Protest Decisions

IN RE: KELLIE SHAMBLIN,                    )           Protest Decision 2011 ESD 277

                                                                        )           Issued: June 10, 2011

            Protestor.                                           )           OES Case No. P-276-060911-MW               

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            Kellie Shamblin, member of Local Union 175 and secretary-treasurer of Joint Council 94, 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 the shirts Joint Council 94 produced for delegates to the IBT convention promoted the candidacy for International office of Fred Zuckerman and retaliated against Shamblin for her support of Ken Hall’s candidacy.

            Election Supervisor representative Jeffrey Ellison investigated this protest.

Findings of Fact and Analysis

            Joint Council 94 is comprised of local unions in Kentucky and West Virginia.  Fred Zuckerman is president of the joint council; protestor Shamblin is its secretary-treasurer.  The joint council produced some 300 shirts for convention delegates who represent local unions in the joint council.  Shamblin protested that the shirt design violated the Rules.

            Appearing on the left breast of the red, double-knit, collared, short-sleeved shirt is the IBT’s horses-and-wheel logo, machine-embroidered in light blue and outlined in navy with yellow highlights.  Stitched on the rim of the wheel in navy thread is “Joint Council;” on the hub, “94.”  The diameter of the wheel is 1½ inches; the vertical length of the logo, from the top of the horses’ harness to the bottom of the wheel, is 2 inches.  Beneath the logo, on two lines, are “Fred Zuckerman” and “President.”  The length of “Fred Zuckerman” is 3 inches; the height of the capital F and Z is ½ inch.  On the right sleeve is embroidered “International Brotherhood of Teamsters 28^th Convention.”  No other words, images or emblems appear on the shirt.

            Shamblin alleged that the use of Zuckerman’s name on the shirt promotes his candidacy for IBT central region vice president.  It does not.  Instead, it accurately identifies Zuckerman as president of the joint council identified in the logo printed immediately above his name.  We find that this use of Zuckerman’s name on union-funded apparel does not violate the Rules.  Nor do we find that the size of the font for his name is disproportionate or inappropriate for communicating the position he holds with the joint council.

            Shamblin further alleged that her name was omitted from the design to retaliate against her for supporting Ken Hall,[1] candidate for General Secretary-Treasurer on the Hoffa-Hall 2011 slate, which opposes the Gegare slate of which Zuckerman is a member.  Shamblin provided with her protest images of shirts produced by the joint council for past IBT convention delegates.  Although some shirts bear an embroidered image of Kentucky and West Virginia while others do not, the thematic element carried through on each shirt is that the rim of the wheel in the IBT logo is occupied by the names of the joint council president, on the upper half of the rim, and its secretary-treasurer, on the lower half.[2]  On the shirt produced for the 2011 convention, no names are printed on the wheel, and Shamblin’s name does not appear on the shirt at all.[3]

            Zuckerman denied that he had creative input, control or even knowledge of the logo design before the shirts were produced, stating that he delegated the task to his secretary and gave her discretion concerning the design because he was out of town on union business.  Zuckerman further denied a retaliatory motive for omitting Shamblin’s name from the shirt. 

            On these facts, we find no retaliation prohibited by the Rules.  Shamblin told our investigator that she “could not care less” that her name was not on the shirt.  Accordingly, we find she suffered no adverse action by the omission of her name from the wheel, even though it appeared on previous editions of the shirt, and we note that the design for the current shirt is different from past versions in that no names are printed on the wheel. 

            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, 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.