OFFICE OF THE ELECTION SUPERVISOR
for the
INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF TEAMSTERS
IN RE: DORTHEA STEWART, ) Protest Decision 2011 ESD 258
) Issued: May 13, 2011
Protestor. ) OES Case No. P-269-050911-FW
____________________________________)
Dorthea Stewart, member of Local Union 2010, 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 the Member Strength slate obtained improper access to members’ mailing addresses and phone numbers and used them impermissibly in the delegates election.
Election Supervisor representative Christine Mrak investigated this protest.
Findings of Fact and Analysis
Local Union 2010 is a newly chartered IBT local union. In May 2010, members of the Coalition of University Employees (CUE) at the University of California (UC) voted to affiliate with the IBT. CUE represents a large bargaining unit of clerical employees, medical assistants and allied service employees at 11 university campuses across California, including UC medical centers and national laboratories. The IBT’s General Executive Board subsequently approved the affiliation agreement with the CUE in the summer of 2010 and established it as Local Union 2010. At that time, CUE’s members became members of the IBT and of Local Union 2010.
Convention delegate nominations were conducted in this local union on March 8, 2011. Seventeen candidates were nominated for four delegate positions.[1] In addition, four candidates were nominated for four alternate delegate positions; as the number of nominees for alternate delegate did not exceed the number of positions available, these persons were deemed elected by white ballot.
In the delegates contest, the Member Strength slate, a partial slate comprised of three candidates, competed against the Collings-Gomez slate, a full slate of four candidates. In addition, ten candidates ran as independents.
Ballots for the delegates election were mailed April 8 and counted May 2. The three candidates on the Members Strength slate were elected, as was independent candidate Mary Higgins.
Protestor Stewart, who was not a delegate candidate, filed the protest here. She alleged that the Member Strength slate violated the Rules by mailing a campaign flyer to members’ homes without using the procedures established for that purpose through the local union. She further alleged that the slate made improper use of a telephone database to call members and solicit their support.
Protestor Stewart received the campaign mailer from the Member Strength slate. She contacted our investigator by email on April 15 asking “how I can file an election challenge. I (and others here in San Diego) have received a mailed election brochure that uses postal/home address that I believe were illegally obtained.” Our investigator replied the next day, and provided a detailed description of the procedure for filing a protest. The reply further stated the following:
The Rules permit accredited International candidates to have a mailing list of all members throughout the U.S and Canada. They are permitted to share portions of that list with Local Union delegate candidates who are pledged to support said International candidate, as s/he must obtain at least 5% of the votes at the Convention to appear on October's ballot. If the brochure you received was from the Members Strength slate, which is allied with the International Pope campaign, Pope could have provided those addresses to the slate under the Rules.
Stewart did not file the instant protest until May 6, some three weeks later and four days after ballots were counted. As it alleged conduct that occurred during the pre-election period, it is governed by Article XIII, Section 2(b) of the Rules, which requires that protests must be filed within two working days of the date the protestor became aware of the action protested; failure to file within that period waives the protest.
Stewart seeks to excuse her failure to file by arguing that the process is new to her; she further contends that she did not proceed timely because she was told that the Pope campaign likely supplied the list and that such action was permitted by the Rules. Stewart’s claim that she is new to the process does not withstand scrutiny. She received explicit instructions on the procedure for filing a protest. If she entertained doubt about the source of the membership list, her recourse was to file a timely protest.
Accordingly, we DENY this protest as untimely filed.
Were we to consider the protest on the merits, we would also deny it. Investigation showed that the Member Strength slate sent some 2,000 flyers to members in two mailings, first on April 8 and subsequently on April 11.[2] Michael-Davis Sasson, a supporter and consultant to Member Strength, obtained the list in the form of adhesive labels from the Sandy Pope campaign on April 7. Pope is an accredited candidate for IBT General President and obtained the IBT membership list pursuant to Article VII, Section 3 of the Rules in January 2011 after achieving accreditation.[3] Further investigation showed that Member Strength advocated its support for Pope for General President.[4] Sasson, as credentialed representative for Member Strength, executed an affidavit with the Pope campaign promising to use the membership information solely to advance Pope’s candidacy for nomination and election. In addition to the mailing labels, the Pope campaign supplied a list of members’ phone numbers it obtained through a phone-match vendor, and Sasson and others used that list to contact members soliciting their support for Member Strength. This use of the membership information is allowed under Article VII, Section 3.
Further, Sasson’s use of his home address as the return address on the mailer does not violate the Rules. Protestor contended that, because mailers with incorrect addresses would be returned to Sasson rather than to the local union or the Pope campaign, such use of a return address would give Sasson confidential member information to which he is not entitled. We rejected a similar claim in Lesicko, 2011 ESD 226 (April 21, 2011), finding that “membership information with incorrect addresses will give [the campaigner] no discernable campaign advantage.”
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.
[1] As a result of delegate strength recalculation, the number of delegates to which Local Union 2010 is entitled was increased after ballots were mailed from four to five. The ranking alternate delegate has accordingly been promoted to delegate.
[2] Although Local Union 2010 is comprised of approximately 3,700 members, the slate had sufficient funds to send only 2,000 mailers.
[3] The membership list for Local Union 2010 was substantially incomplete at the time the IBT membership list was prepared for accredited candidates for International office in October 2010. Accordingly, all accredited candidates for union-wide were provided an updated membership list for Local Union 2010 pursuant to our decision in Sandy Pope 2011, 2011 ESD 206 (April 7, 2011).
[4] The flyer stated in part: “We will vote to nominate Sandy Pope … so that you have a choice for Teamster President.”
Richard W. Mark
Election Supervisor
cc: Kenneth Conboy
2011 ESD 258DISTRIBUTION 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 Hall 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
3541 N. Summit Avenue
Shorewood, WI 53211
scottsoldon@gmail.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
Dorthea Stewart
dorthea.oncue@gmail.com
Michael-David Sasson
simcha3@msn.com
Anytra Henderson
Teamsters Local Union 2010
2855 Telegraph Avenue, Suite 301
Berkeley, CA 94705
clericals@cueunion.org
Christine Mrak
2357 Hobart Avenue, SW
Seattle, WA 98116
chrismrak@gmail.com
Susan White
swwchristian@sbcglobal.net
Maria Ho
Office of the Election Supervisor
1801 K Street, N.W., Suite 421 L
Washington, D.C. 20006
mho@ibtvote.org
Kathryn Naylor
Office of the Election Supervisor
1801 K Street, N.W., Suite 421 L
Washington, D.C. 20006
knaylor@ibtvote.org
Jeffrey Ellison
214 S. Main Street, Ste. 210
Ann Arbor, MI 48104
EllisonEsq@aol.com