Gronek and Williams, 2021 ESD 43

OFFICE OF THE ELECTION SUPERVISOR

for the

INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF TEAMSTERS

IN RE: JOE GRONEK and                         )           Protest Decision 2021 ESD 43

      OTIS WILLIAMS,                                 )           Issued: January 14, 2021

                                                                       )           OES Case No. P-051-011221-SO

Protestors.                                         )

____________________________________)

Joe Gronek and Otis Williams, members of Local Union 402, 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”).  Gronek and Williams formed a slate to run, respectively, for Local Union 402’s single delegate and single alternate delegate seats.  Gronek, the only member nominated for delegate, was for lack of opposition deemed elected at the close of the nominations meeting.  Williams and one other member were nominated for alternate delegate, thus requiring an election to settle that contest.  The protest asserted that OES should reverse its decision to list both contestants for alternate delegate on the ballot as individual candidates, and instead permit Williams to appear on the ballot as a slate, even though Williams was the only candidate remaining from the slate previously formed with Gronek, who by virtue of his election was no longer a candidate.

By email received January 14, 2021, Gronek requested to withdraw the protest.  The Election Supervisor concludes that withdrawal is consistent with the purposes of the Rules.

Accordingly, we deem this protest WITHDRAWN.

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 43

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

Joe Gronek

joegronek@gmail.com

Otis Williams

ogwilliams@tva.gov

Teamsters Local Union 402

Teamsters402@comcast.net

Matthew Rupley

Teamstermatthewrupley@gmail.com

Dolores Hall

dhall@ibtvote.org

Jeffrey Ellison

EllisonEsq@gmail.com