O’Brien Zuckerman Teamsters United 2026 Slate, 2026 ESD 112
OFFICE OF THE ELECTION SUPERVISOR
for the
INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF TEAMSTERS
IN RE: SEAN O’BRIEN )
FRED ZUCKERMAN ) Protest Decision 2026 ESD 112
TEAMSTERS UNITED 2026)
SLATE ) Issued: June 15, 2026
)
Protestor. ) OES Case Nos. P-153-061526
INTRODUCTION
Edward Gleason, Jr., on behalf of the O’Brien Zuckerman Teamsters United 2026 Slate (“OZ Slate”) filed a protest against Tameka Lenoir alleging that she was not in continuous good standing for 24 consecutive months leading up to her nomination and not eligible as candidate for Central Regional Vice President.
Ron Webne, representative of the Office of Election Supervisor (“OES”) investigated this protest.
FINDINGS & ANALYSIS
Under the 2025-2026 IBT International Union Delegate and Officer Election (the “Rules”):
To be eligible to run for any International Officer position, one must:
(1) Be a member in continuous good standing of the Local Union, with one's dues paid to the Local Union for a period of twenty-four (24) consecutive months prior to the month of nomination for said position with no interruptions in active membership due to suspensions, expulsions, withdrawals, transfers or failure to pay fines or assessments;
(2) Be employed at the craft within the jurisdiction of the Local Union for a period of twenty-four (24) consecutive months prior to the month of nomination; and
(3) Be eligible to hold office if elected.
Rules, Art. VI, Section 1. In addition to the above requirements, candidates for regional Vice President must also be in continuous good standing with a local union within the jurisdiction of the regional area for which the Vice President is sought. Id.
Lenoir is a member of Local 710, which is in the Central Region. Lenoir stated that she was out of work due to an injury from June 2022 through April 2023. She did not receive income from her employer during that time and was not entitled to rely on dues check-off for payment of her dues. Review of TITAN records shows that Lenoir paid her dues for the month of June 2022. Her status was changed to “on leave” beginning in August 2022, and then changed to suspended on January 27, 2023. Lenoir confirmed that during her time on leave, she did not self-pay her dues directly to the local despite the fact that she did not receive income from her employer at that time.
Lenoir stated that she was unaware that she was on suspension. However, pursuant to Article X, Section 5(c) of the IBT Constitution, “[a]ny member who shall be three (3) months in arrears in the payment of dues,…shall automatically stand suspended at the end of the third (3rd) month, and shall not be entitled to any rights or privileges of membership.” The IBT Constitution further provides that:
Any member who has been automatically suspended for failure to pay dues and other charges shall be under a continuing obligation to pay dues during the period of the suspension. Payment of dues shall not restore good standing status if fines and other charges due are not paid. In addition to requiring the payment of delinquent dues, the Local Union may adopt a Bylaw provision requirement the payment of a reinitiation fee for entitlement to the rights and privileges of membership. The Local Union Executive Board shall have the power to waive, or reduce, on a non-discriminatory basis the payment of delinquent dues, assessments, and/or reinitiation fees. Per capita tax shall be paid on all delinquent dues and/or reinitiation fees collected.
IBT Constitution, Art. X, Section 5(c).
Based on TITAN records, and consistent with the IBT Constitution, Lenoir failed to pay her dues for more than three months (July 2022-December 2022) and was placed on suspension in January 2023 for failure to pay dues. She remained on suspended status until June 2, 2025.
Lenoir stated that she returned to work full time around April 2023. Upon returning to work, Lenoir began paying monthly dues on dues checkoff. However, she did not, and still has not, paid all of her delinquent dues she failed to pay while on leave.[1] Cf Groweg, Post-23-LU988-SOU, Corrected Decision, (June 3, 1996) (“a member who returns from suspension normally would not be entitled to be eligible to vote unless he or she pays all delinquent dues and other charges for the entire period of the suspension.”). As a result, her TITAN records show that that she has currently paid her dues only through February 2025. Thus, because she failed to pay those dues, she remained subject to the automatic suspension provision of Art. X, Section 5(c) throughout the 24-month eligibility period. Lenoir stated that she did ask the local to waive her dues and to her knowledge, the local did not waive or forgive her dues, which is confirmed by the TITAN records.
Lenoir stated that she was able to vote in a Local stewards election and never told that her vote would not count demonstrating that the local was treating her as an active member. Notwithstanding, we find that Lenoir is not in good standing because she was suspended during the eligibility period and is not up to date on her dues. As the member, she is charged with the responsibility for knowing the Rules. Ciccozzi, 2001 EAD 100 (January 24, 2001). Accordingly, we GRANT this protest and find Lenoir ineligible.
APPELLATE RIGHTS
Pursuant to Article III, Section 5(n), any appeal from the decision of the Election Supervisor on a protest with respect to the eligibility of a person nominated from the floor as a candidate for International office must be filed with the Election Appeals Master within two (2) hours of the receipt of the decision. Such an appeal shall be heard and decided by the Election Appeals Master prior to the conclusion of the Convention. 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.
Timothy S. Hillman
Election Supervisor
cc: Barbara Jones, IBTappealsmaster@bracewell.com
DISTRIBUTION LIST (BY EMAIL UNLESS NOTED OTHERWISE):
Tameka Lenoir
fearlessslatecommsteam@gmail.com
John Palmer
Richard Hooker
Retu Singla
Seth Goldstein
sgoldstein@workingpeopleslaw.com
Edward M. Gleason, Jr.,
James L. Donovan Jr.
David Suetholz
Will Bloom
Ken Paff
Thomas Kokalas
Timothy S. Hillman
Paul Dever
Ron Webne
Kelly Hogan
[1] TITAN reflects that Lenoir’s suspension was lifted on June 2, 2025, but the dues she failed to pay were never paid.