Protest Decisions

OFFICE OF THE ELECTION SUPERVISOR

for the

INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF TEAMSTERS

IN RE: TODD ANDERSON,                      )           Protest Decision 2016 ESD 328

                                                                        )           Issued: November 14, 2016

            Protestor.                                           )           OES Case No. P-407-103116-MW   

____________________________________)                      

Todd Anderson, member of Local Union 710 and candidate for International trustee 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 Hoffa-Hall 2016 received an impermissible union contribution.

            Election Supervisor representative Joe Childers investigated this protest.

Findings of Fact and Analysis

The protest alleged that lawn signs supporting the Hoffa-Hall 2016 slate and John Coli, a candidate on that slate, were displayed on the union hall property of Local Union 710.  The protest asserted that this display constituted a union contribution to those candidates in violation of the Rules. 

Local Union 710 conducted a membership meeting on Sunday afternoon, October 30, 2016 in space in a two-story building it leases from the Local 710 Health Welfare and Pension Fund in Mokena, Illinois.  The two-story building sits on a rural stretch of 187^th Street and is surrounded on three sides by a parking lot that can accommodate nearly 170 vehicles.  The parking lot is separated from the road by a grassy strip more than 20 feet wide that is part of the road right-of-way and also serves as an easement for electricity, telecommunications, natural gas, and public lighting utilities.  The right-of-way is not owned or controlled by Local Union 710 or the health welfare and pension fund.  Moreover, the space has been used by union members demonstrating against the trusteeship that exists at the local union. 

Investigation showed that just in advance of the 3 p.m. meeting on October 30, supporters of Hoffa-Hall 2016 erected homemade lawn signs in the grassy right-of-way so they would be seen by members arriving for the meeting.  The protestor further asserted that the persons who erected the signs also campaigned among members who were entering the parking lot in their vehicles, an assertion the persons responsible for the signs denied to our representative.

The Rules protect the right of members to distribute campaign literature or otherwise to solicit support for a member’s candidacy outside a meeting hall before, during and after a union meeting, regardless of union policy, rule or practice.  Article VII, Section 12(a). 

Further, Article VII, Section 12(d) protects the pre-existing rights of members to campaign on employer or union premises.  That principle applies to private property, regardless of ownership.  The undisputed fact that the grassy area had previously been used for campaigning establishes that, regardless of ownership, there was a pre-existing right under the Rules to campaign in that area.   

Accordingly, 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 328

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