January 29, 1996
VIA HAND DELIVERY
Jon L. Rabine, Secretary-Treasurer
Teamsters Local Union 763
553 John Street, Room 16
Seattle, WA 98109
Ron Zier
1522 N.E. 175th Street #310
Seattle, WA 98155
Re: Election Office Case No. E-019-LU763-EOH
Gentlemen:
The Election Officer determined Ron Zier eligible to run for delegate to the International convention on November 17, 1995. Mr. Zier was nominated to run as a delegate at Local Union 763’s nominations meeting on January 3, 1996. By letter received by the Election Officer on January 5, 1996, Jon Rabine, secretary-treasurer of Local Union 763, protests Mr. Zier’s eligibility to run for delegate. Mr. Rabine alleges that Mr. Zier has not had 24 months continuous good standing prior to his nomination as required by the Rules for the 1995-1996 IBT International Union Delegate and Officer Election (“Rules”).
In order to be eligible to run for delegate to the International convention, a member must be in continuous good standing with his or her local union, with his or her dues paid to the local union for a period of 24 consecutive months prior to the month of nomination with no interruption in active membership due to suspensions, expulsions, withdrawals, transfers or failure to pay fines or assessments and be employed at the craft within the jurisdiction of the local union for a period of 24 consecutive months prior to the month of nomination. Rules, Article VII, Sections 1(a)(1) and (2). In addition, a member must be in good standing at the time of the nomination in order to nominate or second the nomination of a candidate. Rules, Article II, Section 5(e).
Jon L. Rabine
January 29, 1996
Page 1
According to the IBT Constitution, dues must be paid on or before the last business day of the month. Article X, Section 5(c) further states:
Payment of such dues after their due date shall not restore good standing status for such month or months in computing the continuous good standing required by Article II, Section 4 of this Constitution as a condition of eligibility for office. However, a member on dues checkoff whose employer fails to make a proper deduction during any month in which the member has earnings from which the dues could have been deducted, shall not lose good standing status for that month.
The TITAN record reflects that Mr. Zier, who is on dues checkoff, had late payments remitted to the local union from January through April 1994, December 1994, May 1995, July 1995, September 1995, and October 1995. The record also shows that Mr. Zier was issued a withdrawal card on July 22, 1994 that was in effect from June to September 1994, and another on October 6, 1995 that was in effect from July to September 1995.
The investigation disclosed that Mr. Zier, who is a school bus driver, had earnings from which dues could be deducted in each month his dues were remitted late. Since Mr. Zier is a checkoff-dues payer, such late payments reflect an error on the part of his employer for which Mr. Zier will not be penalized. The TITAN record of late payments, as a result, does not render Mr. Zier ineligible.
As for the issue of Mr. Zier’s withdrawals, Mr. Zier states that he never requested that the local union issue him a withdrawal card. The local union responds that it routinely issues unrequested withdrawal cards for school bus drivers so that they do not have to pay dues during the summer, when most do not work in their craft. The Election Officer has previously determined that withdrawal cards not issued at the request of a member but as a result of a local union policy do not affect a candidate’s eligibility so long as he or she had earnings from which dues could be deducted during the period in which they were put on automatic, unrequested withdrawal. See Gergely, E-029-LU395-EOH (January 17, 1996). Since
Mr. Zier had sufficient earnings in the summer months of 1994 and 1995, the withdrawal cards issued by the local union do not render him ineligible.
Mr. Rabine further contends that dues could not have been deducted from Mr. Zier’s summer earnings because Mr. Zier was not working full time during those months. Since
Mr. Zier was not working during the pay period in which the employer checks off dues for the month, Mr. Rabine asserts that Mr. Zier’s employer was not required to deduct any dues for that month. The Election Officer has previously determined that, so long as a candidate’s total monthly earnings are sufficient for dues to be checked off, the fact that the candidate did not work or had no earnings in the pay period when the employer checked off dues is irrelevant. See Goscinak, E-009-LU259-EOH (October 31, 1995). As a result, it is unnecessary to determine, when in each month, Mr. Zier worked since he had sufficient total earnings for each month at issue.
Jon L. Rabine
January 29, 1996
Page 1
Accordingly, it is the determination of the Election Officer that Mr. Zier is eligible to run for delegate to the International convention.
Any interested party not satisfied with this determination may request a hearing before the Election Appeals Master within one day of receipt of this letter. The parties are reminded that, absent extraordinary circumstances, no party may rely upon evidence that was not presented to the Office of the Election Officer in any such appeal. Requests for a hearing shall be made in writing and shall be served on:
Kenneth Conboy, Esq.
Latham and Watkins
885 Third Avenue, Suite 1000
New York, NY 10022
Fax (212) 751-4864
Copies of the request for hearing must be served on the parties listed above as well as upon the Election Officer, 400 North Capitol Street, Suite 855, Washington, D.C. 20001, Facsimile (202) 624-3525. A copy of the protest must accompany the request for a hearing.
Sincerely,
Barbara Zack Quindel
Election Officer
cc: Kenneth Conboy, Election Appeals Master