Trujillo, 2021 ESD 155

OFFICE OF THE ELECTION SUPERVISOR

for the

INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF TEAMSTERS

IN RE: PAUL TRUJILLO,                         )           Protest Decision 2021 ESD 155

                                                                        )           Issued: October 11, 2021

Protestor.                                           )           OES Case No. P-180-100321-FW

____________________________________)

Paul Trujillo, member of Local Union 822, 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 photos of persons wearing campaign emblems were posted to Local Union 853’s Facebook page, in violation of the Rules.

Election Supervisor representative Deborah Schaaf investigated this protest.

Findings of Fact and Analysis

            Local Union 853 maintains a Facebook page.  The protest alleged that, as of October 3, 2021, photos posted to the page depicted campaign emblems that supported the Teamster Power slate.

            One group of photos depicted members attending a recent stewards event the local union sponsored.  Principal officer Rome Aloise appears in some of these photos.  The protest alleged that Aloise wore a Teamster Power campaign emblem.  The photos do not substantiate the allegation.  Any emblem Aloise or others wore, as depicted in the photos, is vanishingly small and therefore indecipherable.  We note that, even if Aloise or others wore campaign emblems to the stewards event, such conduct would not violate the Rules.  A member or officer of a local union may permissibly wear campaign emblems to a local union meeting, provided that employer representatives are not present at the meeting. 

            The second group of photos depicted members of Local Union 853 who attended the IBT Womens Conference.  This group of photos was posted to the Facebook page on September 30, 2021.  One of the photos showed an attendee wearing a blue lanyard.  The photo was cropped such that the full text of the printing on the lanyard was cut off.  Much of the printing on the lanyard is indecipherable in the photo.  The visible portion of the text reads “teamsters power sl--”  Protestor Trujillo alleged that this lanyard constituted a campaign emblem, and posting a photo to an official union Facebook page of a person wearing the emblem violated the Rules.  Although the photo was removed when the protest was filed, we find insufficient evidence to substantiate the allegation.  The name of the Vairma-Herrera slate is “Teamster Power,” yet the lanyard reads “Teamsters Power.” 

            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

            2021 ESD 155

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

Fred Zuckerman

fredzuckerman@aol.com

Ken Paff

Teamsters for a Democratic Union

ken@tdu.org

Scott Jenkins

scott@oz2021.com

Paul Trujillo

Tiknan.tono@gmail.com

Teamsters Local Union 853

raloise@teamsters853.org

jpayne@teamsters853.org

Jeffrey Ellison

EllisonEsq@gmail.com