Protest Decisions

OFFICE OF THE ELECTION SUPERVISOR

for the

INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF TEAMSTERS

IN RE: JOE DARMENTO,                         )           Protest Decision 2016 ESD 277

                                                                        )           Issued: July 27, 2016

            Protestor.                                           )           OES Case Nos. P-211-030716-MW  

____________________________________)                      

Joe Darmento, candidate for International office on the Teamsters United slate, 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 candidates in Local Union 2727 delegates and alternate delegates used union resources, including impermissible union endorsements, to support their candidacies.  By amendment to the protest filed March 15, 2016, Darmento alleged that the envelopes used to send ballot packages to members of Local Union 2727 indicated that the contents were from the SEIU, not the Teamsters.

We decided the protest amendment in Darmento, 2016 ESD 147 (March 15, 2016).  The remainder of the protest we decide here.

            Election Supervisor representative Joe Childers investigated this protest.

Findings of Fact and Analysis

            In addition to his candidacy for International office on the Teamsters United slate, protestor Darmento stood for election as delegate on the Teamsters United-2727 Delegate slate in Local Union 2727 in Louisville, Kentucky.  The local union was entitled to one delegate and one alternate delegate.  Tim Boyle, president and principal officer of Local Union 2727, opposed Darmento for delegate, and Steve Stone, the local union’s secretary-treasurer, ran for alternate delegate on the Boyle-Stone slate.  At the ballot count held on April 5, 2016, Boyle defeated Darmento by 118 votes and Stone defeated Trent Derudder for alternate delegate by 36 votes.

            The protest, filed March 7, 2016, alleged that Boyle and Stone sent a blast email to Local Union 2727 members on March 6, 2016 and impermissibly accessed the local union email list to do so.  The protest also alleged a similar violation concerning a December 18, 2015 email blast from Boyle and Stone, adding that the earlier blast impermissibly stated that the local union executive board had endorsed their candidacies.  The protest claimed it was improper for Boyle and Stone to send emails to Local Union 2727 members without going through the third party vendor designated by the union to send campaign blast emails.  The protestor amended this protest orally by alleging that Boyle and Stone used a local union computer during business hours to send the email blast.

            The protestor presented no evidence to substantiate any of his allegations. 

In reviewing the allegations, we deny as untimely filed the allegation made with respect to the December 2015 email blast, protested for the first time in March 2016.  We note further that the email complained of did not contain an endorsement by or even any mention of the local union executive board. 

With respect to the March 2016 email blast, Boyle and Stone denied that they sent the email from the local union using local union equipment, and we note that the email was sent in batches between 7:01 a.m. and 7:14 a.m. on Saturday, March 5 (not March 6, as the protestor alleged), when the local union was closed. 

With respect to the claim that the Boyle/Stone email blast was sent using a local union email list, Darmento again presented no evidence to substantiate the allegation.  Boyle and Stone told our investigator that they obtained most of the email addresses they used in their blasts from a series of emails sent by or on behalf of Darmento in 2015.  Those emails listed the addressees’ email addresses in full view rather than using the “bcc” function that would have hidden the addresses from each recipient.  Accordingly, when Boyle and Stone received the emails from Darmento, they simply copied the other recipients’ addresses into their own email blasts, supplementing the lists from Darmento with email addresses they had accumulated.  All told, Boyle and Stone sent their campaign material to 282 email addresses on Saturday, March 5, 2016, most of which were obtained from email blasts Darmento had sent.  No evidence was found that a local union email list was used to send the Boyle and Stone email blasts.

            Finding no Rules violation, we DENY this protest.

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 277

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