OFFICE OF THE ELECTION SUPERVISOR
for the
INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF TEAMSTERS
IN RE: SAM BUCALO, ) Protest Decision 2016 ESD 105
) Issued: February 10, 2016
Protestor. ) OES Case No. P-084-010916-ME
__________________________________)
Sam Bucalo, member and secretary-treasurer of Local Union 100, 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 Local Union 100 violated the Rules by creating a new business agent position; further, that local union president David Webster violated the Rules by filling the position and reassigning some of Bucalo’s work to the new agent.
Election Supervisor representative Dan Walsh investigated this protest.
Findings of Fact and Analysis
On December 30, 2015 the Local 100 executive board created a new business agent position and hired trustee Dave Couch to fill it. The protest contended that the creation of this position and filling it with Couch approximately one month before the nominations meeting for the local union delegates and alternate delegates election violated the Rules because the decisions were taken to strengthen the slate that will oppose Bucalo’s delegate candidacy.
Protestor Bucalo told our investigator that he and local union president Dave Webster together had sought executive board authorization for an additional business agent for the past two years. For some time, the local union membership has been serviced by seven business agents, three of whom are elected officers. The remaining agents are employees of the union. Two years ago, Bucalo said he and Webster requested that the executive board hire a fifth non-officer business agent to handle the burgeoning work for which business agents are responsible; the board at that time declined the request, apparently for financial considerations.
Much more recently, in November 2015, the idea gained traction on the board, with Webster telling Bucalo that the new position might be created shortly. Bucalo was not present at the December 2015 executive board meeting when the board acted to approve the new business agent position. Webster, who was present, told our investigator that the board concluded both that the workload justified the additional staff member and the local union’s financial condition could support it. Accordingly, the board authorized the position.
Bucalo agrees that hiring an additional business agent was justified. He stated that the workload in dealing with a large number of companies at the union is very heavy for the existing cadre of agents, leaving them little time for organizing. Further, Bucalo told our investigator that the local union’s strong financial position can absorb the cost associated with the new agent’s position.
Nonetheless, Bucalo argued that creation of the position a little more than a month before the nominations meeting violated the Rules. Further, he contended that president Webster’s choice to appoint Dave Couch as the new business agent violated the Rules because Bucalo believed Couch is politically aligned with Webster and the rest of the executive board to run against Bucalo in the delegates and alternate delegates election.
The bylaws of Local Union 100 grant the president “the power to appoint … all appointive organizers, appointive Business Agents, Assistant Business Agents and employees.” Webster told our investigator that, even though the bylaws did not require executive board approval of his appointments, the board does have bylaws authority to set salaries and allowances, so he sought to appoint an individual whom the board would support. He said he initially considered two other members for the appointment; both declined. After obtaining input from executive board members, Webster decided to appoint from the existing local union leadership and chose Couch, a sitting trustee. Webster told our investigator he chose Couch for several reasons, including that he is in Webster’s view bright and articulate, and has been involved in the union, first as a steward at UPS in the 1990s and subsequently as an executive board member for the past four years. The position is appointive until the next election, in December 2016. At that point, the executive board will determine the number of business agents to carry, and candidates will run for the officer and business agent positions.
Bucalo contends that Couch lacks experience and that better qualified members were available for the appointment. He concedes, however, that Webster has bylaws authority to make the appointment.
In the last local union officers election, Webster and Bucalo were members of the Teamsters United slate. They were the only two officers elected to office from that slate; the remaining officers were elected from the opposing slate.
In the current delegates and alternate delegates election, the nominations for which occurred after this protest was filed, Webster and Bucalo are on different slates. Bucalo heads a slate of working Teamsters, some of whom are stewards. Webster is on a slate with other officers and business agents of the local union, including newly appointed business agent Couch.
Webster denied to our investigator that he appointed Couch to the business agent position as part of a political deal to gain a place on the delegate slate with the other officers. Webster said to the contrary that, as a top vote-getter in the last officers election, he was sought out by the other officers to form a slate together. Webster emphatically denied there was any connection between his appointment of Couch and forming a slate with the other officers and agents. Ron Butts, local union vice president and another member of the slate that Webster and Couch are on, confirmed this point, stating that no agreements were made concerning Couch’s appointment.
We find on the facts presented general agreement between protestor and respondent as to the need for an additional business agent, the local union’s ability to afford the expense associated with the new position, the executive board’s authority to create the position, and the president’s authority to fill it. Against this framework, we reject the claim that, standing alone, the timing of the position’s creation, and the appointment of Couch to fill it, violated the Rules as an impermissible use of union resources to support a candidate. We find no evidence to support an inference that the executive board created the position and Webster filled it to enhance the electoral prospects of the slate on which many board members are running. Instead, we conclude that the mere timing of a decision all agree was warranted by the circumstances the local union faced will not invalidate that decision as a Rules violation.
With respect to the appointment of Couch, Webster’s explanation that he made the appointment because of attributes Couch presented is sufficient to defeat a claim that the Rules were violated, where Webster’s action was fully authorized by local union bylaws and executive board resolution.
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:
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
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
Sam Bucalo
6158 Kingoak Drive
Cincinnati, OH 45248
sammo1245@aol.com
Teamsters Local Union 100
2100 Oak Drive
Cincinnati, OH 45241
sarahm@teamsterslocal100.com
Dan Walsh
950 Duxbury Court
Cincinnati, OH 45255
djw4947@gmail.com
John Pegula
1434 Greendale Dr.
Pittsburgh, PA 15239
jpegula@ibtvote.org
Jeffrey Ellison
214 S. Main Street, Suite 210
Ann Arbor, MI 48104
EllisonEsq@aol.com