Bucalo, 2021 ESD 126

OFFICE OF THE ELECTION SUPERVISOR

for the

INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF TEAMSTERS

IN RE: SAM BUCALO,                              )           Protest Decision 2021 ESD 126 (corrected)

                                                                       )           Issued: June 18, 2021

Protestor.                                           )           OES Case No. P-150-060821-ME

____________________________________)

Sam Bucalo, member of Local Union 100, 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 most of the local union’s delegation to the IBT convention were ineligible to serve because they paid monthly dues at an improperly low rate.

Election Supervisor representative Jeffrey Ellison investigated this protest.

Findings of Fact and Analysis

Duly elected delegates and alternate delegates to the IBT convention are required to be members in good standing at the time of the convention in order to serve in their elected positions.

Local Union 100 elected 5 delegates and 2 alternate delegates to the convention.  Of these, 3 delegates and 2 alternate delegates are full-time officers and/or business agents of the local union.

The protest alleged that these 5 were not presently in good standing because the dues rate they paid monthly was improperly lower than what is required by the IBT constitution.  Article X, Section 3 of the constitution requires that “[t]he monthly dues of salaried officers, Business Agents, and organizers employed by the Local Union on a full-time basis, shall be equal to the highest rate of dues paid by any member of the Local Union.”  The protest alleged that the highest dues rate of any union member is that paid by the transportation coordinator hired in motion picture and television projects being produced in greater Cincinnati OH.

Investigation showed that local motion picture and television production effectively ceased during the covid-19 pandemic, resuming only in May 2021.  During the period prior to the past month, the dues rate of the full-time officers and business agents of the local union was equal to that paid by UPS feeder drivers, which was the highest rate assessed against any local union member.  Past transportation coordinators identified in the protest, according to their dues payment histories, never equaled or exceeded the rate paid by UPS feeder drivers, until a current motion picture production commenced in May 2021.  At that point, the transportation coordinator for that production became the local union member with the highest dues rate, and the dues rate of full-time officers and business agents was raised to equal that rate. 

Accordingly, the delegation members at issue in this protest are members in good standing and may participate in the convention as elected delegates and alternate delegates.

For the foregoing reasons, we DENY this 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

            2021 ESD 126

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

Sam Bucalo

sammo1245@aol.com

Teamsters Local Union 100

sarahm@teamsterslocal100.com

Dan Walsh

dwalsh@ibtvote.org

Jeffrey Ellison

EllisonEsq@gmail.com