OFFICE OF THE ELECTION SUPERVISOR
for the
INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF TEAMSTERS
IN RE: JEREMY BRAKE, ) Protest Decision 2021 ESD 145
) Issued: September 26, 2021
Protestor. ) OES Case No. P-169-090121-FW
____________________________________)
Jeremy Brake, member of Local Union 439 employed in the feeder department at UPS Lathrop CA, filed a pre-election protest pursuant to Article XIII, Section 2(b) of the Rules for the 2020-2021 IBT International Union Delegate and Officer Election (“Rules”). The protest alleged that Local Union 439 violated the Rules by posting or permitting the posting of Teamster Power campaign flyers on union bulletin boards.
Election Supervisor representative Deborah Schaaf investigated this protest.
Findings of Fact and Analysis
The protest alleged that Teamster Power campaign flyers were posted on two union bulletin boards, one at Safeway, the other at T-Force, which is said to be contracted with UPS.
Investigation showed that several flyers were posted next to but not on the union bulletin board at T-Force. The union does not control the glass and paneling where the flyers were posted, which are next to but not on the union board. The union bulletin board at this location is glass-enclosed and locked, and no campaign flyers were posted there. Accordingly, we DENY the protest with respect to the T-Force board.
With respect to the Safeway union bulletin board, the campaign flyer was affixed with pushpins to the cork backing of the union bulletin board. It was displayed beneath a locked glass sliding cover that limited access to those persons who had a key. The local union and the business agent responsible for this location denied that the flyer was posted there by a union official or steward who had authority to post on the board. The flyer was removed promptly after the protest filing was acknowledged by our office. According to the local union official who spoke with our investigator, a former steward at that location has refused the local union’s request to relinquish the key to the lock on the board. The local union suspects that the former steward posted the campaign flyer on the board or permitted someone to do it in order to embarrass the local union’s current elected leadership. The local union’s suspicion is unproven.
Regardless of how the flyer appeared there, the Rules prohibit the posting of partisan campaign material on a locked union bulletin board because it can give the impression to those viewing the board that the union as an institution favors the candidate or slate the campaign material supports. This impression cannot be permitted.
Accordingly, we GRANT the protest with respect to the Safeway posting. The local union’s action in removing the flyer promptly upon acknowledgment of the protest mitigates the remedy because it limited the duration of the violation. Nonetheless, we order the local union to cease and desist from permitting the display of partisan campaign material on its official union boards. This cease-and-desist order requires the local union to monitor its bulletin boards frequently to insure they are not used for an improper purpose.[1] Further, with respect to the bulletin board at Safeway, we direct the local union no later than Wednesday, September 29, 2021, either to recover the key from the former steward or to change the lock on the board. We direct the local union to submit a declaration of compliance with this aspect of the remedy to OES no later than Friday, October 1, 2021.
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. Any party requesting a hearing must comply with the requirements of Article XIII, Section 2(i). All parties are reminded that, absent extraordinary circumstances, no party may rely in any such appeal upon evidence that was not presented to the Office of the Election Supervisor. Requests for a hearing shall be made in writing, shall specify the basis for the appeal, and shall be served upon:
Barbara Jones
Election Appeals Master
IBTappealsmaster@bracewell.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, all within the time prescribed above. Service may be accomplished by email, using the “reply all” function on the email by which the party received this decision. A copy of the protest must accompany the request for hearing.
Richard W. Mark
Election Supervisor
cc: Barbara Jones
2021 ESD 145
DISTRIBUTION LIST (BY EMAIL UNLESS NOTED):
Bradley T. Raymond, General Counsel
International Brotherhood of Teamsters
braymond@teamster.org
Edward Gleason
egleason@gleasonlawdc.com
Patrick Szymanski
szymanskip@me.com
Will Bloom
wbloom@dsgchicago.com
Tom Geoghegan
tgeoghegan@dsgchicago.com
Rob Colone
rmcolone@hotmail.com
Barbara Harvey
blmharvey@sbcglobal.net
Fred Zuckerman
fredzuckerman@aol.com
Ken Paff
Teamsters for a Democratic Union
ken@tdu.org
Scott Jenkins
scott@oz2021.com
Jeremy Brake
brake7878@aim.com
Teamsters Local Union 439
Sal Lomeli
sal@teamsters439.com
Deborah Schaaf
dschaaf@ibtvote.org
Jeffrey Ellison
EllisonEsq@gmail.com
[1] One purpose of this monitoring is to insure that a person with key-access to the boards does not post campaign material impermissibly. A second purpose is to remove campaign material slipped into a glass-enclosed board in the gap between overlapping sheets of glass by a person who lacks key-access to the board. Video supplied to us showed a member doing just this in the UPS Lathrop feeder department, the protestor’s worksite, on or about August 15, 2021. We make no determination here regarding the identity of the person captured in the video, the issue not being presented by this or any other protest.