Protest Decisions

              October 12, 1995

VIA UPS OVERNIGHT

James T. Holland

206 S. Valley Road

Henderson, TN 37075

Ronnie Martin

4741 Stewart’s Ferry Pike

Mt. Juliet, TN 37122

Re:  Election Office Case Nos.              P-188-LU480-SCE

                  P-197-LU480-SCE

Gentlemen:

Pre-election protests were filed pursuant to Article XIV, Section 2(b) of the Rules for the 1995-1996 IBT International Union Officer Election (“Rules”).   In P-188-LU480-SCE, James T. Holland, a member of Local Union 480 file a protest against Ronnie Martin, a candidate for delegate.  Mr. Holland’s charges that Mr. Martin distributed campaign material which identifies his slate as the “#480 Slate” in violation of the Rules.[1]  Thereafter,

James T. Holland

October 12, 1995

Page 1

Mr. Holland sent a letter to the Election Officer stating that Mr. Martin’s slate was campaigning under the slate name “Teamsters Local #480 Slate,” which “seems to reflect that the Local Union is endorsing this slate for election.”   In P-197-LU480-SCE, Tim Aldred, a member of Local Union 480, filed a protest charging that identification of Mr. Martin and his slate of candidates as “Teamsters Local Union #480 Slate” is “very improper.” Because these protests address identical issues, they were consolidated by the Election Officer.

Under the Rules, the Election Officer is charged with ensuring the “conduct of fair, honest, open and informed elections.”  Article I.  Thus, in considering protests over slate names, the Election Officer will review whether the name would interfere with these criteria.  Generally, however, the Election Officer will permit parties wide breadth in the selection of a slate name, so long as the name is not chosen to materially mislead the voters.  In the last election, the Election Officer ruled that a slate may be identified by any designation unless the name selected specifies or communicates incumbency, is obscene, or is too lengthy to appear on the ballot.  Davis, Election Office Case No. P-115-LU406-MGN (December 17, 1990) (Slate identified as “Team 406"); Cimino, Election Office Case No. P-147-LU107-PHL (December 26, 1990) (Slate identified as “Ron Carey Slate”). The Election Officer recently ruled that the use of the local union number in a slate name is not a violation of the Rules, noting that the Rules do not prohibit the reference to a slate of candidates by any particular name or term.  Harrington, P-159-LU890-CSF (September 27, 1995).

Accordingly, the protests are DENIED.

Any interested party not satisfied with this determination may request a hearing before the Election Appeals Master within one day of receipt of this letter.  The parties are reminded that, absent extraordinary circumstances, no party may rely upon evidence that was not presented to the Office of the Election Officer in any such appeal.  Requests for a hearing shall be made in writing and shall be served on:

Kenneth Conboy, Esq.

Latham and Watkins

885 Third Avenue, Suite 1000

New York, NY 10022

Fax (212) 751-4864

Copies of the request for hearing must be served on the parties listed above as well as upon the Election Officer, 400 North Capitol Street, Suite 855, Washington, D.C. 20001.  Facsimile (202) 624-3525.  A copy of the protest must accompany the request for a hearing.

Sincerely,

Barbara Zack Quindel

Election Officer

cc:                Kenneth Conboy, Election Appeals Master

Bruce Boyens, Regional Coordinator