IN RE: ELIGIBILITY OF WAYNE ABBEY and TERI KOAGEL, Local 317.
Protest Decision 2006 ESD 60
Issued: January 28, 2006
OES Case No. E-06-009-011706-HQ
Gary Staring, John Pekoff, Mark May, William Arnault, Richard Golden, John Ruffo, Scott Farley, Duane Wright, members of Local Union 317 and candidates on the Staring/Pekoff/May Integrity Team, filed an eligibility protest pursuant to Article XIII, Section 2(b) of the Rules for the 2005-2006 IBT International Union Delegate and Officer Election ("Rules"). The protest alleged that Wayne Abbey and Teri Koagel are ineligible for election as delegate to the 2006 IBT Convention under the Rules.
Election Supervisor representative Steven R. Newmark investigated this protest.
Findings of Fact:
TITAN records show that Abbey timely paid dues pursuant to check-off authorization for the period January through June 2004. However, he had no dues payment in the months of July and August 2004. In September 2004, one month's dues was posted to his TITAN record from check-off. The next posting on Abbey's TITAN record was on February 1, 2005, when cash-paid dues were applied to his dues obligation for August and September 2004. Thereafter, monthly dues were paid by check-off eight times over the months of February, March, April and May, so that Abbey was current in his dues obligation by the end of May 2005. He has paid dues by check-off timely since that time. Abbey told our investigator that he was on workers' compensation in 2004, did not have sufficient earnings from which dues could be deducted, despite remaining on check-off, and did not pay cash dues for the months in which he was not working.
TITAN records for Koagel show that she was on withdrawal status commencing April 2003 and concluding August 2004. Since returning from withdrawal, Koagel has timely paid dues via check-off.
Analysis
Article VI, Section 1 of the Rules, provides that "to be eligible to run for any Convention delegate, alternate delegate or International Officer position, one must: (1) be a member in continuous good standing of the Local Union, with one's dues paid to the Local union for a period of twenty-four (24) consecutive months prior to the month of nomination for said position with no interruptions in active membership due to suspensions, expulsions, withdrawals, transfers or failure to pay fines or assessments; [and] (2) be employed at the craft within the jurisdiction of the Local Union for a period of twenty-four (24) consecutive months prior to the month of nomination."
A member will retain good standing under this provision even though his dues are remitted late or not at all in a given month, provided that he signed a check-off and had sufficient earnings in that month from which the employer could have deducted dues. IBT Constitution Article X, Section 5; Dunn EAD 9 (October 31, 1995). However, a member on check-off who has insufficient earnings in a given month to fund his dues obligation must make cash payment of dues in that month in order to retain continuous good standing.
A member on withdrawal status generally loses continuous good standing if the withdrawal occurs within the 24-month eligibility period. Wuorinen, E7 (October 6, 1995). However, if the member returns from withdrawal status in the month immediately following the month when withdrawal status commenced and the member either timely pays dues for each month in cash or has sufficient earnings in each month from which the dues could be deducted, the withdrawal status will not render the member ineligible. IBT Constitution, Article IV, Section 4(a)(1).
Here, we find that Abbey had insufficient earnings in July and August 2004 to fund his dues obligation via check-off for those months. As he did not make cash payments of dues in those months, he suffered a break in continuous good standing.
We further find that Koagel was on withdrawal status for 17 consecutive months.
Based on these findings, we hold that Abbey and Koagel INELIGBLE to run for delegate or alternate delegate to the 2006 IBT Convention.
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
2006 ESD 60
DISTRIBUTION LIST (BY EMAIL UNLESS OTHERWISE SPECIFIED):
Bradley T. Raymond, General Counsel
International Brotherhood of Teamsters
25 Louisiana Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20001-2198
braymond@teamster.org
Sarah Riger, Staff Attorney
International Brotherhood of Teamsters
25 Louisiana Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20001-2198
sriger@teamster.org
David J. Hoffa, Esq.
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
Judith Brown Chomsky
P.O. Box 29726
Elkins Park, PA 19027
jchomsky@igc.org
Stephen Ostrach
1863 Pioneer Parkway East, #217
Springfield, OR 97477-3907
saostrach@gmail.com
Wayne Abbey
220 Mitchell Avenue
Mattydale, NY 13211
Teri Koagel
26 Jefferson Street
Phoenix, NY 13135
Gary Staring, Secretary-Treasurer
IBT Local Union 317
103 S. Roosevelt Avenue
Liverpool, NY 13088
John Pekoff
4757 Cleveland Road
Syracuse, NY 13215
Mark May
337 Westbrook Hills
Syracuse, NY 13215
William Arnault
8676 Caughdenoy Road
Clay, NY 13041
Richard Golden
9 Clark Street
Cazenovia, NY 13035
John Ruffo
4084 New Seneca Tnpk
Marcellus, NY 13108
Scott Farley
45 Woody Drive
West Monroe, NY 13167
Duane Wright
136 Circle Road
North Syracuse, NY 13212
David F. Reilly
22 West Main Street
P.O. Box 457
North Kingston, RI 02852
dreilly@rooltd.com
Steven R. Newmark
1725 K Street, NW Suite 1400
Washington, DC 20005
snewmark@ibtvote.org
Jeffrey Ellison
510 Highland Avenue, #325
Milford, MI 48381
EllisonEsq@aol.com