OFFICE OF THE ELECTION SUPERVISOR
for the
INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF TEAMSTERS
IN RE: CHIKAKO PIERCE, ) Protest Decision 2016 ESD 109
TONI MENDICINO, and ) Issued: February 12, 2016
JOSÉ MARROQUIN, ) OES Case Nos. P-131-012916-FW,
) P-139-012816-FW, &
Protestors. ) P-141-020316-FW
____________________________________)
Chikako Pierce, Toni Mendicino, and José Marroquin, members of Local Union 2010, filed separate pre-election protests pursuant to Article XIII, Section 2(b) of the Rules for the 2015-2016 IBT International Union Delegate and Officer Election (“Rules”). Each protest alleged that Local Union 2010 violated the Rules by adopting a policy prohibiting use of the local union’s email list for distribution of campaign materials.
These protests were consolidated for investigation and decision. Election Supervisor representative Deborah Schaaf investigated them.
Findings of Fact and Analysis
Local Union 2010 is comprised of employees of the University of California system. The local union conducted the nominations meeting for its delegates and alternate delegates election on January 23, 2016. Nominated were a full slate comprised of six delegate and three alternate delegate candidates and a partial slate of three delegate candidates; no unaffiliated candidates were nominated. Immediately after the nominations meeting, an announcement was made that the local union executive board had decided that the local union email list could not be used by any candidate during the electoral period for distribution of campaign material and information.
These protests followed.
Article VII, Section 7(d) provides for email distribution of campaign material, viz.
The Union shall honor reasonable requests by candidates for distribution of literature through electronic mail. Requests for the distribution of literature by electronic mail shall be governed by the same rules applicable to the distribution of literature by mail under this Section. … Campaign literature distributed through electronic mail shall clearly state that it is campaign literature, the contents of which are not endorsed by the Union. The manner of distribution of candidate literature by electronic mail shall be subject to such Advisory or further guidelines as may be established by the Election Supervisor for the purposes of facilitating distribution of literature by electronic mail, protecting the confidentiality of electronic mail addresses, and protecting the privacy of electronic mail recipients.
With the intervention and guidance of our representative, Local Union 2010 rescinded the resolution that prompted these protests. It formulated and adopted the policy attached to this decision that permits email distribution of campaign literature during the delegates and alternate delegates election and establishes the procedures and requirements therefor. We find the policy meets the requirements of the foregoing Rules provision. In particular, we find that the policy’s maximum of four campaign emails per candidate satisfies the requirement that the union “honor reasonable requests by candidates.” This maximum balances the interests of individual candidates and the slates they have formed to communicate liberally with the local union membership while addressing the local union’s concern that the email system not be overused.
Accordingly, we deem these protests RESOLVED.
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:
Kathleen A. Roberts
Election Appeals Master
JAMS
620 Eighth Avenue, 34th floor
New York, NY 10018
kroberts@jamsadr.com
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, 1050 17th Street, N.W., Suite 375, Washington, D.C. 20036, all within the time prescribed above. A copy of the protest must accompany the request for hearing.
Richard W. Mark
Election Supervisor
cc: Kathleen A. Roberts
2016 ESD 109
DISTRIBUTION LIST (BY EMAIL UNLESS OTHERWISE SPECIFIED):
Bradley T. Raymond, General Counsel
International Brotherhood of Teamsters
25 Louisiana Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20001
braymond@teamster.org
David J. Hoffa
1701 K Street NW, Ste 350
Washington DC 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
Teamsters United
315 Flatbush Avenue, #501
Brooklyn, NY 11217
info@teamstersunited.org
Louie Nikolaidis
350 West 31st Street, Suite 40
New York, NY 10001
lnikolaidis@lcnlaw.com
Julian Gonzalez
350 West 31st Street, Suite 40
New York, NY 10001
jgonzalez@lcnlaw.com
David O’Brien Suetholz
515 Park Avenue
Louisville, KY 45202
dave@unionsidelawyers.com
Fred Zuckerman
P.O. Box 9493
Louisville, KY 40209
fredzuckerman@aol.com
Chikako Pierce
2207 Jefferson Ave
Berkeley, CA 94703
cpierce@library.berkeley.edu
Toni Mendicino
549 Chenery Street
San Francisco, CA 94131
T_mendicino@yahoo.com
José Marroquin
Jmarro0525@gmail.com
Teamsters Local Union 2010
400 Roland Way, Suite 2010
Oakland, CA 94621
jrabinowitz@teamsters2010.org
Deborah Schaaf
1521 Grizzly Gulch
Helena, MT 59601
dschaaf@ibtvote.org
Jeffrey Ellison
214 S. Main Street, Suite 210
Ann Arbor, MI 48104
EllisonEsq@aol.com