IN RE: DAVID ZEEK,
Protest Decision 2001 EAD 129
Issued: February 2, 2001
OEA Case No. PR011711ME
David Zeek, a member of Local 100, filed a pre-election protest pursuant to Article XIII, Section 2(b) of the Rules for the 2000-2001 IBT International Union Delegate and Officer Election ("Rules"). Zeek alleges that Local 100's posting of the results of its delegate nomination meeting were defective because one nominee's name was omitted and because some postings were obstructed on certain bulletin boards. He also alleges that other Local 100 members processed eligibility protests on union time.
Election Administrator representative William Kane investigated the protest.
Findings of Fact and Analysis
Local 100 held its nomination meeting on January 2, 2001. Notices of the results of the meeting were posted beginning January 4, 2001. The name of nominee Theresa Rose was omitted, due to a consensus reached by the local union's election committee that she was ineligible to be a candidate, but this omission was corrected on a revised notice posted by the local union on January 8, 2001.
Meanwhile, Rose's eligibility was the subject of an eligibility protest investigation. Rose was found ineligible to run as a delegate candidate on January 22, 2001. See Butts, 2001 EAD 86, aff'd on this point, 01 EAM 18 (January 30, 2001).
As to the second protest allegation, our investigator determined that one notice at a UPS facility in Cincinnati, Ohio was obscured. No evidence was offered that any of the other 159 postings was obscured, and when this problem was brought to the attention of the local union, a business representative was sent to the location to correct the problem.
The third protest allegation concerning the alleged improper processing of eligibility protests on union time was withdrawn.
We GRANT the protest as to its first allegation, the omission of Rose's name from the original nomination notice. Local union election committees are not empowered under the Rules to make unilateral determinations as to candidate eligibility. Such matters are to be resolved by the filing of eligibility protests with the Election Administrator, as was eventually done here. See Salters, E12 (November 11, 1995); Rules, Article VI, Section 4(a) and Article XIII, Section 2(b)(1).
As a remedy for this violation, we order Local 100 to post all further election notices in conformance with the Rules. No further remedy is required, since the error was corrected, and since Rose was, in any case, eventually determined to be ineligible, thus negating any possibility that the Rules violation here could affect the results of the delegate election.
We DENY the protest allegation as to the obscured notice posting, however, because we find it was isolated, and because it was corrected by the local union when it was discovered.
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. The parties are reminded that, absent extraordinary circumstances, no party may rely upon evidence that was not presented to the Office of the Election Administrator in any such appeal. Requests for a hearing shall be made in writing, shall specify the basis for the appeal, and shall be served upon:
Kenneth Conboy
Election Appeals Master
Latham & Watkins
Suite 1000
885 Third Avenue
New York, New York 10022
Fax: 212-751-4864
Copies of the request for hearing must be served upon all other parties, as well as upon the Election Administrator for the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, 727 15th Street NW, Tenth Floor, Washington, DC 20005, all within the time period prescribed above. A copy of the protest must accompany the request for hearing.
William A. Wertheimer, Jr.
William A. Wertheimer, Jr.
Election Administrator
cc: Kenneth Conboy
2001 EAD 129
DISTRIBUTION LIST VIA UPS NEXT DAY AIR:
Patrick Szymanski
IBT General Counsel
25 Louisiana Ave. NW
Washington, DC 20001
Bradley T. Raymond
Finkel, Whitefield, Selik,
Raymond, Ferrara & Feldman
32300 Northwestern Highway
Suite 200
Farmington Hills, MI 48334
J. Douglas Korney
Korney & Heldt
30700 Telegraph Road
Suite 1551
Bingham Farms, MI 48025
Barbara Harvey
Penobscot Building
Suite 1800
645 Griswold
Detroit, MI 48226
Betty Grdina
Yablonski, Both & Edelman
Suite 800
1140 Connecticut Ave. NW
Washington, D.C. 20036
Tom Leedham c/o Stefan Ostrach
110 Mayfair
Eugene, OR 97404
IBT Local 100
2100 Oak Road
Cincinnati, OH 45241
David Zeek
414 North D Street
Hamilton, OH 45013
William B. Kane
242 Old Haymaker Road
Monroeville, PA 15146