IN RE: DAWN STANGER,
Protest Decision 2001 EAD 507
Issued: October 16, 2001
OEA Case Nos. PR100313NE, PR101212NE and PR101216NE
Dawn Stanger, a member of Local Union 597, filed pre-election protests pursuant to Article XIII, Section 2(b) of the Rules for the 2000-2001 IBT International Union Delegate and Officer Election ("Rules") against United Parcel Service ("UPS"). She alleges UPS improperly barred her from campaigning in a non-work area of the Williston, Vermont facility on October 3, 2001 and from campaigning in the parking lot of the St. Johnsbury, Vermont facility on October 11, 2001.
Election Administrator representatives Jeffrey Ellison and Jason Weidenfeld investigated the protests.
Findings of Fact and Analysis
October 3 Events. Stanger works at the Williston facility. She alleges that on October 3, she was barred from distributing campaign material in the time clock area inside the facility to UPS employees waiting to come on duty. She states that no work is performed in this area and that such leafleting has been permitted historically, including during the local union's delegate election. Nevertheless, Stanger asserts, UPS management informed her on October 3 that the time clock area was now considered a work area.
Williston center manager Gene Reynor claims that the time clock area, also called the "turn-in counter," has always been a work area with numerous postings and pieces of information relevant to UPS's operations. UPS provided a photo of the area, which shows a counter (probably about twenty feet long) with numerous work-related postings above it. Reynor has not personally seen Stanger campaign during work hours and was unaware if there were other occasions where UPS instructed employees not to leaflet at the turn-in counter. Reynor said that the facility contains sufficient non-work areas where Stanger can campaign, including a break area and the parking lot.
Article VII, Section 11(d) bars an employer from restricting the pre-existing rights of members to campaign on employer premises.
UPS has agreed to allow campaign activity among nonworking members in the time clock area at the Williston facility for the balance of this election period, which ends on November 13, 2001, without prejudice to UPS's right to claim in future elections that this area is a work area. On that basis, we deem this protest allegation RESOLVED.
October 11 Events. Stanger alleges that on October 11, UPS barred her distribution of campaign material to IBT members in the parking lot of its St. Johnsbury facility.
The facts are not in dispute. On October 11, Stanger entered the facility parking lot before 6:00 p.m. and began campaigning. UPS supervisor Doug Johnson approached Stanger to confirm that she would not talk with employees who were working, and she made clear that she followed the Rules precisely. At 6:04 p.m., Johnson stopped a UPS revenue auditor named Natalie from talking with Stanger because Natalie's shift had begun at 6:00 p.m. Johnson said that he knows the exact time because he looked at his pager, which read 6:03 p.m., and his pager is one minute slow. Stanger does not dispute Johnson's estimate of the time and knew that it was around 6:00 p.m. when Johnson came outside to talk with Natalie.
Johnson then instructed Stanger to leave the facility for disrupting operations by talking with an employee on work time. Stanger asserted her right under the Rules to campaign in IBT employer parking lots. Johnson reiterated his position that she was disrupting operations and would have to leave. A short time later, Stanger spoke briefly, perhaps thirty seconds, with a working package driver to, she claims, ascertain Johnson's name for this protest. Johnson saw Stanger speaking with the driver on work time and again instructed her to leave. She did.
Although Stanger spoke only very briefly with the driver, Johnson also claims that this driver was the first of several package drivers with air shipments that had to be processed in a very short period. He asserts that he simply could not afford to permit Stanger to talk with any drivers while they worked, especially while air shipments were being processed.
Under the limited access provision of Article VII, Section 11(e) of the Rules, IBT members may campaign in employer parking lots used by IBT members to park their vehicles in connection with their work. Employees on working time, however, do not have a right to receive literature or solicitations of support. In addition, the Rules do not protect "campaigning which would materially interfere with the normal business activities of the employer." Without deciding whether UPS had a right to remove Stanger from the parking lot for her brief contact with UPS employees while they were on work time, both sides agree that Stanger and UPS retain their respective rights under the limited access provision of Article VII, Section 11(e) of the Rules. Accordingly, since Stanger may return to the St. Johnsbury facility parking lot to campaign in conformance with the Rules, we also deem this protest allegation RESOLVED.[1]
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 507
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
3060 Penobscot Building
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
Todd Thompson
209 Pennsylvania Ave., SE
Washington, DC 20003
Matt Ginsburg
30 Third Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11271
James L. Hicks, Jr., P.C.
Suite 1100
2777 N. Stemmons Freeway
Dallas, TX 75207
Dawn Stanger
6 Park Street
Underhill, VT 05489
IBT Local 597
P.O. Box 424
Quarry Hill Road
Barre, VT 05641
Andy Tosch
United Parcel Service
454 Harvest Lane
Williston, VT 05495
Gene Reynor
United Parcel Service
454 Harvest Lane
Williston, VT 05495
Doug Johnson (Lyndonville Facility)
c/o Gene Reynor
United Parcel Service
454 Harvest Lane
Williston, VT 05495
Gary Tocci
Kim Kaplan
Schnader, Harrison, Segal & Lewis
Suite 3600
1600 Market St.
Philadelphia, PA 19103
Lindsay Marshall
UPS, Inc. Legal Department
55 Glenlake Parkway NE
Atlanta, GA 30328
[1] Stanger claims that the alleged Rules violations here are "egregious" and "repeated." On that basis, and given the October 9 mailing of ballots, she requests a UPS-financed campaign mailing to all Local 597 UPS Teamsters. We deny this request, since her characterization of the alleged violations here are not borne out by our investigation.