IN RE: ALONZO WILLIAMSON and JIMMY PAYNE Protestors.
Protest Decision 2005 ESD 20
Issued: October 31, 2005
OES Case No. P-05-017-100405-SO
Alonzo Williamson and Jimmy Payne, members of Local Union 728, filed pre-election protests pursuant to Article XIII, Section 2(b) of the Rules for the 2005-2006 IBT International Union Delegate and Officer Election ("Rules"). The protests allege that the local union failed to produce a copy of its local union plan upon request and failed to post notice of the submission of the plan to the Office of the Election Supervisor as required by the Rules. The protests were consolidated for investigation.
Election Supervisor representative Dolores C. Hall investigated the protests.
Findings of Fact
Local Union 728 submitted its local union plan for the delegate and alternate delegate election to our office for review and approval on September 29, 2005.
On October 3, protestor Williamson orally requested a copy of the proposed plan from the local union's secretary-treasurer, Larry Macdonald. Williamson asserts that Macdonald replied that he had to file an affidavit and have the plan approved before he could produce the plan to Williamson. Williamson asserts that Macdonald's failure or refusal to produce the plan to him violated the Rules. Macdonald denies that he told Williamson that the plan would not be produced to him until after it was approved by our office. Instead, he states that he told Williamson a copy of the plan would be mailed to him promptly. Williamson received a copy of the plan on October 5, 2005.
Protestor Payne asserts that, as of 2 p.m. on October 4, the fifth day following submission of the plan to our office, notice of the submission of the proposed plan had not been posted on the union bulletin board at his UPS worksite. The required notice was posted at Payne's worksite on October 5, and Payne contends this posting violated the Rules because it was one day late. Payne further warned that he intended to check for the required posting at union bulletin boards at Local 728 worksites and file a protest each time he discovered that the posting had not been made. He states that he is going to "hold Macdonald's feet to the fire" to "teach Macdonald how serious it is to follow the Rules." Payne ran unsuccessfully against Macdonald for the local union's secretary-treasurer position.
Analysis
Article II, Section 4 of the Rules provides:
(c) Once a Local Union Plan is submitted to the Election Supervisor, the Local Union shall make the complete Plan available for inspection by the International Union, any subordinate body, any member of the Local Union submitting the plan and any candidate for International office. In addition, each of the foregoing shall have the right to obtain, upon request, a copy of the plan from the Local Union at no cost.
***
(e) As soon as possible, but in no event later than five (5) days after the Local Union has submitted its Plan to the Election Supervisor, the Secretary-Treasurer of the Local Union shall post a notice (on a form promulgated by the Election Supervisor) on all Local Union bulletin boards advising that the Local Union Plan has been submitted to the Election Supervisor and further advising members of their rights under Subsections (c) and (d) above and shall maintain such posting until replaced by a posting of the Plan Summary.
As we said in Fahey, 2005 ESD 10 (September 8, 2005), "[l]ate notices or missing postings will not result in a Rules violation in the absence of bad faith on the part of the local union or disadvantage to any potential candidates." Lefevre, 2001 EAD 301 (April 12, 2001), citing Wenham, 2001 EAD 221 (March 7, 2001), Snow, P368, (March 6, 1996), and Young, P426 (March 29, 1996).
Here, the local union complied with Williamson's request for the local union plan. Further, the notice of submission of the local union plan was posted at Payne's UPS worksite. While Payne contends that the posting was one day late, no evidence has been presented of bad faith on the part of the local union or substantial prejudice to any potential candidate.
Accordingly, we DENY the protest.
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 Supervisor 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 the parties, as well as upon the Election Supervisor for the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, 1725 K Street, N.W., Suite 1400, Washington, D.C. 20007-5135, all within the time prescribed above. A copy of the protest must accompany the request for hearing.
Richard W. Mark
Election Supervisor
cc: Kenneth Conboy
2005 ESD 20
DISTRIBUTION LIST (BY EMAIL UNLESS OTHERWISE SPECIFIED):
Patrick J. Szymanski
General Counsel
International Brotherhood of Teamsters
25 Louisiana Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20001
pszymanski@teamster.org
Bradley T. Raymond
Finkel, Whitefield, Selik, Raymond, Ferrara & Feldman
32300 Northwestern Highway
Suite 200
Farmington Hills, MI 48334
braymond@fwslaw.com
David J. Hoffa
Hoffa 2006
30300 Northwestern Highway, Suite 324
Farmington Hills, MI 48834
David@hoffapllc.com
Barbara Harvey
645 Griswold Street
Suite 3060
Detroit, MI 48226
barbaraharvey@comcast.net
Ken Paff
Teamsters for a Democratic Union
P.O. Box 10128
Detroit, MI 48210
ken@tdu.org
Alonzo Williamson
P.O. Box 250335
Atlanta, GA 30325
(By USPS overnight mail)
Jimmy Payne
110 Railroad
Rockmart, GA 30153
(By UPS Next Day Air)
Larry Macdonald
Secretary-Treasurer, Local Union 728
2540 Lakewood Avenue, S.W.
Atlanta, GA 30315
(By UPS Next Day Air)
Dolores C. Hall
1000 Belmont Place
Metairie, LA 70001
Hall1000@bellsouth.net