Piercey, 2021 ESD 143

OFFICE OF THE ELECTION SUPERVISOR

for the

INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF TEAMSTERS

IN RE: STEPHEN PIERCEY,                    )           Protest Decision 2021 ESD 143

                                                                        )           Issued: September 17, 2021

Protestor.                                           )           OES Case No. P-163-072321-MW

____________________________________)

Stephen Piercey, member of Local Union 89, 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 the Teamster Power slate and its candidates, Terry Hancock, Debra Simmons-Peterson, and Mike Cales, violated the Rules by affixing a campaign sign to an employer-owned fence when campaigning at an employer facility.

Election Supervisor representative Jeffrey Ellison investigated this protest.

Findings of Fact and Analysis

            Article VII, Section 12(e) permits members and candidates to campaign in employer parking lots where members park their personal vehicles for work.  This campaign right does not extend to the campaign use of employer fencing or other fixtures by hanging banners or placards from such employer assets.  In Teamster Power, 2020 ESD 4 (July 3, 2020), we ordered the O'Brien-Zuckerman 2021 slate and its candidates and supporters to cease and desist from hanging campaign banners from employer fencing adjacent to parking lots.  We also ordered the slate to remove from its social media posts any photos that depicted banners hanging from employer assets.

            The protestor in Teamster Power, supra, is the respondent here.  The 3 candidates on the Teamster Power slate identified above are depicted in photos on Teamster Power social media that include a large campaign placard affixed to a chain-link fence at an ABF facility in Chicago Heights IL.  The placard appears to be some 6 feet wide by 3 feet high and printed on cardboard backing.  It is affixed to the upper portion of a fence approximately 5 feet high, adjacent to the entrance ABF trucks use to ingress and egress the work area.  Investigation showed that the placard was affixed to the fence by a member who claimed ignorance of the requirement that employer assets not be used for a campaign purpose.  He stated that the sign was mounted at the start of the campaign activity and removed about an hour later.  There is no contrary evidence.

             Around the time the decision issued in Teamster Power in July 2020, counsel for that slate sent a brief memo to the members of the slate advising that hanging campaign banners on employer fencing.  The memo was one of several campaign advice memos on do’s and don’ts of campaigning sent to candidates.  Hancock, Simmons-Peterson, and Cales did not become candidates on the Teamster Power slate until an amended slate declaration was filed with OES in May 2021.  Slate counsel told our investigator that the collected campaign advice memos were provided to these candidates when they became slate members.  The candidates did not observe the advice on use of employer fencing when campaigning, however.

            Accordingly, we GRANT the protest.  We order the same remedy here as ordered in Teamster Power, viz.

[W]e direct the slate and its supporters to cease and desist from such use.  We further direct that the slate remove from its campaign Facebook page and any other materials where they appear any and all photos that depict a banner affixed to employer fencing.  Going forward, if slate supporters wish to use a banner during parking lot campaigning, they must supply their own means of supporting it.

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 143

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

Stephen Piercey

spierceyteamsters@gmail.com

Bill Broberg

wbroberg@ibtvote.org

Joe Childers

Jchilders@ibtvote.org

Jeffrey Ellison

EllisonEsq@gmail.com