Post, 2020 ESD 8

OFFICE OF THE ELECTION SUPERVISOR

for the

INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF TEAMSTERS

IN RE: TERRY POST,                                )           Protest Decision

                                                                       )           Issued: July 15, 2020

Protestor.                                           )           OES Case No. P-012-071320-NA

____________________________________)

Terry Post, member of Local Union 853, 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 a remedial notice O’Brien-Zuckerman 2021 was ordered to distribute by email improperly contained a link to the slate’s fundraising page.

Election Supervisor representative Jeffrey Ellison investigated this protest.

Findings of Fact and Analysis

In Teamster Power, 2020 ESD 6 (July 10, 2020), the Election Supervisor found that O’Brien-Zuckerman 2021 violated the Rules by emailing a fundraising solicitation to members at union email addresses, using a platform provided by NationBuilder.com, a vendor.  Among other remedies, the Election Supervisor ordered the slate to email a remedial notice to all who had received the original email solicitation.

The slate attempted to comply with the notice emailing on July 12, 2020 by transmitting a .jpg image of the remedial notice to the email list, using the NationBuilder.com platform.  For some recipients, the notice was legible; for many others the image was unreadable because it was distorted or oversized.  At OES’s direction given July 13, the slate undertook to re-send the remedial notice in a different format, testing the transmission for readability on smartphone as well as computer monitor applications and sharing those test results with OES staff.  OES staff observed that, at the end of the test email notice, just before the “unsubscribe” instructions, a url appeared which, when clicked by the user, opened the slate’s contributions page in the user’s browser.  Upon investigation, we found that the url and the unsubscribe notice were not present in the body of the email when slate personnel sent the email; they were added to the email by settings that slate personnel either overlooked or were unaware of.[1]  Shortly after 1 p.m. EDT on July 13, OES staff instructed slate staff to edit the settings on the NationBuilder.com platform to eliminate the url to the slate’s fundraising page.  Slate staff did so, and the reformatted notice was distributed to the full email list shortly before 4 p.m. EDT on July 13.

OES received the instant protest on July 13 at 1:39 p.m. EDT, which alleged that the url linking to the slate’s contributions page appeared in the notice the slate transmitted the previous day.  The notice the protestor received and attached to the protest was largely illegible.  However, the url to the contributions page was legible and the hyperlink embedded in it was operable.

Remedial notices ordered by the Election Supervisor are intended to inform the recipients of the requirements of the Rules, the violation that occurred, and the remedy imposed against the violator.  They are not to be altered by the party responsible for their distribution.

Here, the notice that O’Brien-Zuckerman 2021 emailed on July 12, 2020 was altered by the addition of the url linking to its contribution page.  This alteration was contrary to the Election Supervisor’s order that the notice – and only the notice – be distributed.  We find, however, the alteration was inadvertent, resulting from an email setting that slate staff overlooked or was unaware of at the time the email issued.  We further find that the effect of the alteration was mitigated in large part by the substantial illegibility of the July 12 notice and the prompt reissuance the next day of a legible notice that did not include the improperly added url for the slate contribution page.  Nonetheless, we direct O’Brien-Zuckerman 2021 to provide us with a report to be used for further remedial action, if we deem it necessary, for the period commencing July 12 and continuing through July 26 of all contributions that resulted from clicking on the url in the July 12 notice distribution.

On this basis, we deem this protest RESOLVED.

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

            2020 ESD 8

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

Kevin Moore

Mooregp2021@gmail.com

F.C. “Chris” Silvera

fitzverity@aol.com

Fred Zuckerman

fredzuckerman@aol.com

Ken Paff

Teamsters for a Democratic Union

ken@tdu.org

Terry Post

Tpost853@gmail.com

Jeffrey Ellison

EllisonEsq@gmail.com