IN RE: TIM SYLVESTER,
Protest Decision 2001 EAD 326
Issued: April 24, 2001
OEA Case No. PR041014NE
Tim Sylvester, a Local 804 member and delegate candidate on the Leedham Rank and File slate (the "Rank & File slate"), a slate composed wholly of delegate candidates, 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"). Sylvester alleges that Local 804 and the Redmond slate, a competing slate comprised wholly of delegate candidates, made no attempt to obtain updated addresses for members whose ballots were not delivered due to incorrect address information.
Election Administrator representative Jason Weidenfeld investigated the protest.
Findings of Fact and Analysis
The ballots for Local 804's election of delegates and alternate delegates were mailed on March 27, 2001. On April 4, 2001, the American Arbitration Association ("AAA"), which conducted the election, sent to Local 804 a list of 249 names of members for whom addresses were needed. According to Jeffrey Zaino of the AAA, these members' ballots were undelivered because they lacked addresses.
Tony Magrene, Local 804's secretary-treasurer and a candidate on the Redmond slate, said that the local received the AAA list on Thursday, April 5, 2001. The list was comprised of new members, for which the local had no addresses. On Friday, April 6, 2001 and Monday, April 9, 2001, the local checked with the health and welfare department and with the credit union but could not find address information for these members. Therefore, on April 9, 2001, the local attempted to contact UPS labor managers for three districts: Metro New York, East Long Island, and West Long Island.
Magrene's statements to our investigator indicate that the local's attempts to obtain updated address information in time to send new ballots were largely unsuccessful. In Metro New York, UPS' district labor manager responded immediately. Local 804, in turn, faxed updated address information for twenty-five members to AAA, which mailed ballots to these members on April 12, 2001. Although Local 804 expected to receive a list from the East Long Island district labor manager, none was received. In West Long Island, a list was delivered to Local 804 in the afternoon on Thursday, April 12, 2001. Local 804 did not work on the list that afternoon, and the next day, Good Friday, was a holiday at the local. The count was held on Tuesday, April 17, 2001. Therefore, members in the East and West Long Island UPS districts who did not receive ballots initially never received ballots.
The Local 804 election resulted in a victory by the Redmond slate over the Rank & File slate. The margin of victory exceeded the sum of the challenged ballots and the total number of ballots returned due to incomplete or inaccurate address information.
Under Article XIII, Section 2(f)(2) of the Rules, we treat this protest as a post-election protest pursuant to Article XIII, Section 3(b). Section 3(b) states that post-election protests such as this one "shall only be considered and remedied if the alleged violation may have affected the outcome of the election." Even had correct address information been provided for all ballots returned due to incorrect information, the Redmond slate would have defeated the Rank & File slate. Therefore, we DENY the protest. That said, we would be remiss if we failed to note that the efforts made by AAA and Local 804 were woefully inadequate. See Election Administrator's IBT Local Union Manual for Conducting Delegate Elections at 20-21 (October 10, 2000)(see Attachment A). We will not hesitate to rerun an election in which the results may have been affected by such inadequate measures.
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 (facsimile: 202-454-1501), all within the time 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 326
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 804
34-21 Review Ave.
Long Island City, NY 11101
Tony Magrene
c/o IBT Local 804
34-21 Review Ave.
Long Island City, NY 11101
Lindsay Marshall
UPS, Inc. Legal Department
55 Glenlake Pkwy. NE
Atlanta, GA 30328
Gary Tocci
Kim Kaplan
Schnader, Harrison, Segal & Lewis
Suite 3600
1600 Market St.
Philadelphia, PA 19103
Tim Sylvester
1773 E. 33rd St.
Brooklyn, NY 11234
David Reilly
Reilly, Oliver & Olsen
22 W. Main St.
North Kingstown, RI 02852