IN RE: ELIGIBILITY OF ALEX MONTES, Local Union 104.
Protest Decision 2011 ESD 114
Issued: February 16, 2011
OES Case No. E-033-012411-GP
John Davidson, member of Local Union 104, filed an eligibility protest pursuant to Article XIII, Section 2(b) of the Rules for the 2010-2011 IBT International Union Delegate and Officer Election ("Rules"). The protest alleged that Alex Montes is ineligible for nomination as alternate delegate to the 2011 IBT convention.
Election Supervisor representative Maria S. Ho investigated this protest.
Findings of Fact and Analysis
Article VI, Section 1(a) of the Rules provides that "to be eligible to run for any Convention delegate, alternate delegate or International Officer position, one must: (1) be a member in continuous good standing of the Local Union, with one's dues paid to the Local Union for a period of twenty-four (24) consecutive months prior to the month of nomination for said position with no interruptions in active membership due to suspensions, expulsions, withdrawals, transfers or failure to pay fines or assessments; (2) be employed at the craft within the jurisdiction of the Local Union for a period of twenty-four (24) consecutive months prior to the month of nomination; and (3) be eligible to hold office if elected."
As the nominations meeting for Local Union 104's delegates and alternate delegates election was held January 15, 2011, the 24-month period during which candidates must be in continuous good standing in order to be eligible for nomination ran from January 2009 through December 2010. To verify Montes' eligibility during this period, we reviewed TITAN records for dues remitted on his behalf.
Montes, a shop steward at UPS, was terminated on December 22, 2008. His grievance against UPS was settled, and he returned to work there in March 2009. On April 27, 2009, he left UPS to begin full-time work as business agent for Local Union 104.
Local Union 104 pays the dues of its stewards. Monte's TITAN record shows that his dues from January 2009 through March 2009 were paid timely by the local union.[1]
Montes' dues for April 2009 were paid on May 8, 2009 by check-off authorization with Local Union 104. However, this late check-off does not interrupt his continuous good standing. Montes had earnings in April from his business agent work that exceeded his dues obligation for that month. A member on dues check-off retains his good standing even if his dues were remitted late or not at all by the employer, provided he had signed a check-off authorization and had sufficient earnings or paid leave in the month from which dues could have been deducted. IBT Constitution, Article X, Section 5(c); Eligibility of John Gerow, et al., 2006 ESD 121 (March 2, 2006); Eligibility of Thiel, 2010 ESD 16 (July 26, 2010), appeal withdrawn, 10 EAM 4 (August 6, 2010). This rule operates to protect Montes' continuous good standing for April 2009, when his employer, Local Union 104, failed to remit dues timely.[2]
From May 2009 through December 2010, Montes' dues were paid timely by check-off authorization with Local Union 104.
Accordingly, we find Montes ELIGIBLE for nomination as alternate delegate to the 2011 IBT Convention.
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:
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, 1801 K Street, N.W., Suite 421 L, Washington, D.C. 20006, 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
2011 ESD 114
DISTRIBUTION LIST (BY EMAIL UNLESS OTHERWISE SPECIFIED):
Bradley T. Raymond, General Counsel
International Brotherhood of Teamsters
25 Louisiana Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20001
braymond@teamster.org
David J. Hoffa
Hoffa Keegel 2011
1100 Connecticut Avenue, N.W., Ste. 730
Washington, D.C. 20036
hoffadav@hotmail.com
Ken Paff
Teamsters for a Democratic Union
P.O. Box 10128
Detroit, MI 48210-0128
ken@tdu.org
Barbara Harvey
1394 E. Jefferson Avenue
Detroit, MI 48207
blmharvey@sbcglobal.net
Fred Gegare
P.O. Box 9663
Green Bay, WI 54308-9663
kirchmanb@yahoo.com
Scott D. Soldon
3541 N. Summit Avenue
Shorewood, WI 53211
scottsoldon@gmail.com
Fred Zuckerman, President
Teamsters Local Union 89
3813 Taylor Blvd.
Louisville, KY 40215
fredzuckerman@aol.com
Robert M. Colone, Esq.
P.O. Box 272
Sellersburg, IN 47172-0272
rmcolone@hotmail.com
Carl Biers
Box 424, 315 Flatbush Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11217
info@SandyPope2011.org
Julian Gonzalez
Lewis, Clifton & Nikolaidis, P.C.
350 Seventh Avenue, Suite 1800
New York, NY 10001-5013
jgonzalez@lcnlaw.com
John "JD" Davidson
25648 N. Desert
Surprise, AZ 85387-6829
cdavidson6@cox.net
Alex Montes
IBT Local Union 104
1450 South 27th Avenue
Phoenix, AZ 85009
team104az@aol.com
Andrew Marshall, Secretary-Treasurer
Teamsters Local Union 104
1450 South 27th Avenue
Phoenix, AZ 85009
team104az@aol.com
Mary Ann Campbell
13859 State Road E.
DeSoto, MO 63020
scdennis@aol.com
Maria Ho
Office of the Election Supervisor
1801 K Street, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20006
mho@ibtvote.org
Kathryn Naylor
Office of the Election Supervisor
1801 K Street, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20006
knaylor@ibtvote.org
Jeffrey J. Ellison
214 S. Main Street, Suite. 210
Ann Arbor, MI 48104
ellisonesq@aol.com
[1] Montes did not work at all for UPS during two of those months, January and February 2009. The local union paid his dues for those months because its policy of paying stewards' dues extends to discharged stewards with pending grievances.
[2] We also note the argument that the local union should have paid Montes' dues for April 2009 under its policy of paying stewards' dues, as Montes served as steward that month before commencing the business agent work. Given our holding, we need not reach this argument.