Local Union 377 Nominations Meeting, 2020 ESD 23
OFFICE OF THE ELECTION SUPERVISOR
for the
INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF TEAMSTERS
IN RE: LOCAL UNION 377 ) Protest Decision 2020 ESD 23
NOMINATIONS MEETING. ) Issued: October 3, 2020
) OES Case No. P-033-100220-ME
____________________________________)
On review of the nominations meeting results for Local Union 377’s delegates and alternate delegates election, we conducted an investigation of the validity of a nomination for alternate delegate made at that meeting.
Election Supervisor representative Dan Walsh investigated this matter.
Findings of Fact and Analysis
To be eligible to nominate a candidate for delegate or alternate delegate, the nominator or seconder must be a member in good standing, with his/her dues paid through the month prior to the month in which the nominations meeting is conducted. Local Union 377 held its nominations meeting for the delegate and alternate delegate election on September 16, 2020. Accordingly, to be eligible to nominate or second a nomination at that meeting, a member was required to be in good standing with his dues paid through August 2020.
Local Union 377’s approved election plan permitted the election of three delegates and four alternate delegates. A total of seven candidates were nominated for these positions; all are members of the local union’s executive board.
The nomination of Kenny Sabo for alternate delegate was made by Kenneth Foster. Foster most often works in the construction industry and is a cash dues payer. He routinely pays his dues timely, occasionally paying them in advance. Sabo asked him to make the nomination, and Foster agreed. Sabo inquired further if Foster was current on his dues; Foster said he was. Neither requested OES to verify Foster’s eligibility to nominate. See Rules, Article VI, Section 4(b).
The nominations meeting was chaired by George Faulkner, the local union’s attorney. Before Faulkner opened the floor for nominations, he read to those assembled the Rules provision that any person nominating or seconding a nomination was eligible to do so only if his/her dues were paid through the month prior to the month of the nominations meeting. He also read the provision permitting the nomination or seconding for a candidate to be made by more than one person, a provision intended to address the risk that any single nominator or seconder was ineligible to act.
During nominations for delegate, two persons seconded the nomination of a particular candidate because of concern that the first person seconding the nomination was ineligible to do so.
When nominations opened for alternate delegate, Foster nominated Sabo. No other person also nominated Sabo. Another member seconded the nomination of Sabo. Sabo accepted the nomination. Other candidates were nominated for the remaining alternate delegate seats. Faulkner, the presiding official, call three times for further nominations. None was made, and the nominations meeting was closed.
Sabo and Foster both told our investigator that they believed Foster was in good standing at the time the nomination was made, with his dues paid through August 2020. Sabo stated that he did not arrange for a second nominator because of his belief that Foster was eligible to nominate.
Our examination of Foster’s dues payment history after the meeting showed, however, that he was two months in arrears, with dues paid through June 2020 at the time of the meeting. At our investigator’s request, Foster reviewed his dues receipts and concluded he had missed two months’ payments of dues through inadvertence.
On these facts, we find Foster was ineligible to nominate Sabo. There being no other nominator for Sabo, his nomination – and election, in this otherwise uncontested election – failed for lack of a valid nomination.
As a result of this determination, Local Union 377’s delegation to the IBT convention will consist of three delegates and three alternate delegates only, even though the approved election plan for the local union permitted election of four alternate delegates. Consistent with this holding, we order the local union to do the following, within three working days of the date this decision issues:
- Local Union 377 shall prepare and post an amended Notice of Nominations Meeting Results on all worksite bulletin boards that lists as elected only the three candidates validly nominated for delegate and the three candidates validly nominated for delegate, with Sabo’s name removed from the list of elected candidates.
- Local Union 377 shall amend the ranking of alternate delegates previously established to remove Sabo’s name; the order of ranking of the remaining alternate delegates shall otherwise remain as established.
- Local Union 377 shall add this decision to the minutes of the nominations meeting.
Within two working days of complying with the foregoing order, Local Union 377 shall submit a declaration demonstrating such compliance.
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 23
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
Kenny Sabo
Kenny.sabo@gmail.com
Ralph Sam Cook
Samcook618@hotmail.com
George Faulkner
faulkner@fhplaw.com
Dan Walsh
dwalsh@ibtvote.org
Jeffrey Ellison
EllisonEsq@gmail.com