Protest Decisions

IN RE: TOM KRAUSE, Protestor.
Protest Decision 2006 ESD 229
Issued: May 9, 2006
OES Case No. P-06-264-041306-AT

Tom Krause, member and principal officer of Local Union 992, filed a post-election protest pursuant to Article XIII, Section 3 of the Rules for the 2005-2006 IBT International Union Delegate and Officer Election ("Rules"). He asserted that the Election Supervisor representative Frank Sheridan did not properly resolve challenged ballots and as a result disenfranchised eligible members in the local union's delegate and alternate delegate election.

Election Supervisor representative J. Griffin Morgan investigated this protest.

Findings of Fact

Local Union 992 was entitled to elect 1 delegate and 1 alternate delegate to the 2006 IBT convention. Ballots were tallied on April 11, 2006. Election Supervisor representative Frank Sheridan attended the count. During the initial eligibility check, 61 ballots were challenged. When ballots of eligible voters were counted, the difference between the winning and losing delegate candidate was 24 votes. Accordingly, Sheridan resolved challenged ballots until the remaining challenged ballots could not affect the outcome of the election. The final results of the ballot count follow:

Krause protests the resolution of challenged ballots involving Roadway employees affected by a change of operation that took effect March 12, 2006. Approximately 201 members of Local Union 992 lost their jobs because of the change in operation that transferred work to other terminals. Of those 201 members, 86 agreed to transfer and moved with their jobs to various Roadway locations ranging from New Orleans, LA to Buffalo, NY. The remaining 115 members were laid off. All 201 members worked under the jurisdiction of Local Union 992 during the month of March and paid March dues to Local Union 992.

Of the 201 members affected by the Roadway change in operation, 42 voted in the delegate and alternate delegate election. All initially were challenged. When the tally of ballots demonstrated that the challenged ballots had to be resolved, 8 of the 42 were found eligible. Those 8 worked for Roadway and paid dues to Local Union 992 in March and had not received a withdrawal card or transferred their membership to another local union before the tally of ballots in the delegate election.

The remaining 34 Roadway voters affected by the change in operation were found ineligible to vote. Although these 34 members, like the 8 found eligible to vote, also had worked and paid dues to Local Union 992 in March, they had either requested and received a withdrawal card or had voluntarily transferred their membership to another local union before the date ballots were tallied in Local Union 992's delegate election.

In investigating these challenged ballots, Sheridan obtained information from Local Union 992's TITAN operator and local union president Krause to insure that each member who transferred or requested withdrawal status did so voluntarily. The resolution of these 42 challenged ballots, plus the resolution of two challenged ballots not subject to this protest, reduced the pool of challenged ballots to 17, a number insufficient to affect the outcome of the election.

Krause states that the Election Supervisor's eligibility determination effectively disenfranchised transferring members from participation in the delegate election. Because those members no longer belonged to Local Union 992 their voted ballots were not counted in that delegate election. They would also not be eligible to vote in their new local unions because those local unions have already held their delegate elections.

Analysis

The Rules define "member" as "any person who has fulfilled the requirements of membership in any Local Union and who has neither voluntarily withdrawn from membership nor been expelled or suspended from membership after appropriate proceedings consistent with lawful provisions of the IBT Constitution and the by-laws of the Local Union." The term "member in good standing" is "a member who has paid his/her dues through the month prior to the month in question." Definitions 31 & 32.
Eligibility to vote is determined as of the date ballots are tallied. Thus, under Article V, Section 2 of the Rules, "[p]rior to the commencement of any count of ballots, the eligibility to vote of each member who cast a ballot shall be verified." Article V, Section 1(a) states that "[p]ersons eligible to vote under this rule shall include … [e]ach person who is otherwise a member in good standing and whose dues are paid through the month prior to the month in which ballots are counted."
The 34 Roadway members found ineligible at the April 11 tally of ballots in this election were no longer members in good standing of Local Union 992 on that date because they had already become members of another local union by transfer or had withdrawn from membership in Local Union 992.
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 229

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 

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 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 

Tom Krause, Secretary-Treasurer
IBT Local Union 992
7012 Great Cove Road
Warfordsburg, PA 17267
tomjan@frontiernet.net 

Mitch Mummert
15933 Spade Road
Hagerstown, MD 21740

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