November 27, 1996
VIA UPS OVERNIGHT
James P. Hoffa
November 27, 1996
Page 1
James P. Hoffa
2593 Hounds Chase
Troy, MI 48098
John P. Morris, Secretary-Treasurer
Teamsters Local Union 115
2833 Cottman Avenue
Philadelphia, PA 19149
Ron Carey Campaign
c/o Nathaniel Charny
Cohen, Weiss & Simon
330 W. 42nd Street
New York, NY 10036
Joseph M. Lyons, President
Teamsters Local Union 169
1355 W. Cheltenham Avenue
Elkins Park, PA 19027
Joseph J. Sullivan, President
Teamsters Local Union 470
3565 Sepviva Street
Philadelphia, PA 19134
Bradley T. Raymond
Finkel, Whitefield, Selik, Raymond,
Ferrara & Feldman
32300 Northwestern Highway, Suite 200
Farmington Hills, MI 48334
James P. Hoffa
November 27, 1996
Page 1
Re: Election Office Case No. P-1276-LU115-PNJ
Gentlemen:
A pre-election protest was filed pursuant to Article XIV, Section 2(b) of the Rules for the 1995-1996 IBT International Union Delegate and Officer Election (“Rules”) by
James P. Hoffa, a member of Local Union 614 and a candidate for general president.
Mr. Hoffa alleges that Local Union 115, John P. Morris, a candidate for International vice president, and the Ron Carey campaign conducted improper surveillance of IBT members participating in a Hoffa campaign phone bank. Mr. Hoffa alleges that such surveillance included mass picketing, videotaping persons entering and exiting the building in which the phone bank is located, as well as recording the license plate numbers of vehicles belonging to phone-bank volunteers.
James P. Hoffa
November 27, 1996
Page 1
Local Union 115 responds that picketing by local union members was directed at Pennsylvania State Senator Vincent J. Fumo, who owns space in the building, and not at IBT members working the Hoffa phone bank. Local Union 115 states that the video camera was used to tape picketing members and not to identify or intimidate persons working on behalf of Mr. Hoffa’s campaign. No license plate numbers were recorded, according to the local union.
New York City Protest Coordinator Barbara C. Deinhardt investigated the protest.
Phone bank operations in support of Mr. Hoffa’s campaign have been established at 12th and Tasker Streets in Philadelphia. The office space housing the phone banks was rented by the Hoffa campaign from Mr. Fumo. See Merritt, P-1162-IBT-PNJ et seq. (November 12, 1996). Between five and twenty IBT members from Local Unions 115, 169 and 470 have picketed the phone-bank site. A video camera was used by the picketers outside of the Fumo phone-bank offices.
Several witnesses were interviewed. Mike Szarzynski, a member of Local Union 107, states that Hoffa supporters have been videotaped arriving and departing from the phone-bank site. This occurred for at least one-and-a-half weeks, he states. Mr. Szarzynski also states that, during the same time period, picketers wrote down the license plate numbers of vehicles driven by campaigners. Local Union 107 member Mike Clark, a Hoffa campaign coordinator, substantially corroborates Mr. Szarzynski’s account. Mr. Clark states that a video camera has been used by picketers for about one week. He states that on one occasion as he departed the phone-bank site, a person wearing a Carey/Morris button walked to the back of his car and wrote down his license plate number. Local Union 169 member Joseph Cassella corroborates the videotaping. Mr. Cassella states, however, that he videotaped the “Carey people” as they picketed. He also states that he saw a picketer videotape a license plate on the vehicle of a Hoffa campaigner.
Copies of the text appearing on signs carried by the picketers were provided by
Mr. DeTreaux. The signs read: (1) “FUMO AGAINST TEAMSTER DEMOCRACY;”
(2) “FUMO & JUNIOR CROOKED TOGETHER;” (3) “DIAL F-U-M-O FOR MOB;”
(4) “FUMO BREAKS ELECTION RULES;” and (5) “FUMO SUPPORTS MOB UNION.”
Local Union 115 counsel Walter DeTreaux denies that any license plate numbers were recorded by the picketers. Mr. DeTreaux states that the picketers are protesting Mr. Fumo and not attempting to harass or intimidate the Hoffa campaigners. Mr. DeTreaux states that the picketers are upset that Mr. Fumo has injected himself into the International officer election by permitting a Hoffa phone bank at his office. Mr. DeTreaux also states that the picketers are protesting an action filed by Mr. Fumo against the local union before the National Labor Relations Board and Mr. Fumo’s threat to file an injunction in state court to prohibit the picketing due to alleged violence. Mr. DeTreaux states that the videotaping was necessary to document that no picket line violence has occurred. As evidence of the picketers’ intent, Mr. DeTreaux states that picketing has occurred at a second office operated by
James P. Hoffa
November 27, 1996
Page 1
Mr. Fumo that has no connection to the Hoffa campaign. He notes that picketing has occurred during daytime hours as well as evening hours, while the Hoffa phone bank operates only in the evening. Nevertheless, the Election Officer finds that videotaping has occurred during the time when Hoffa campaign workers have been entering and exiting Mr. Fumo’s office.
Article VIII, Section 11(a) of the Rules guarantees members “the right to participate in campaign activities, including the right to . . . support or oppose any candidate [and] to aid or campaign for any candidate.” This basic right, essential to the goal of a free and fair election, is reinforced in Section 11(f)’s prohibition of retaliation against any IBT member “for exercising any right guaranteed by this or any other Article of the Rules.”
The Election Officer has found on several occasions that photographing members during protected campaigning, or otherwise conducting surveillance of such activities, chills the free exercise of such activities and is “destructive of the fundamental safeguards of . . . free and fair elections outlined in the Consent Decree and the Election Rules.” Pollack,
P-008-LU732-NYC (October 29, 1990), aff’d, 90 - Elec. App. - 8 (November 7, 1990). “[T]he appearance of surveillance of IBT members engaging in campaign activities violates the right of members to support candidates free from coercion, interference or harassment.” In Re: Giacumbo et al., 95 - Elec. App. - 45 (KC) (December 18, 1995); Halberg, P-259-
IBT-SCE (January 2, 1996), aff’d, 95 - Elec. App. - 58 (KC) (January 23, 1996); Sheibley,
P-1010-LU653-ENG (October 14, 1996) (videotaping supporters outside campaign meeting violates Rules).
As to the videotape, the Election Officer finds that regardless of other intents for videotaping, Local Union 115 was videotaping when individuals were entering and leaving the phone-bank site.
Surveillance, under the Rules, also occurred when the picketers copied down license plate numbers of Hoffa phone-bank workers. See Giacumbo, P-210-IBT-NYC et seq. (December 5, 1995) (improper surveillance in violation of Rules when charged party wrote down names and license plate numbers of those attending fundraiser).
Based on the foregoing, the protest is GRANTED.
When the Election Officer determines that the Rules have been violated, she “may take whatever remedial action is appropriate.” Article XIV, Section 4. In fashioning the appropriate remedy, the Election Officer views the nature and seriousness of the violation, as well as its potential for interfering with the election process.
The Election Officer orders the following:
1. All IBT members picketing Mr. Fumo’s campaign headquarters at the 12th and Tasker Street location are ordered to immediately cease and desist from taking down license plate numbers of Hoffa supporters and videotaping during any period when individuals are entering or exiting Mr. Fumo’s headquarters while the telephone bank is in operation.
James P. Hoffa
November 27, 1996
Page 1
2. Within one (1) day of receipt of this decision, the Election Officer orders Local Unions 115, 169 and 470 to post the attached “Notice to Members of Local Unions 115, 169 and 470” on all bulletin boards at each local union hall. Within two (2) days, each local union shall file an affidavit with the Election Officer demonstrating compliance with this order.
An order of the Election Officer, unless otherwise stayed, takes immediate effect against a party found to be in violation of the Rules. In Re: Lopez, 96 - Elec. App. - 73 (KC) (February 13, 1996).
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 & 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 N. Capitol Street, Suite 855, Washington, DC 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
Barbara C. Deinhardt, New York City Protest Coordinator
NOTICE TO MEMBERS
OF LOCAL UNIONS 115, 169 & 470
You have the right to participate in campaign activities on behalf of any candidate for International office. It is a violation of the Election Rules for any IBT member to threaten, coerce, intimidate or harass a member for exercising rights guaranteed under the Election Rules. Attempting to interfere with legitimate campaigning by subjecting members to surveillance is also a violation of the Election Rules.
Any member believing the Election Rules have been violated may file a protest with the Election Officer at 400 N. Capitol Street, N.W., Suite 855, Washington, D.C. 20001; telephone (800) 565-VOTE or (202) 624-3500; facsimile (202) 624-3525.
_____________________ ____________________________
Date Barbara Zack Quindel
Election Officer
This is an official notice which must remain posted through December 10, 1996 and must not be defaced or altered in any manner or be covered with any other material.