OFFICE OF THE ELECTION SUPERVISOR
for the
INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF TEAMSTERS
IN RE: FRANK HALSTEAD, ) Protest Decision 2016 ESD 249
) Issued: June 16, 2016
Protestor. ) OES Case Nos. P-282-050616-FW
____________________________________)
Frank Halstead, member and delegate candidate in 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 Middleton slate used union and employer resources in violation of the Rules by placing “robo calls” to employees on land-line work phones, which they received while working.
Election Supervisor representative Deborah Schaaf investigated this protest.
Findings of Fact and Analysis
The protestor presented evidence of one instance where a Middleton slate robo call was recorded on an employer-provided land-line. Neither the protestor nor the person whose employer-provided voicemail contained the message could identify any additional evidence that robo calls had been directed to members at work.
Investigation showed that the Hoffa-Hall 2016 campaign generated a list of Local Union 572 members’ home phone numbers for use in placing robo calls, which are recorded calls distributed in bulk by a commercial vendor engaged for that purpose. In purchasing the “phone match” service, the campaign instructed the vendor to exclude employer and cell phone numbers. The campaign then funded a recorded call to members’ home numbers of Middleton requesting their support.
We requested and received the list of phone numbers the campaign used to transmit the robo call. We did not divulge to the campaign the identity of the person who received the robo call in question or that person’s phone number before receiving the list. The work phone number of the person on whose voicemail the Middleton robo call was received did not appear on the list the campaign provided. We conclude that the message that appeared on the member’s work voicemail came to be there not because of a direct call by the campaign to that number but through some other means, which might be a standing call forwarding arrangement from another number to the work number or because a person who received the call at a residential voicemail box forwarded it electronically to the work voicemail box.
On the facts presented, we find no evidence that the campaign directed a robo call to a work phone number. Therefore, we DENY this protest.
The campaign requested a finding that the protestor fraudulently caused the Middleton robo call message to be transmitted to the work voicemail in question to support the conclusion that the campaign violated the Rules. Insufficient evidence exists to support this conclusion, and we DENY the campaign’s request as well.
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
Frank Halstead
fwhalstead@hotmail.com
Teamsters Local Union 572
450 E. Carson Plaza Dr.
Carson, CA 90746
info@teamsters572.org
Liz Rosenfeld
Wohlner Kaplon Cutler Halford & Rosenfeld
16501 Ventura Blvd., Suite 304
Encino, CA 91436
erosenfeld@wkclegal.com
Rick Middleton
For Members with Rick Middleton
rmiddleton@teamsters572.org
Lourdes Garcia
Lulu_garcia77@hotmail.com
Michael Miller
P.O. Box 251673
Los Angeles, CA 90025
miller.michael.j@verizon.net
Deborah Schaaf
1521 Grizzly Gulch
Helena, MT 59601
dschaaf@ibtvote.org
Jeffrey Ellison
214 S. Main Street, Suite 212
Ann Arbor, MI 48104
EllisonEsq@aol.co