IN RE: RONALD FRIEND and DONALD MARQUAR, Protestors.
Protest Decision 2006 ESD 202
Issued: April 24, 2006
OES Case Nos. P-06-081-012406-ME and P-06-086-020206-SO
Ronald Friend and Donald Marquar, members of Allied Eastern Federation and candidates for delegate, filed separate 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 alleged that Allied Eastern Federation incorrectly listed them and Dana Booth as independent delegate candidates rather than as members of the Rank and File slate on the notice of nominations meeting results that was mailed to members of the Allied Eastern Federation.
Election Supervisor representative William B. Kane investigated these protests.
Findings of Fact
The AEF nominations meeting was held January 10, 2006. Friend did not attend this meeting and was nominated for delegate in writing. Seven members were nominated for four delegate positions. They were Friend, Dana Booth, David Marquar, Dennis Albers, Randy Cook, Horace Ezzell, and Nate Trawick. Albers, Ezzell, Trawick and Cook formed the Pro-Union slate. Immediately following the nominations meeting, a drawing was conducted for ballot placement of the 3 independent candidates.
On January 11, 2006, Friend returned the telephone call of AEF vice chair Dennis Albers, who had left a message the previous evening about the nominations meeting. Albers told Friend and Booth, who was also on the line, that 4 candidates had formed a slate. When Albers asked whether Friend or Booth intended to form a slate as well, they said they would, along with Marquar. Albers arranged to fax the necessary paperwork to the protestor later that day.
On January 12, 2006, Friend and the other members of his slate completed the slate declaration form and faxed it to the office of the AEF general chair, E. Randall Brassell. According to the protestor, he faxed the form at 7:30 p.m.
In the meantime, Brassell, who was unaware that Friend, Booth and Marquar intended to form a slate, prepared and sent to the union's mailer on January 12 the notice of results of nominations meeting. The notice read in relevant part as follows:
On January 10, 2006 the Allied Eastern Federation held the nomination meeting for delegates and alternates to attend the 2006 International Brotherhood of Teamsters Convention to be held in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Seven (7) members were nominated as delegates to fill the four (4) open positions. Four of the nominees have officially identified with a slate and at the time of this notice three (3) are listed as independent. The members who will stand for election to the delegate positions are as follows:
The notice then listed the Pro-Union slate members followed by Friend, Booth and Marquar under a heading of "Independent Candidates."
The notice of nominations meeting results was dated and mailed January 13 to the entire AEF membership of more than 3,000 members.
On January 13, Brassell picked up the slate declaration form for Friend's slate from the union's fax machine. Brassell then took the steps necessary to set up the ballot to present the two slates to the membership. He called Friend to conduct a coin toss for ballot placement of the 2 slates. Friend lost the coin toss and the Pro-Union slate elected to appear first on the ballot.
Brassell told our investigator that he knew he had 5 days after the meeting to notify members of the results of the delegate nomination meeting. Since the meeting was held Tuesday, January 10, Brassell believed that the union's mailer had to mail the notice no later than Friday, January 13 in order to satisfy the 5 day requirement, because the mailer would not be working on Saturday or Sunday, January 14 or 15, and mailing the notice on Monday, January 16, would be the sixth day following the nominations meeting.
Brassell stated that the notice was forwarded electronically to the union's mailer at 4:45 p.m. on January 12, and he did not receive Friend's slate declaration form until he came into the office the following morning, January 13. According to Brassell, he did not contact the union's mailer to make the necessary changes to the notice because he did not think the changes could be made in time to have the notices mailed that day.
Ballots for the delegate and alternate delegate election listed the Pro-Union slate and the Rank and File slate in the order determined by the coin toss. The entire AEF membership received the ballot showing the slates as duly formed by the candidates and accompanied by voting instructions informing each member how to vote either for slates or for independent candidates.
Analysis
Article II, Section 6(a) of the Rules provides that "as soon as possible but in no event later than five (5) days following the nomination meeting(s), the Local Union Secretary-Treasurer shall post on all Union bulletin boards a list of all nominated candidates, by name (and by slate affiliation, if known at the time)."
Because of the AEF's geographically dispersed membership, we required the AEF to mail the notice to all members.
Brassell complied with the Rules' requirement. As of the date he prepared the notice and transmitted it to the union's mailer for printing and mailing - the last date for doing so in order to comply with the Rules' 5-day notice requirement - only the Pro-Union slate had filed a slate declaration form, and the notice therefore accurately stated that one slate was formed and "at the time of this notice" 3 candidates were independent.
Article II, Section 6(a) places emphasis on giving prompt notice to the membership of the persons nominated. It requires that such notice be given "as soon as possible" and include "slate affiliation, if known at that time." As Brassell's notice satisfied both of these requirements, we DENY the protest.
We further note that the ballot mailed to each AEF member clearly informed the members of the duly formed slates of candidates - the "Pro-Union" and "Rank and File" slates.
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
885 Third Avenue, Suite 1000
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 202
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
Daniel Clifton
Lewis, Clifton & Nikolaidis, P.C.
275 Seventh Avenue, #2300
New York, NY 10001
dclifton@lcnlaw.com
Stephen Ostrach
1863 Pioneer Parkway East, #217
Springfield, OR 97477-3907
saostrach@gmail.com
Ronald D. Friend
213 Fay Avenue
Marietta, OH 45750
railroadron@charter.net
Dennis Albers
Vice Chair A.E.F.
114 Canfield Place, #A-8
Hendersonville, TN 37075
E. Randall Brassell
General Chair A.E.F.
114 Canfield Place, #A-8
Hendersonville, TN 37075
Dana Booth
P.O. Box 411
Bellington, WV 26250-0411
David Marquar
1100 Longo Street
Waveland, MS 39576
dkm428@aol.com
William Kane
242 Old Haymaker Road
Monroeville, PA 15146
Jeffrey Ellison
510 Highland Avenue, #325
Milford, MI 48381
EllisonEsq@aol.com