IN RE: ELIGIBILITY OF KEN OWEN, GCIU Local Union 17B.
Protest Decision 2006 ESD 79
Issued: February 10, 2006
OES Case No. E-06-022-012606-HQ
Robert Mamon, a member of GCIU Local Union 17B, 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"). He alleged that Ken Owen is ineligible under the Rules to run, nominate or second the nomination of any candidate for delegate or alternate delegate to the 2006 IBT Convention.
Election Supervisor representatives Steven R. Newmark and Jeffrey Ellison investigated this protest.
Findings of Fact
At the nomination meeting held January 8, 2006, Owen was nominated for delegate; in addition, he nominated Pete Ratzel and seconded the nomination for Richard Focucci. The protest alleged that Owen was ineligible to do these things because his dues were not paid through the month prior to the month of nomination, as required by the Rules.
Investigation showed that Owen is the immediate past president of the local union; he last worked for the local union in August 2005. Under GCIU bylaws, the local union president is relieved of the obligation to pay dues while in office.
Upon leaving office and completing periods of disability and vacation, Owen resumed work in October with Quebeccor, an employer under contract with the local union. Owen had previously worked for Quebeccor before assuming local union office and has worked continuously for the employer since October.
From the time he resumed work through December 2005, Owen stated that he made repeated efforts to contact the local union to determine what his monthly dues were and how he should pay them. Thus, he stated he telephoned the local union repeatedly and left voice messages for the new local president and the local union's bookkeeper. According to Owen, these messages were not returned. In addition, Owen went to the local union office several times during business hours and found the office not open.
Owen states that he finally reached Joanne Monachino in late December. He states that he told her that he had been trying to contact the local union for two months to find out how much his dues were and how he should pay them but had not been successful. According to Owen, Monachino apologized for not responding previously and told him that she would calculate his dues and send him a letter with that information.
On January 22, 2006, Monachino sent Owen a letter that stated the following:
Dear Ken:
Please be advised that the Union Dues for LOA for August to October is $12.48 per month or $37.44 plus $8.88 per week for the months of November and December 2006 [sic] which equals to $115.44 for a total of $152.88.
Please be advised that if you have any questions, feel free to contact [me].
Protestor Mamon, who defeated Owen for local union president in the July 2005 election, disputed Owen's statements that he had tried to contact the union office repeatedly. Mamon stated that he monitored the local union answering machine and that Owen had left no messages. Mamon further stated that the voice announcement on the local union answering machine includes Mamon's cell phone number and that Owen never called the cell phone. In addition, Mamon saw Owen frequently in the Quebeccor plant, and Owen never raised the dues issue with him. Finally, Mamon stated that Owen, as local union president for 23 years, knew how to calculate dues and therefore would have no reason to ask.
Monachino, the bookkeeper, told our investigator that the situation with Owen's dues "may have been [her] fault" because she "catches up" on dues "every few months." She said she knew Owen had been trying to reach her. She acknowledged that she sent Owen the January 22 letter and that he paid his dues in full two days later.
Mamon told our investigator that, when Owen resumed his employment with Quebeccor, he was still covered by the check-off authorization he had signed before becoming local union president. Given this fact, Mamon stated that he did not know why the employer did not deduct dues from Owen's wages.
Monachino verified that both Focucci and Ratzel were current in their dues payment through January 2006.
Analysis
Article VI, Section 1(c) of the Rules provides that "[g]iven the recent mergers of the former BLE, BMWE and GCIU into the IBT and the terms of the applicable merger agreements, a candidate for Convention delegate or alternate delegate to represent affiliates from the former BLE, BMWE and GCIU must be a member in good standing of the appropriate affiliate, must have his/her dues paid up through the month prior to nominations, must be employed at the craft within the jurisdiction of the appropriate affiliate during the month prior to nominations, and must be eligible to hold office if elected."
To be eligible to nominate or second a nomination, a member must be "in good standing, … with his/her dues paid through the month prior to the nominations meeting." Article II, Section 5(h).
Under these provisions, a GCIU member is eligible to run, nominate or second a nomination if his/her dues are paid through the month prior to the month of the nomination meeting.
A member on dues check-off retains his good standing even if his dues were remitted late or not at all, provided he gave a check-off authorization and had sufficient earnings in the month from which dues could have been deducted. Dunn, E9 (October 31, 1995); Reynozo, 2005 ESD 18 (October 25, 2005); aff'd, 06 EAM 05 (January 4, 2006).
As the protestor states, we find that Owen remained on check-off with his employer. We further find that Owen had sufficient earnings in each month of work with Quebeccor, including the month before the nomination meeting, to fund his dues obligation. Accordingly, he was ELIGIBLE to run for delegate and to nominate and second the nomination of candidates for delegate or alternate delegate to the 2006 IBT convention at the nominations meeting held in January 2006.
For these reasons, 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
2006 ESD 79
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
blmharvey@sbcglobal.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
Robert Mamon
295 Main Street #738
Buffalo, NY 14203
ireami@aol.com
Ken Owen
12645 Bebee Road
Irving, NY 14081
David F. Reilly, Esq.
22 West Main Street
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