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Breen, 2026 ESD 84

OFFICE OF THE ELECTION SUPERVISOR

for the

INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF TEAMSTERS

)

IN RE: ERIN ) Protest Decision 2026 ESD 84

BREEN, )

) Issued: May 20, 2026

Protester. )

) OES Case No. P-130-032426

)

INTRODUCTION

Erin Breen filed a protest against Dean Modecker, Local 455 Secretary-Treasurer and spokesperson for the Leaner, Meaner, Greener (LMG) Slate; Herb Whitaker and Alan Frisbee, both candidates on the LMG Slate; and the LMG Slate, alleging that they used the slate’s logo on all of the posts made by Local 455 on its Facebook page in violation of the Rules for the 2025-2026 IBT International Union Delegate and Officer Election (“Rules”).

Jim Devine of the Office of the Election Supervisor investigated this protest.

BACKGROUND

On Friday, March 20, 2026, Erin Breen, an independent candidate for delegate of Local 455, saw a flyer for a union event on his shop’s WhatsApp site. Breen was told by the site’s administrator that he had been instructed to copy the flyer from Local 455’s Facebook page. Breen noticed that the flyer contained the same LMG logo as one of the slates running for delegate. He then looked on Local 455’s public Facebook page and found other posts that contained the same logo. Breen filed a protest on Tuesday, March 24, 2026, contending that this conduct was a violation of the Rules by the LMG Slate, who are the incumbents. He alleged that they used a union publication (Facebook), as well as both union time and equipment, to produce Facebook posts that contained the embedded campaign logo LMG.

INVESTIGATION

During Breen’s interview he explained that on March 20, 2026, he was reviewing a WhatsApp work account when he saw the LMG logo on a flyer for a football game. Breen spoke to the site’s administrator, who said that he had been instructed to post it. Breen went to Local 455’s website, and saw that the LMG logo does not appear on the Local’s official home page. Directly from the home page, however, you can link to Local 455’s Facebook page, where many of the union’s flyers, announcements, and posts are contained. This is where Breen found that many of those posts contained the LMG logo, the words “leaner, meaner, greener,” and/or “hashtags” referencing LMG or “leaner, meaner, greener” (i.e., #LMG or #leanermeanergreener).

Breen acknowledged that he knew that LMG has been used in the past as a motto or moniker for Local 455, but contends that this logo has been used significantly more since the beginning of the election period, including on most postings since the nomination meeting. He contends that the logo should have ceased being used during the election period because a slate was using it as its motto. He believes that using the LMG logo on these notices gives the LMG slate an unfair advantage, and notes that Local 455 has not asked any opposing or independent candidates or slates to put their logos on these announcements.

Dean Modecker is the Secretary-Treasurer and a Business Agent for Local 455, a position he has held for two and one-half years. Prior to that, he was the President of the Local. Modecker is also the spokesperson for the Leaner, Meaner, Greener Slate.

Modecker stated that he came into office in April of 2023. In May of 2023, he and his new slate of officers came up with the motto “Leaner, Meaner, Greener,” or LMG. They were trying to show the membership that the new administration was going to be different. They were going to be leaner, reducing the number of layers for members to go through; they were going to be tougher in negotiations; and, they were going to be greener as they tried to organize the new marijuana industry. They began to use the motto on all of Local 455’s announcements and on Local 455 apparel. In November of 2023, during the officer election, Modecker’s slate used “LMG,” although it was barely used because the election ended in a white-ballot election. After the election, they rebranded the Local with “LMG” on everything.

Modecker said that when he was elected, Local 455 had a basic home webpage, and had barely used its Facebook page. He wanted to expand the Local’s social media presence to reach younger members of Local 455. They revamped their Facebook content and started using Twitter (now X).

In 2023, Modecker was approached by a younger member, Scott Nilsson, who asked if he could be Local 455’s social media content coordinator. Nilsson currently runs the entire social media platform.

Modecker explained that since 2023, Facebook has been used by Local 455 more than ever before. LMG is now the motto of the Local and used on everything from announcements to apparel. In fact, if you went back a few years, you would see the same yearly event posted, most likely with LMG on the announcement. He contends that the logo has not been used more in the past two months or since the election began. Modecker stated that Local 455’s attorney put together an email showing the use of the LMG moniker since 2023. (Exhibit 1).

Modecker stated that when it came time for the delegate election, his slate again chose Leaner, Meaner, Greener. They announced their slate name at the nomination meeting on January 13, 2026, had it listed on the ballot, and used it in their campaign materials. Modecker finds it odd that the protestor waited to complain about this until just a week before the ballot count, despite that Breen was present at the nomination meeting two months before, where the Leaner, Meaner, Greener slate name was announced, and approved the ballot with that slate name listed.

Modecker noted that the Rules require a complaint to be made within two working days of when the protestor became aware (or reasonably should have been aware) of the issue. Thus, it is Modecker’s position that a lot of the posts that the protestor raised are untimely. The one post Breen timely filed was of the Spartans Football game, a union event.

The OES interviewed Herb Whitaker, Vice-President and Business Agent of Local 455 and a member of the Leaner, Meaner, Greener Slate. Whitaker said that he and his fellow officers came up with the motto “Leaner, Meaner, Greener,” or LMG, in the Spring of 2023, to demonstrate that the new regime would be different. He said that LMG has become the “war cry” of the Local, and that the LMG logo is on everything from posters to social media postings to apparel.

Whitaker said that LMG has not being used more during the delegate election than in the past. He said that there has been no additional posting on Facebook, as most things posted are recurring events, and contends that the slate is not using the Local’s Facebook page to campaign.

The OES also interviewed Scott Nilsson. Nilsson is a member of Local 455 and a supporter of the Leaner, Meaner, Greener Slate. In 2023, Nilsson contacted the new officers and offered to help run Local 455’s social media sites. He is not involved with the Local 455 home page, but is involved with Facebook, Instagram and X.

Nilsson has volunteered his time to help with this social media project. He is not paid by the Local, but does receive lost time wages. Although he is not the social media project’s primary editor and poster, he will do those jobs when needed. He is also very involved in recording videos and uploading them.

Nilsson said that the officers came up with the motto “Leaner, Meaner, Greener,” or LMG, in 2023, in an effort to show the members that this administration would be different and encourage more involvement. He said that at that time, they wanted their motto on everything that was posted, and he has been applying the LMG motto or logo on everything since he began in 2023. Nilsson considers LMG a rebranding of Local 455, which is why the logo is all over Facebook. He said that the logo was not used more during the election than before it. He views LMG as Local 455’s motto, not a slate motto.

Nilsson said that putting the motto or logo on everything is how the officers are getting the updated message out to the members, and he believes that it is working. For example, he said that attendance at meetings and events has improved, younger members are more involved, and enthusiasm among the older members has increased, in part, because it is teaching the younger members how to approach the older members. Members are interacting more with each other, and use of social media has grown in the Local in a positive way.

Between March 20, 2026, the date Breen states he first saw a posting with the LMG logo, and the election on March 31, 2026, only one new social media posting contained a reference to LMG or “leaner, meaner, greener.” This posting was on March 30, 2026, when a video was posted in which participants called for a strike and chanted “leaner, meaner, greener.”

The election occurred on March 31, 2026. The LMG Slate won all of the delegate and alternate positions by a wide margin.

APPLICABLE LAW

Article VII, Section 8 of the Rules provides, in pertinent part, as follows:

(a) No publication or communication financed, sponsored or used, directly or indirectly, by a Union (including any social media site) may be used to support or attack any candidate or the candidacy of any person, except as authorized by Sections 8 and 9 of this Article. A Union-financed newspaper or other publication or communication shall not:

(1) contain pictures or articles stating or indicating support of the candidacy of a particular candidate; [or]

. . .

(6) carry a substantial number of articles and/or multiple pictures featuring a particular candidate, unless all candidates for the same position are given equal treatment, equal space, and equal prominence.

. . .

Article VII, Section 12 of the Rules states, in pertinent part:

(b) All Union officers and employees, if members, retain the right to participate in campaign activities, including the right to run for office, openly to support or oppose any candidate, to aid or campaign for any candidate, and to make personal campaign contributions. However, such campaigning must not involve the expenditure of Union funds. . . .

(c) Union funds, facilities, equipment, stationery, personnel, etc., may not be used to assist in campaigning unless the Union is reimbursed at fair market value for such assistance, and unless all candidates are provided equal access to such assistance and are notified in advance, in writing, of the availability of such assistance. . . .

Article XI, Section 1(b) of the Rules states, in pertinent part:

(3) No labor organization, including but not limited to the International Union, Local Unions and all other subordinate Union bodies, whether or not an employer, may contribute, or shall be permitted to contribute, directly or indirectly, anything of value, where the purpose, object or foreseeable effect of the contribution is to influence, positively or negatively, the election of a candidate, except as permitted by subparagraphs (5) and (6) below. No candidate may accept or use any such contribution. These prohibitions extend beyond strictly monetary contributions made by a labor organization and include contributions and use of the organization's stationery, equipment, facilities, and personnel.

. . .

(6) No Union funds or other things of value shall be used, directly or indirectly, to promote the candidacy of any individual. Union funds, facilities, equipment, stationery, personnel, etc., may not be used to assist in campaigns unless the Union is compensated at fair market value for such assistance, and unless all candidates are provided with equal access to such assistance and are advised in advance, in writing, of the availability of such assistance. The use of the Union’s official stationery with the Union’s name, insignia, or other mark identifying the Union is prohibited, irrespective of compensation or access. Other use of the Union’s name, insignia, or mark by Union members, in connection with the exercise of rights under these Rules, is permitted.

. . .

Article XIII, Section 2(b) of the Rules states that all pre-election protests (with some exceptions not applicable here) “must be filed within two (2) working days of the day when the protestor becomes aware or reasonably should have become aware of the action protested or such protests shall be waived[.]”

ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS

The Leaner, Meaner, Greener slate did not place its slate’s logo on flyers and posting for union events, as alleged in the protest. Rather, the evidence shows that Local 455 has, over the past three years, undertaken a deliberate and consistent rebranding effort centered on the LMG logo and motto. As part of that effort, Local 455 has regularly used the LMG logo on official union materials, including clothing, flyers, and other postings across its active public social media platforms, reinforcing the association between LMG and the Local. This rebranding initiative was widely known within Local 455. In fact, the protestor himself acknowledged that he was aware that the LMG logo and motto were associated with Local 455. Local 455 began including the LMG logo on union materials back in 2023 and merely continued to post official announcements bearing the LMG logo and/or motto throughout the relevant election period.

We do not find that the frequency or manner of these postings increased during the election period, as alleged. To the contrary, the record shows that direction to include the LMG logo consistently in Local 455 postings was made in 2023, well before the delegate election. Although the witnesses disagree on this fact, our review of Local 455’s social media pages and posting history provided by Local 455’s counsel demonstrates that use of the LMG logo was pervasive long before the election period and does not show any notable difference in the use of the LMG logo during the election period as alleged by the protestor.

“‘[W]here the union has established a term or phrase as a theme that is identified with the union as an institution, a candidate cannot take that theme as the candidate’s campaign slogan without appropriating a “thing of value” from the union, in violation of the Rules.’” O’Brien, et al., 2025 ESD 4 (Sept. 11, 2025) (quoting Bunch, 2006 ESD 305 (June 24, 2006)). “Such instances are governed by Article VII, Section 12(c), which prohibits use of union funds, facilities, equipment and personnel ‘to assist in campaigning,’ and Article XI, Section 1(b)(3), which prohibits the union from contributing ‘anything of value’ to a candidate ‘where the purpose, object or foreseeable effect of the contribution is to influence, positively or negatively, the election’ of the candidate.” Id. The incumbent slate chose to identify itself as the “Leaner, Meaner, Greener” Slate for the delegate election, appropriating a theme that had long been established as uniquely identified with the union itself. That the LMG Slate had earlier coined and used the motto and logo does not excuse a violation, where, by the time of the current election and use of the slate name and logo, the name and logo had become “thing[s] of value” to Local 455. O’Brien, et al., 2025 ESD 4 (Sept. 11, 2025). In choosing to use the name and logo as a slate name and on its campaign materials in the current election, the LMG Slate appropriated a thing of value from the union, and also received free campaign publications every time a post bearing the LMG motto or logo was made on the Local’s social media accounts, while other candidates were not given an equal opportunity to post their logos.

However, pursuant to Article XIII, Section 2(b) of the Rules, a pre‑election protest must be filed within two (2) working days of the date on which the complainant “became aware or reasonably should have become aware of the action protested,” or the protest is waived. Here, Breen was aware that the LMG logo had become the union’s. He also knew or reasonably should have known no later than the January 13, 2026 nomination meeting, which he attended, that the “Leaner, Meaner, Greener” Slate had adopted that name for purposes of Local 455’s delegate election. Following the nomination meeting, the Leaner, Meaner, Greener Slate openly campaigned with this motto as its slate name, while the Local continued to use the LMG logo for its publicly available postings. Nevertheless, Breen did not file his protest until March 24, 2026, more than two months later. Because the protest was filed more than two working days after Breen became aware or reasonably should have become aware of the Slate’s use of “Leaner, Meaner, Greener” as its name, his protest is untimely.

Accordingly, we DENY this protest.

Remedy

Although we have determined that this protest is untimely, we have also determined that the LMG Slate violated the Rules in choosing as a slate name a motto or slogan that had become associated with Local 455, rather than merely with the LMG Slate. If “the Election Supervisor determines that the Rules have been violated or that any other conduct has occurred which may prevent or has prevented a fair, honest, open and informed election, the Election Supervisor may take whatever remedial action is appropriate.” Article XIII, Section 4. “In fashioning the appropriate remedy, the Election Supervisor considers the nature and seriousness of the violation, as well as its potential for interfering with the election process.” O’Brien, et al., 2025 ESD 4 (Sept. 11, 2025).

We order the members of the LMG Slate and all members of Local 455 to cease and desist from any further use of the slate name “leaner, meaner, greener” or the logo “LMG” in any future elections or on any campaign materials so long as it is a logo or motto of the local.

APPELLATE RIGHTS

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:

Election Appeals Master

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. 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. A copy of the protest must accompany the request for hearing.

Timothy S. Hillman

Election Supervisor

cc: Barbara Jones, IBTappealsmaster@bracewell.com

2026 ESD 84

DISTRIBUTION LIST (BY EMAIL UNLESS NOTED OTHERWISE):

Erin Breen

Erinbreen6@gmail.com

Dean Modecker

dmodecker@teamsterslocal455.org

Herb Whitaker

hwhitaker@teamsterslocal455.org

Alan Frisbee