IN RE: CLAUDE GRAY, Protestor
Protest Decision 2010 ESD 50
Issued: December 8, 2010
OES Case No. P-048-110510-AT
Claude Gray, member, principal officer and delegate candidate in Local Union 391, 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 a rival slate improperly obtained and used a local union mailing list for a campaign purpose, in violation of the Rules.
Election Supervisor representative Peter V. Marks, Sr., investigated this protest.
Findings of Fact and Analysis
Local Union 391 exceeds 8,000 members, of which some 200 serve as stewards. Rival slates are competing among these members in the delegates and alternate delegates election. Protestor Gray leads one slate of candidates; Vernon Gammon, the local union's secretary-treasurer, the other.
On October 29, 2010, Gammon's Team 391 mailed a two-page letter to 126 stewards for whom it had addresses. Each envelope was hand-addressed and carried a 44¢ stamp for postage. Gray protested, alleging that Team 391 impermissibly acquired and used the local union's address list of stewards for the mailing and copied the campaign flyer using a union copier. Gray identified 3 stewards who received the mailing and who, according to Gray, had not given their names or addresses to any member of Team 391.
Gray further alleged that in mid-October, local union employee Stormy Fields printed a complete membership list, including stewards, and gave it to Gammon. On investigation, Fields told our investigator that she runs the complete membership list from TITAN monthly, sorted by employer, and gives incorrect addresses to business agents so they might correct them. The TITAN list does not identify steward status; that list is maintained separately. Fields denied printing a list of stewards and giving it to Gammon or anyone else.
Investigation further showed that Gammon maintains a Christmas card list of scores of local union members' names and addresses, which he has developed and updated over several years' time. He told our investigator that, in consultation with other members of his slate, stewards on that list were identified and the mailing sent to them. In addition, Team 391 members obtained addresses for stewards in phone books and through databases publicly available on the internet. Through these methods, Team 391 obtained addresses for approximately 65 percent of local union stewards. Gammon denied obtaining a list of stewards from the local union.
Of the 3 stewards Gray identified as not giving their names and addresses to any member of Team 391, 2 responded to our investigator's phone messages. Dan Carroll stated that he has been a steward since March 2009, a member for 12 years, and is listed in the phone book. Dan Wilson stated that he has been a steward for about 2 years and does not know how Team 391 obtained his address.
Article VII, Section 12(c) prohibits use of union resources for campaign purposes, unless all candidates are provided equal access to such assistance and are given advance, written notice, that such assistance is available. Article VII, Section 7(a) grants candidates the right to have their literature distributed by the local union at the candidates' expense, including distribution to only a portion or segment of the membership (such as stewards), if practicable.
We find insufficient evidence to establish that Gammon or Team 391 improperly used a local union mailing list of stewards to send the October 29 mailing. In addition to credible denials from Gammon and Fields, a circumstantial fact of the mailing persuades us that the local union's address list for stewards was not used. While Team 391 wanted to mail to all local union stewards, Team 391 apparently identified a little less than two-thirds of those who held that position. A union-provided list of stewards would have had all in that position. We conclude that a mailing to stewards that reached only 126 out of 200 used a list the slate cobbled together through its own resources and not a union-provided steward list. We note that the Rules permit a candidate to request and obtain a local union mailing list (including a list of stewards) for a candidate-financed mailing.
Gray's allegation that the Team 391 mailing was copied on a union copier is without merit. He produced no evidence to support the allegation, and Gammon supplied receipts for copying, envelopes and postage to refute it.
Accordingly, we DENY this protest in its entirety.
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
Suite 1000
885 Third Avenue
New York, New York 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., Suite421 L, Washington, D.C. 20006, all within the time prescribed above. A copy of the protest must accompany the request for hearing.
Richard W. Mark
Election Supervisor
cc: Kenneth Conboy
2010 ESD 50
DISTRIBUTION LIST (BY EMAIL UNLESS OTHERWISE SPECIFIED):
Bradley T. Raymond, General Counsel
International Brotherhood of Teamsters
25 Louisiana Avenue, N.W.
Washington,D.C. 20001
braymond@teamster.org
David J. Hoffa
Hoffa Keegel 2011
1100 Connecticut Avenue, N.W., Ste. 730
Washington D.C. 20036
hoffadav@hotmail.com
Ken Paff
Teamsters for a Democratic Union
P.O. Box 10128
Detroit, MI 48210-0128
ken@tdu.org
Barbara Harvey
1394 E. Jefferson Avenue
Detroit, MI 48207
blmharvey@sbcglobal.net
Fred Gegare
P.O. Box 9663
Green Bay, WI 54308-9663
kirchmanb@yahoo.com
Scott D. Soldon
Previant Goldberg
155 North River Center Drive, Ste. 202
P.O. Box 12993
Milwaukee, WI 53212
sds@previant.com
Fred Zuckerman, President
Teamsters Local Union 89
3813 Taylor Blvd.
Louisville, KY 40215
fredzuckerman@aol.com
Robert M. Colone, Esq.
P.O. Box 272
Sellersburg, IN 47172-0272
rmcolone@hotmail.com
Carl Biers
Box 424, 315 Flatbush Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11217
info@SandyPope2011.org
Julian Gonzalez
Lewis, Clifton & Nikolaidis, P.C.
350 Seventh Avenue, Suite 1800
New York, NY 10001-5013
jgonzalez@lcnlaw.com
Claude Gray, President
Teamsters Local Union 391
P.O. Box 35405
Greensboro, NC 27425
cgray65663@aol.com
Vernon Gammon, Secretary-Treasurer
Teamsters Local Union 391
P.O. Box 35405
Greensboro, NC 27425
vgammon@teamsterslocal391.org
Peter V. Marks, Sr.
116 Nagle Street
Harrisburg, PA 17104
pvmsresq@comcast.net
J. Griffin Morgan
Elliot Pishko Morgan
426 Old Salem Road
Winston-Salem, NC 27101
mailto:jgmorgan@epmlaw.com
Kathryn Naylor
Office of the Election Supervisor
1801 K Street, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20006
knaylor@ibtvote.org
Jeffrey Ellison
214 S. Main Street, Ste. 210
Ann Arbor, MI 48104
EllisonEsq@aol.com