IN RE: LORRAINE LAURINO, VINCENT PRISTERA, and MICHAEL FALIN, Protestors.
Protest Decision 2006 ESD 267
Issued: May 23, 2006
OES Case No. P-06-157-021706-NE
Lorraine Laurino, Vincent Pristera, and Michael Falin, members of Local Union 182, 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"). The protest alleged that Albert VanHoven and Tim Hogan, respectively the local union secretary-treasurer and president, failed to inform members on what to do when the "secret ballot envelope" was found to be missing from their ballot packets.
Election Supervisor representative David F. Reilly, Kamil Bishara and Steven R. Newmark investigated this protest.
Findings of Fact
The protestors contend that VanHoven and Hogan failed to communicate, inform and provide direction to Local Union 182 members regarding the fact that a secret ballot envelope was not included in their mail ballot packets.
The mailing of the ballots was handled by Dodge-Graphic Press, a company that previously handled the local union officer election in November 2005. According to VanHoven, Dodge-Graphic was provided all the information necessary to print, assemble and mail the ballots according to the Rules. In a letter to VanHoven dated February 10, 2006, however, Dodge-Graphic acknowledged that it failed to include the secret ballot envelope in ballot packets; the company agreed to take full responsibility for a second, corrective mailing.
The protestors allege that the Rules were violated when the printer included instructions in the second mailing regarding the return of ballots and requests for duplicate ballots. The protestors do not take issue with the substance of the remedy; instead, they contend that the Rules were violated because the corrective communication to the membership came from the printer and not directly from Local Union 182. The protestors allege that by not communicating with the membership directly the local union caused confusion regarding the missing secret ballot envelopes and how ballots returned without inner secret ballot envelopes would be handled at the count. The failure of the local union is alleged to be a Rules violation. We disagree.
First, the Rules are not violated merely because corrective action relating to the omission of secret ballot envelopes was disseminated by the printer, rather than by the local union itself. Second, while use of an internal secret ballot envelope, as provided in guidance from the Office of the Election Supervisor, makes it easier logistically to preserve voter anonymity at the count, the secrecy of the ballot can be preserved even without an inner envelope. At the Local Union 182 ballot count, steps were taken to preserve voter anonymity when ballots were removed and segregated from the return envelopes. Observers were present at the count and none objected to the steps used to preserve secrecy; nor did anyone file a post-election protest concerning the ballot count procedures.
We find that the protestors have failed to state a violation of the Rules.
Accordingly, 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
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. 20006-1416, 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 267
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
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
Stefan Ostrach
1863 Pioneer Parkway East, #217
Springfield, OR 97477-3907
saostrach@gmail.com
Lorraine Laurino
81 Emerson Street
Utica, NY 13501
Vincent Pristera
8 Harrogate Road
New Hartford, NY 13413
Michael Falin
2727 Rockwell Road
Hamilton, NY 13346
Tim Hogan
President, Local Union 182
5 Rutger Park
Utica, NY 13501
Albert VanHoven
Secretary-Treasurer, Local Union 182
5 Rutger Park
Utica, NY 13501
Fred Swayze
Election Supervisor, Local Union 182
5 Rutger Park
Utica, NY 13501
Jim Stevens
Production Manager
Dodge-Graphic Press
2332 Bleecker Street
Utica, NY 13501
David F. Reilly, Esq.
22 West Main Street
North Kingston, RI 02852
dreilly@rooltd.com
Jeffrey Ellison
510 Highland Avenue, #325
Milford, MI 48381
EllisonEsq@aol.com