Protest Decisions

OFFICE OF THE ELECTION SUPERVISOR

for the

INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF TEAMSTERS

IN RE: SAM BUCALO,                              )           Protest Decision 2016 ESD 192

                                                                        )           Issued: May 4, 2016

            Protestor.                                           )           OES Case No. P-224-031616-ME     

____________________________________)                                                                 

Sam Bucalo, member and secretary-treasurer of Local Union 100, filed a pre-election protest pursuant to Article XIII, Section 2(b) of the Rules for the 2015-2016 IBT International Union Delegate and Officer Election (“Rules”).  The protest alleged that the Teamsters First Slate violated the Rule by distributing campaign material that may be and was affixed to employer property at a UPS facility.

            Election Supervisor representative Dan Walsh investigated this protest.

Findings of Fact and Analysis

Local Union 100 is entitled to election five delegates and two alternate delegates.  Three full slates and one unaffiliated delegate candidate competed for these positions.  The Teamsters United slate was led by protestor Bucalo; the Local 100 Teamsters First slate was comprised of the local union principal officer Dave Webster and was comprised of other officers and business agents; the No More Hoffa slate was a rank-and-file slate.

This protest alleged Rules violations at UPS.  This employer operates four facilities under the jurisdiction of Local Union 100.  At the Gest Street facility on March 14, 2016, a car wash employee observed and photographed a Teamsters First calendar affixed to the headboard inside a package car.  The calendar measured approximately 4” x 2.5,” read “Teamsters First,” listed Dave Webster and Ron Butts as “President” and “Secretary-Treasurer,” respectively,[1] and had a peel-off adhesive backing.

Bucalo filed a protest alleging UPS support for the Teamsters First slate by permitting the calendar to be affixed inside the truck.

Investigation showed that candidates on the Teamsters First slate distributed the calendars to arriving and departing members at the Gest Street location during the week ending March 11.  The candidates denied affixing the calendars to the trucks themselves or encouraging such conduct.  Local union president Webster told our investigator that UPS has a “no solicitation” policy that forbids affixing non-UPS material on or inside package cars, that he and the other candidates on his slate knew UPS enforced the policy strictly, assumed that drivers knew the policy as well, and were confident that any violation of that policy involving their calendars would be an aberration rather than a common occurrence.  That Bucalo received only one report of this alleged violation from an employee whose job involved entering multiple package cars daily provides circumstantial confirmation of this point.

Our investigator contacted the UPS Ohio Valley District Manager the day after the protest was filed, who denied any knowledge that campaign calendars had been posted inside package cars.  He confirmed to our investigator that such posting, if it occurred, would violate the employer’s no solicitation rule.  He stated further that, now that he had been apprised of the calendars, he intended to instruct his subordinates to be on the lookout for them to insure they were not affixed to employer property, including its trucks.

The calendars constitute campaign material.  Accordingly, the Teamsters First candidates and their supporters have the right under the Rules to distribute them.  Employees receiving the calendars do not, however, have the right to post them on employer property or trucks.[2] 

The protestor provided evidence of one instance in which the campaign calendar was affixed to employer property, and that instance was promptly remedied before the protest was filed.  Further, management was apprised that campaign material with adhesive backing had been distributed, and steps were taken to police property and vehicles for this material.  Because of the single incident of violation, its brief duration, the prompt notice to management, and the stepped up enforcement of the no solicitation policy, we deem this protest 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, 34^th 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 17^th 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 192

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