Protest Decisions

IN RE: DAVID JORDAN, Protestor.
Protest Decision 2006 ESD 213
Issued: April 25, 2006
OES Case No. P-06-263-041206-AT

David Jordan, member and elected alternate delegate of Local Union 822, filed a pre-election protest pursuant to Article XIII, Section 2(b) of the Rules for the 2005-2006 IBT International Union Delegate and Officer Election ("Rules"). Jordan asserted that Local 822 President James Wright attempted to intimidate and discredit him because Jordan, a member of the slate that opposed Wright's slate, is attending the convention as a self-appointed watchdog to report to Local 822 members how Wright's slate voted at the convention.

Election Supervisor representative J. Griffin Morgan investigated this protest.

Findings of Fact and Analysis

On March 31, 2006, the ballots for Local Union 822 were counted. The vote tally follows:

David Jordan is a shop steward at UPS. Jordan alleged in his written protest that Local Union 822 President Wright challenged his effectiveness as a shop steward and attempted to discredit and intimidate him. When interviewed, Jordan stated, that in his role as a shop steward, he filed three grievances and one protest letter on behalf of a member who faced four disciplinary actions. According to Jordan, three of the disciplinary actions could result in termination and were grieved. One of the disciplinary actions could result in a warning letter and was protested. On April 8, 2006, Wright told Jordan that UPS was claiming that one of the disciplinary actions for termination had not been grieved and therefore UPS was going to immediately terminate the member.

Jordan stated that when he went to work on Monday, April 10, the disciplined member stated that according to Wright he was being fired because Jordan had not filed the correct grievance. Jordan also alleged that Wright told him that "charges could be filed." Jordan said he does not know if Wright was referring to the disciplined member filing charges against the union for failure to file the proper grievance or if Wright was saying that the local union could file charges against Jordan. Jordan stated he knew the local union could not file charges against him.

Wright denied that he made a comment to Jordan about charges being filed. Wright stated that he was concerned about what the disciplined member would do and did not bring up the possibility of charges. Wright states that he told the member on April 10 that the employer was saying that a grievance had not been filed and he would be terminated. Wright stated the member's response was to say Jordan was handling it. Wright told the member he had some responsibility to insure that his discipline was properly grieved.

Wright clarified the status of the discipline and the union's response. Initially, UPS filed four separate disciplinary actions, all of them for termination. One of them was then changed from termination to a warning. Shop steward Jordan grieved two of the terminations. He grieved and later protested the termination that was changed to a warning. The fourth discipline for termination was left unchallenged.

UPS did discharge the member based on the unchallenged discipline. The local level hearing is scheduled to be heard on April 28, 2006.

We have reviewed the records of the disciplinary actions in question. They show that there were four adverse actions and one was changed to a warning letter. The records show that grievances were filed for two of the disciplinary actions, and a protest was filed over the warning letter. There is no record of a grievance filed for the fourth adverse action.

Jordan was not able to articulate a link between the communication about the member's termination and Jordan's attendance at the convention or any other event governed by the Rules. Wright stated that there was no relationship between the delegate election and his conversations with Jordan regarding the termination of the UPS employee. Wright did not know that Jordan was planning to attend the IBT convention. According to the local union election plan, the local union is not paying for alternate delegates to attend the convention. Therefore, unless Jordan elects to pay his own way to the convention, he will not be attending the convention as an alternate delegate.

We find that the termination of a local member by UPS on the grounds that a grievance protesting the termination was not properly filed is the subject of legitimate concern and conversation between a local president and a shop steward. We find that there is no evidence of intimidation.

Accordingly, we DENY this 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
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 213

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 

Daniel E. Clifton
Lewis, Clifton & Nikolaidis, P.C.
275 Seventh Avenue, Suite 2300
New York, NY 10001
dclifton@lcnlaw.com 

Stephen Ostrach
1863 Pioneer Parkway East, #217
Springfield, OR 97477-3907
saostrach@gmail.com 

David Jordan
106 Carotauk Drive
Currituck, NC 27929

James Wright, President
Local Union 822
P.O. Box 12673
Norfolk, VA 23502

J. Griffin "Griff" Morgan
Elliot, Pishko, Morgan
426 Old Salem Road
Winston-Salem, NC 27101
jgmorgan@epmlaw.com 

Jeffrey Ellison
510 Highland Avenue, #325
Milford, MI 48381
EllisonEsq@aol.com