OFFICE OF THE ELECTION SUPERVISOR
for the
INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF TEAMSTERS
IN RE: Jeffrey Sottnick, ) Protest Decision 2011 ESD 242
) Issued: May 8, 2011
Protestor. ) OES Case Nos. P-142-021411-ME
____________________________________)
Jeffrey Sottnick, member of Local Union 500 and alternate delegate candidate, filed a pre-election protest pursuant to Article XIII, Section 2 of the Rules for the 2010-2011 IBT International Union Delegate and Officer Election (“Rules”). The protest alleged that John Potts, local union secretary-treasurer and delegate candidate on the Time For A Change slate, campaigned on union-paid time.
Election Supervisor representative Denise Ventura investigated this protest.
Findings of Fact
Local Union 500 is entitled to one delegate and one alternate delegate to the 2011 IBT Convention. On January 9, 2011, Potts and James E. Kelly, local union president, were nominated for delegate, and protestor Sottnick and Kevin Haggerty were nominated for alternate delegate. Potts and Haggerty formed the Time For A Change slate. The tally conducted March 8 showed that Potts defeated Kelly, 312 to 216, and Haggerty defeated Sottnick, 290 to 233.
The protest, filed Sunday, February 13, alleged that Potts campaigned at C.W. Dunnett & Company, an employer of Local Union 500 members, at 11:30 a.m. on Friday, February 11, during Potts’ normal work time, when he was being paid by the local union.
Potts told our investigator he campaigned at a number of worksites on the evening of February 10 and the next morning. The last worksite he campaigned at on Friday morning, February 11 was Sysco Foods. He said he took a personal day on February 11 to cover the time missed from work.
Sysco Foods is located across the street from C.W. Dunnett & Co., where Potts once worked. Potts is a long-time friend of Dunnett’s owner, Ralph Marta. At Marta’s invitation, Potts decided to visit his friend. However, he did not stop in immediately after leafleting at Sysco because Marta’s busiest time of day is between 6 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. So, after leafleting at Sysco, Potts went to breakfast and ran a few errands, returning to C.W. Dunnett & Co. just before lunch.
Potts is not the business representative for C.W. Dunnett & Co. He stated he went there solely to visit Marta. He stated he did no campaigning while there, nor was he asked about the campaign, and he limited his conversations with IBT members to politically neutral greetings. He denied distributing campaign literature. He acknowledged conversing with one member, John Gillian, a forklift driver, but stated that he and Gillian spoke only of their mutual interest in old cars. Potts stated that during the conversation with Gillian, he noticed that Tommy Sottnick, the protestor’s brother, went into the building, then returned with a camera and took a picture of Potts speaking to Gillian.
Potts then went to Marta’s office, where he and Marta chatted for approximately fifteen minutes. The conversation was interrupted by what Potts described as a “nasty phone call” from Jim Kelly, president of Local Union 500, inquiring about Potts’ presence at the worksite. After his visit, Potts left the premises.
Potts provided our investigator with a copy of a handwritten request for personal leave for a full day on Friday, February 11 and for a half day on Friday, February 18. The local union administrator, Karen Maglio, was interviewed and acknowledged receipt of the request for personal leave, stating further that Potts was charged for the time off.
In his protest and when subsequently interviewed, Jeffrey Sottnick was unable to provide any information about the events at C.W. Dunnett & Co. on February 11 or to refute Potts’ claim that he was merely visiting Ralph Marta there that day. The protestor did not witness the alleged campaign activity that day; instead, he relied on the observations of his brother, Thomas. Our investigator was unable to interview Thomas Sottnick. Jeffrey Sottnick did not provide a correct telephone number for Thomas and did not respond to our investigator’s follow-up written request for accurate contact information for him.
Analysis
Article VII, Section 12 (a) of the Rules states, in part, “No candidate or member may campaign during his/her working hours. Campaigning incidental to work is not, however, violative of this section. Further, campaigning during paid vacation, paid lunch hours or breaks, or similar paid time off is also not violative of this section.”
Impermissible campaign activity was not proven here. To the contrary, Potts demonstrated he was on paid time off when he visited C.W. Dunnett & Co. That proof was corroborated by the local union administrator, who verified that Potts was on personal leave on February 11. Campaigning on paid time off is expressly permitted by the Rules.
Accordingly, we DENY this protest.[1]
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, NY 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, 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.[1] Although the protest was filed pre-election, we consider it in a post-election context pursuant to Article XIII, Section 2(f)(2). Under such circumstances, we may remedy any alleged Rules violation only if it may have affected the outcome of the election. C.W. Dunnett & Co. employs only seven members of Local Union 500, an insufficient number to affect the outcome of the election, given the margin between winning and losing candidates.
Richard W. Mark
Election Supervisor
cc: Kenneth Conboy
2011 ESD 242DISTRIBUTION 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 Hall 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
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
Jeffrey Sottnick
4206 Lackland
Philadelphia, PA 19114
sottnick2@aol.com
John Potts
1100 East Lycoming Street
Philadelphia, PA 19124
L500fooddr@aol.com
James E. Kelly, President
Teamsters Local Union 500
3460 North Delaware Avenue, #301
Philadelphia, PA 19134
L500fooddr@aol.com
Denise Ventura
949 Old Hickory Road
Pittsburgh, PA 15243
dmventura@verizon.net
Maria S. Ho
Office of the Election Supervisor
1801 K Street, N.W., Suite 421 L
Washington, D.C. 20006
mho@ibtvote.org
Kathryn Naylor
Office of the Election Supervisor
1801 K Street, N.W., Suite 421 L
Washington, D.C. 20006
knaylor@ibtvote.org
Jeffrey Ellison
214 S. Main Street, Ste. 210
Ann Arbor, MI 48104
EllisonEsq@aol.com