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Office of the Election Supervisor for the International Brotherhood of Teamsters

OFFICE OF THE ELECTION SUPERVISOR

for the

INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF TEAMSTERS

 

IN RE: ELIGIBILITY OF                             )           Protest Decision 2015 ESD 34

            JEFF SUTTON,                                )           Issued: September 25, 2015

                                                                        )           OES Case No. E-049-091715-SO

            Local Union 19.                                 )          

____________________________________)

 

            Robert Rasch, member of Local Union 19 and candidate for delegate, filed a pre-election protest pursuant to Article XIII, Section 2(b) of the Rules for the 2015-2016 IBT International Union Delegate and Officer Election (“Rules”).  The protest alleged that Angel Cantu was not validly nominated for delegate because his nominator, Jeff Sutton, was ineligible to do so and because a second written nomination of Cantu did not comply with the Rules. 

            Election Supervisor representative Dolores Hall investigated this protest.

Findings of Fact and Analysis

            To be eligible to nominate for office, one must be a member in good standing with his/her dues paid through the month prior to the nominations meeting.  The nominations meeting for Local Union 19’s delegate and alternate delegate election was conducted September 15, 2015.  Therefore, the “paid through” month for nominators was August 2015.  The protest alleged that Jeff Sutton was ineligible to nominate Angel Cantu because Sutton was on honorable withdrawal and therefore did not have a paid through date of August 2015.  The protest acknowledged that Cantu purportedly was nominated in writing a second time at the same meeting; however, the protest alleged that the second nomination was invalid because it was untimely submitted and therefore did not comply with the procedures governing written nominations set forth in Article II, Section 5(f) of the Rules.

            Sutton’s TITAN dues payment history confirmed that he was placed on honorable withdrawal on August 7, 2015.  However, the record also showed that the withdrawal card was deposited September 9, 2015, when a dues check-off remittance was posted to his account.  The TITAN record showed that the September 9 dues remittance produced a paid through date of August 2015, the paid through status required in order to be eligible to nominate. 

Accordingly, we find Sutton ELIGIBLE to nominate Cantu.  Given our finding that Sutton was eligible to nominate, we do not address the allegation that a second nomination of Cantu was invalid.

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:

Kathleen A. Roberts

Election Appeals Master

JAMS

620 Eighth Avenue, 34th floor

New York, NY 10018

kroberts@jamsadr.com

 

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, 1050 17th Street, N.W., Suite 375, Washington, D.C. 20036, all within the time prescribed above.  A copy of the protest must accompany the request for hearing.

 

                                                                        Richard W. Mark

                                                                        Election Supervisor

cc:        Kathleen A. Roberts

            2015 ESD 34 


 

DISTRIBUTION LIST (BY EMAIL UNLESS OTHERWISE SPECIFIED):

 

Bradley T. Raymond, General Counsel

International Brotherhood of Teamsters

25 Louisiana Avenue, NW

Washington, DC 20001

braymond@teamster.org

 

David J. Hoffa

1701 K Street NW, Ste 350

Washington DC 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

 

Teamsters United

315 Flatbush Avenue, #501

Brooklyn, NY 11217

info@teamstersunited.org

 

Louie Nikolaidis

350 West 31st Street, Suite 40

New York, NY 10001

lnikolaidis@lcnlaw.com

 

Julian Gonzalez

350 West 31st Street, Suite 40

New York, NY 10001

jgonzalez@lcnlaw.com

 

David O’Brien Suetholz

515 Park Avenue

Louisville, KY 45202

dave@unionsidelawyers.com

 

Fred Zuckerman

P.O. Box 9493

Louisville, KY 40209

fredzuckerman@aol.com

 

Teamsters Local Union 19

5939 Bender Road

Humble, TX 77396

dgfierro@comcast.net

 

Robert Rasch

16010 Campden Court

Spring, TX 77379

robertjohn18@yahoo.com

 

Dolores Hall

1000 Belmont Place

Metairie, LA

dhall@ibtvote.org

 

Jeffrey Ellison

214 S. Main Street, Suite 210

Ann Arbor, MI 48104

EllisonEsq@aol.com