Protest Decisions

OFFICE OF THE ELECTION SUPERVISOR

for the

INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF TEAMSTERS

IN RE: FRANK HALSTEAD,                   )           Protest Decision 2016 ESD 152

                                                                        )           Issued: March 21, 2016

            Protestor.                                           )           OES Case Nos. P-051-092415-NA   

____________________________________)                      

Frank Halstead, member of Local Union 572, 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 the website of the Hoffa-Hall 2016 slate violated the Rules by soliciting contributions from nonmembers in an impermissible manner. 

            Election Supervisor representative Jeffrey Ellison investigated this protest.

Findings of Fact and Analysis

The Rules permit only members to provide financial support for candidates’ campaign activities.  Thus, Article XI, Section 1(b)(4) states:

No candidate [or] slate …, nor anyone acting on their behalf, may solicit or accept financial support, or any other direct or indirect support of any kind, from any nonmember, except as permitted in subparagraphs (5) and (9) below.

The narrow exception this protest addresses is at subparagraph (5) of Article XI, Section 1(b), which permits a candidate to solicit and use financial support or services from “nonmembers, disinterested employers, foundations or labor organizations to pay fees for legal or accounting services performed in assuring compliance with applicable election laws, rules or other requirements or in securing, defending or clarifying the legal rights of candidates.”  However, these so-called “legal and accounting contributions” may be used “if and only to the extent such contributions are received in response to solicitations specifically requesting such funds or services or are contributions so earmarked by the contributor at the time the contribution is made.”  (Emphasis supplied.)  Otherwise, contributions of any type or character from nonmembers are prohibited.

The protest alleged that the campaign website of Hoffa-Hall 2016 violated the Rules by permitting members and nonmembers alike to purchase campaign merchandise of the Hoffa-Hall 2016 slate from the same webpage.  The campaign priced the merchandise so that sales would generate funds the campaign could use for campaign expenses.  The protestor submitted that the open-ended solicitation of funds from all users, including nonmembers, violated the Rules because the website did not specifically state that funds nonmenbers remitted would be solely for legal and accounting expenditures.

Hoffa-Hall 2016 responded to the protest in two ways.  First, it redesigned the portal to the merchandise section of the site to segregate members from nonmembers.  Users identifying themselves as members are sent to a page where they are required to provide their local union numbers, employers, and SSN4s so that the campaign may verify both their membership status and that they have not reached the maximum contribution limit the Rules establish for the current election cycle.  The first page of the “Store” section of the website includes the following:

IMPORTANT NOTICE:

Under the Election Rules, the campaign may accept general fund contributions only from active IBT members and their immediate families.

The Election Rules do not permit non-members to contribute to the campaign general fund.

By completing a transaction within this online store, you are acknowledging that you qualify (as defined above) as eligible to make a general fund contribution to the Hoffa 2016 campaign.

If you are not a Teamster member, please click here to visit our non-member store to show your support.

A user selecting items for purchase from this first page of the store is considered to be a member.  When an item is selected and placed in the shopping cart, the user then proceeds to check-out.  However, before reaching the check-out page, the member must specify his/her SSN4, employer, and local union number.  The user then completes the transaction by inputting name, address, and credit card information.  The funds are then placed in escrow until such time as the campaign verifies the membership status of the user in the CCERS system.  If the name, SSN4, employer, and local union number demonstrate that the user is a member, the merchandise is shipped, the payment is transferred to the campaign’s general fund, and the contribution is credited against the member’s contribution limit.  If the user’s information does not establish membership status in the CCERS system, the purchase is voided and the credit card payment credited back to the user’s card.

            If the user clicks on the link found on the first page of the store indicating he/she is a nonmember, a new page opens at which the following appears:

IMPORTANT NOTICE FOR SHOPPERS:

This online store is only for non-members, retirees or disinterested employers.  By continuing, you are acknowledging that you qualify as such and have read the following:

Non-members, including Teamster retirees, disinterested employers, foundations and labor organizations, may provide contributions up to $10,000 to the Hoffa 2016 Legal and Accounting Fund. By completing a transaction within this online store, you are acknowledging that you are NOT an IBT member and NOT an interested employer.  Please consult the Rules, Article XI, Campaign Contributions and Disclosure, by clicking here.

(Emphasis in original.)

The nonmember user who selects an item of merchandise for his/her shopping cart must click a box before check-out indicating the following:

ð I am a non-member, retiree or disinterested employer and acknowledge I have read the following:

Non-members, including Teamster retirees, disinterested employers, foundations and labor organizations, may provide contributions up to $10,000 to the Hoffa 2016 Legal and Accounting Fund. By completing a transaction within this online store, you are acknowledging that you are NOT an IBT member and NOT an interested employer. Please consult the Rules, Article XI, Campaign Contributions and Disclosure, by clicking here.

These separate pages segregating members from nonmembers were fully implemented by October 23, 2015.

            The second response of the Hoffa-Hall 2016 campaign was to provide proof that no nonmember contributions were received through merchandise purchases on the campaign website prior to the time that the segregation of members and nonmembers was fully implemented.  Reports filed by the campaign indicate that the first merchandise purchase designated for and transferred into the campaign’s legal and accounting fund through the website was made October 27, 2015, after the changes described above were made. 

            On these facts, we deem this protest RESOLVED.  Hoffa-Hall 2016’s website as presently established advises nonmembers of the requirements of the Rules and solicits funds specifically for the campaign’s legal and accounting fund, the only category of contribution nonmembers may make.  Although the website before October 23, 2015 did not distinguish between members and nonmembers, no contributions from nonmembers were “received in response to solicitations” through the website.

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, 34^th 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 17^th 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

            2016 ESD 152

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