, P.C.
1150 Connecticut Ave. NW
Suite 5000
Washington, DC 20036