Protest Decisions

IN RE: Michael Brannan,
Protest Decision 2001 EAD 359
Issued: May 10, 2001
OEA Case No. PR041111WE

Michael Brannan, a member of Local 763, 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"). He alleges that Al Hobart, president of Joint Council 28, used the Washington Teamster newspaper and his joint council officer position to support the candidacy of Jon Rabine for Western Region Vice President.

Election Administrator representative Lisa Sonia Taylor investigated this protest.

Findings of Fact

In December 2000, Rabine was not reelected as Local 763 secretary-treasurer. This election was contested and a re-run election is scheduled. Rabine also stepped down as president of Joint Council 28. Former secretary-treasurer Hobart became president of Joint Council 28 in January 2001.

In March 2001, Local 763 submitted an article for publication in the February-April 2001 edition of the Washington Teamster, Joint Council 28's newspaper. This article contained the following description of the contract ratification at the Seattle Times:

Another recent victory was the ratification of a contract for the mailers at the Seattle Times/P.I. The previous administration had members sign a petition after they had voted down an incomplete contract proposal. The former Secretary-Treasurer also called for a strike after the contract rejection but then reversed himself the next day and ordered the members to work. He then claimed that the petition was the same as a secret ballot vote and the contract was ratified. Complicating matters after we took office was the fact that parts of the new contract language were missing from the Local. New Agent Miguel Gomez worked hard to clean up this mess and track down all of the new agreements. He succeeded, and was able to present the members with a complete contract proposal. All the members had three days to thoroughly review their contract and get their questions answered. They were then allowed to re-vote the proposal by secret ballot. Congratulations to our members who voted to accept the package.

The joint council publishes the Washington Teamster quarterly. Each local union affiliated with the joint council is permitted to submit articles for publication in the newspaper. After the newspaper is formatted, Hobart receives a draft that he reads and approves before publication. When the Local 763 article was published the portion quoted above in bold was removed. Brannan submitted to the investigator a copy of the draft, on which that portion of the text was crossed out with a note in the corner stating, "OK'd by Al Hobart with this deletion." Hobart admitted that he ordered the deletion of the highlighted portion.

Brannan stated that the deleted portion of the article contained factual information and by removing it, Hobart was shielding Rabine from "legitimate commentary on his actions as Secretary-Treasurer of Local 763." He also wrote, "this censorship is preventing the membership of Local 763 from being informed about events that occurred involving Local 763 members at the Seattle Times."

Brannan stated that previously the Washington Teamster printed articles that criticized General President candidate Tom Leedham. He submitted page 2 of the February-April 2000 edition that contained an article written by Rabine who at the time was Joint Council 28 president and secretary-treasurer of Local 763. The article, under the heading "Hall of Shame," criticized Tom Leedham for his actions during the Kroger strike.

Brannan also submitted the front page of the August-October 2001 edition which carried an article titled, "Placing Leedham in 'Hall of Shame' judged 'fair comment' by official. This article reported on the fact that Judge Conboy affirmed our decision in Pope, 2000 EAD 4 (August 1, 2000), that Rabine's editorial did not violate the Rules. See 01 EAM 3 (August 29, 2000). The article noted that Leedham was an International candidate under Ron Carey, lost to Hoffa in the 1998 rerun election and will run for General President in 2001.

Hobart stated that he deleted the above-referenced portion of the article because he feared that its publication would lead to possible sanctions by the Department of Labor for assisting Rabine's opponents in the Local 763 officer election, given its content and timing. Further, Hobart stated that local unions are permitted to submit articles that are related to local union business and affairs only, and that political commentary by local union officials is not allowed.

Two other local union articles appear on the same page as the Local 763 article. The Local 839 and 589 articles simply give information such as the dates of membership meetings, pension information, withdrawal card information and the names of recently retired and married members.

Analysis

Article VII, Section 8 of the Rules provides that, "No publication or communication financed, directly or indirectly, by a Union may be used to support or attack any candidate or the candidacy of any person." We find no evidence to show that Hobart edited this article to support the Rabine campaign for International office. Such a showing is required in order to implicate Article VII, Section 8 of the Rules, since Article I of the Rules provides no basis for Election Administrator jurisdiction over local union officer elections. Accordingly, this protest is DENIED.

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 15^th Street, N.W., 10^th Floor, Washington, D.C. 20005 (fax: 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 359

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