Bucalo, 2015 ESD 29
OFFICE OF THE ELECTION SUPERVISOR
for the
INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF TEAMSTERS
IN RE: SAM BUCALO, ) Protest Decision 2015 ESD 29
) Issued: August 28, 2015
Protestor. ) OES Case No. P-037-081915-ME
____________________________________)
Sam Bucalo, member and secretary-treasurer of Local Union 100, 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 the Local Union 100 executive board impermissibly cut off candidate access to the email addresses of members by shutting down the local union website.
Election Supervisor representative Lia Lockert investigated this protest.
Findings of Fact and Analysis
Bucalo is the elected secretary-treasurer of Local Union 100 and a member of the local union executive board. He previously was a website administrator for the local union website.
At the monthly executive board meeting held July 22, 2015, the board voted to shut down the website. Bucalo was not present at the board meeting and did not learn of the decision until he noticed on August 18 that the website was down.
The website as it formerly existed had content available to the public and additional content available only to registered users. Registration was limited to local union members. A registering member had the option when registering to hide his/her email address or make it available to other registered users. According to Bucalo, some 320 local union members had registered on the website to make their email addresses accessible to the other registered users. Members of the executive board stated that the ability to access the email addresses of registered users raised privacy concerns that could be addressed by shutting down the website.
Article VII, Section 7(a)(4) requires the local union to honor reasonable requests by candidates for distribution of literature through email. Bucalo asserts that shutting down the website has extinguished the right of a registered user who is a candidate to email campaign material to other registered users. Investigation showed, however, that the local union retains access to the email addresses of the website’s registered users even though the website has been shut down. Accordingly, the local union must include the email addresses of the registered users in any email list of members that is used when a candidate exercises the email right to campaign granted by the cited provision.
Accordingly, we DENY this protest, but we direct the local union to preserve the email addresses of the website’s registered users so that they may be included in the list to which candidates may email under Article VII, Section 7(a)(4). In denying the protest, we reject Bucalo’s contention that the decision to shut down the existing website and construct a new one violated the Rules as an unwise expenditure of union funds. We examine local union conduct in the context of campaign rights and responsibilities, not as to whether they are wise or unwise. Here, campaign rights protected by the Rules are preserved, ending our analysis.
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, 34th 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 17th 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
2015 ESD 29
DISTRIBUTION LIST (BY EMAIL UNLESS OTHERWISE SPECIFIED):
Bradley T. Raymond, General Counsel
International Brotherhood of Teamsters
25 Louisiana Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20001
braymond@teamster.org
David J. Hoffa
1701 K Street NW, Ste 350
Washington DC 20036
hoffadav@hotmail.com
Ken Paff
Teamsters for a Democratic Union
P.O. Box 10128
Detroit, MI 48210-0128
ken@tdu.org
Barbara Harvey
1394 E. Jefferson Avenue
Detroit, MI 48207
blmharvey@sbcglobal.net
Teamsters United
315 Flatbush Avenue, #501
Brooklyn, NY 11217
info@teamstersunited.org
Louie Nikolaidis
350 West 31st Street, Suite 40
New York, NY 10001
lnikolaidis@lcnlaw.com
Julian Gonzalez
350 West 31st Street, Suite 40
New York, NY 10001
jgonzalez@lcnlaw.com
David O’Brien Suetholz
515 Park Avenue
Louisville, KY 45202
dave@unionsidelawyers.com
Fred Zuckerman
P.O. Box 9493
Louisville, KY 40209
fredzuckerman@aol.com
Sam Bucalo
6158 Kingoak Drive
Cincinnati, OH 45248
sammo1245@aol.com
Teamsters Local Union 100
2100 Oak Drive
Cincinnati, OH 45241
sarahm@teamsterslocal100.com
Lia Lockert
P.O. Box 17
Peninsula, OH 44264
lialockert@gmail.com
Dan Walsh
950 Duxbury Court
Cincinnati, OH 45255
dwalsh@ibtvote.org
John Pegula
1434 Greendale Dr.
Pittsburgh, PA 15239
jpegula@ibtvote.org
Jeffrey Ellison
214 S. Main Street, Suite 210
Ann Arbor, MI 48104
EllisonEsq@aol.com