O'Brien-Zuckerman 2021, 2020 ESD 18

OFFICE OF THE ELECTION SUPERVISOR

for the

INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF TEAMSTERS

IN RE: O'BRIEN-ZUCKERMAN 2021,    )           Protest Decision 2020 ESD 18

                                                                        )           Issued: September 2, 2020

Protestor.                                           )           OES Case No. P-020-081320-MW

____________________________________)

O'Brien-Zuckerman 2021 , a slate of candidates for International office, 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 campaigners for the Teamster Power slate offered facemasks paid for with local union funds in exchange for signatures on accreditation petitions.

Election Supervisor representative Joe Childers investigated this protest.

Findings of Fact and Analysis

On August 12, 2020, James Curbeam, Teamster Power candidate for IBT vice president at-large, and Jarrod Skelton, a slate supporter, canvassed for accreditation signatures at the UPS facility in Clarksville IN.  The facility is under the jurisdiction of Local Union 89, of which Fred Zuckerman, candidate for IBT General Secretary-Treasurer on the O'Brien-Zuckerman 2021 slate, is principal officer. 

Skelton, a member of Local Union 710, wore a facemask bearing that local union’s logo.  A UPS member employed at UPS Clarksville, Richard Shoots, signed the Teamster Power slate petition.  Shoots and Skelton spoke for some time about work issues.[1]  After he signed the petition, Shoots commented on Skelton’s facemask and said he was interested in obtaining one because he said his pension plan is run under the auspices of Local Union 710.  Skelton had only one Local Union 710 facemask, the one he was wearing, which he obtained from a Local Union 710 business agent who was distributing them to members of that local union.  Skelton told Shoots that he did not know if he could get one.  He told Shoots that if Shoots was interested in the mask, he should get Skelton’s name from another UPS Clarksville driver that Skelton and Shoots both knew and then contact Skelton, who would inquire with Local Union 710 about getting a mask for Shoots.  Shoots confirmed to our investigator that Skelton gave him these instructions.  Skelton told our investigator that if Shoots had contacted him, he would have checked with the pension plan administrators at Local Union 710 to see whether they would give a Local Union 710 mask to one of their plan participants.  Skelton told our investigator that he never received the follow-up contact from Shoots and, as a consequence, did not contact the plan administrators about the mask or supply one to Shoots.

Shoots, Skelton, and Curbeam all denied to our investigator that a mask was offered in exchange for Shoots’ petition signature. 

The protest was filed because of an exchange between Ed Sageser, Local Union 89 business agent assigned to UPS Clarksville, and Shoots.  Sageser was alerted that canvassers would appear at that worksite because candidate Curbeam had given courtesy notice to Zuckerman that he would be campaigning in Zuckerman’s local union.  Sageser told our investigator he appeared at the site, saw no campaigners, and asked a clerk employed at the facility if she had seen any there.  She confirmed that canvassers had been present.  Shoots walked up to Sageser and said, “Yeah, they are going to give me a mask.”  Sageser told our investigator that he did not know whether Shoots was joking.  Nonetheless, he reported to Zuckerman that the canvassers had offered Shoots a mask in exchange for signing the petition.  The next day, Sageser sent Shoots a text message instructing him to “send me a picture of that mask they were giving away.”  Shoots promptly replied, “I don’t have a picture[.]  [I]t was almost like ours but had 710 underneath the horses and it was white[.]  [H]e is supposed to send me one[.]  [W]e will see if [it] really happens.”

Article VII, Section 12(c) and Article XI, Sections 1(b)(3) and (6) of the Rules bar use of union resources to campaign.  We find no violation here.  The facts show the canvassers did not distribute Local Union 710 masks or offer them in exchange for petition signatures.  The facts further show that Shoots signed the petition before he ever expressed interest in obtaining a mask.  Investigation shows that Sageser made assumptions that masks were offered in exchange for signatures and that the masks were union-funded.  Neither assumption was valid.

Accordingly, we DENY the protest.

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 18

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

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

James Curbeam

Teamcurb480@gmail.com

Jarrod Skelton

Ibtlu710@aol.com

Ed Sageser

esageser@teamsters89.com

Joe Childers

jchilders@ibtvote.org

W.C. Broberg

wbroberg@ibtvote.org

Jeffrey Ellison

EllisonEsq@gmail.com