IN RE: PAT IRONSIDE,
Protest Decision 2002 EAD 553
Issued: January 15, 2002
OEA Case No. PR122111CA
Pat Ironside, a member of Local 31, filed a post-election protest pursuant to Article XIII, Section 3(b) of the Rules for the 2000-2001 IBT International Union Delegate and Officer Election ("Rules"). He alleges that International officer candidate Garnet Zimmerman and the Hoffa Unity Slate improperly used the resources of Local 31 for campaign purposes, in violation of Article XI, Section 1(b)(3) of the Rules for the 2000-2001 IBT International Union Delegate and Officer Election ("Rules").
Election Administrator representative Gwen Randall investigated the protest.
Findings of Facts and Analysis
Ironside attended Local 31's monthly general meeting on December 19, 2001. In response to questions he raised about the local's newsletter, Zimmerman, the local's president, told him that the local intended to establish an internet web site to communicate with the membership. Ironside then asked for the web site address and was told it was www.teamsters31.ca.
The next day, Ironside visited the web site, where he says he found the following on one of the web site's pages:
"Quick Reminder For Regional Flight Attendants:
Please remember to mail your ballot for Garnet Zimmerman and the Hoffa Slate as soon as you can! A good, strong leadership will help us in the long run to keep the strength of our union alive!"
Zimmerman, a candidate for International Vice President on the Hoffa Unity Slate told our investigator that he had reserved the site name for Local 31 more than four years ago. However, said Zimmerman, the web site is currently under construction and is not in active use.
Teamsters Local 31 recently organized a group of regional flight attendants at Air BC. Zimmerman told our investigator that he was aware that a rank and file member of the flight attendants had established a page on the Local 31 web site entitled Air BC Flight Attendants. Before receiving the protest, Zimmerman was not aware of any of the entries on the Air BC Flight Attendants' web page. The challenged posting set forth above is on that web page. Its web address is http://www.teamsters31.ca/airBC/fa.html.
Our investigator also interviewed the Local 31 member that established the Air BC web page. He is a flight attendant at Air BC. He says he originally loaded the web site on his own web space. However, because of the slow speed, he requested permission to use the Local 31 web space. The Universal Resource Locator (URL) denoting the location for the Local 31 web site indicates that the page for Local 31 is "under construction". There is a "hyperlink" to the Regional Flight Attendants' page. At the bottom of the flight attendants' page there is a notation "This page made by a concerned flight attendant." Since receipt of the protest, the wording has been changed to read "[t]his volunteer web page made by a concerned flight attendant and is not necessarily the opinion of the Teamsters."
The message with respect to Garnet Zimmerman and the Hoffa Slate was placed on the web site in October 2001 by this same member. He did not discuss placing the message on the web site with anyone from the Hoffa Unity Slate in advance and says it was intended to represent his own opinion. He says he monitors the content of the web site and posts anything sent to him via the Internet by flight attendants. The hyperlink to the Air BC web page appearing on the Local 31 home page is clearly marked with an Air BC Flight Attendants icon. The name and address of Local 31 appears at the top of the Air BC page
The Rank & File member works on the Air BC web page as a volunteer. Local 31 pays the Internet service provider for use of their server and the URL.
This protest was filed beyond the December 6, 2001 deadline for the filing of post election protests. We would therefore ordinarily deem it untimely, absent Ironside's claim that he did not learn of the violation until he learned of the web site itself on December 9, 2001.
At the same time, the challenged conduct represents a clear use of union resources in support of a candidate and a candidate slate, and a clear violation of Article XI, Section 1(b)(3) of the Rules.
We do not find that the Rules violation here may have affected the results of the election, as required for post-election protests by Article XIII, Section 3(b) of the Rules, given the electoral margins noted in Ostrach, 2001 EAD 550 (December 13, 2001), and given the small number of flight attendants (265) represented by Local 31. Since the web page was not well publicized, we will not conclude that most Local 31 flight attendants viewed it while the improper campaigning appeared on the local-subsidized web site, and even if all 265 had and had been swayed thereby to vote for Zimmerman and his slate, the results in the Canadian and union-wide races would not have been changed.
Nevertheless, the campaign message on the Local 31 web site was an improper Local 31 contribution to the Zimmerman and Hoffa Unity slate campaigns. Accordingly, under Article XI, Section 1(b)(13) it must be "returned promptly" and appropriate affidavits attesting to this must be filed in the manner provided therein. Accordingly, we shall ORDER the Zimmerman campaign to return the liquidated sum of $100 Canadian to Local 31 by no later than January 19, 2002, and to file the appropriate affidavit with the Election Administrator by that date.
A decision of the Election Administrator takes immediate effect unless stayed. Lopez, 96 EAM 73 (February 13, 1996).
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 (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
2002 EAD 553
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
Todd Thompson
209 Pennsylvania Ave. SE
Washington, DC 20003
Matt Ginsburg
30 Third Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11217
James L. Hicks, Jr.
Suite 1100
2777 N. Stemmons Freeway
Dallas, Texas 75207
Garnet Zimmerman
IBT Local 31
1 Grosvenor Square
Delta, BC V3M 5S1
Canada
Pat Ironside
23765 123d Ave.
Maple Ridge, BC V4R 1N7
Canada
Gwen Randall, Q.C.
421 Seventh Avenue, SW
Suite 3300
Calgary, AB T2P 4K9
Canada