Protest Decisions

OFFICE OF THE ELECTION SUPERVISOR

for the

INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF TEAMSTERS

IN RE: TEAMSTERS UNITED,               )           Protest Decision 2016 ESD 317

                                                                        )           Issued: October 27, 2016

            Protestor.                                           )           OES Case No. P-397-102016-SO     

____________________________________)                      

Teamsters United 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 Student Transportation of America interfered with parking lot campaign rights, in violation of the Rules.

            Election Supervisor representative Chris Mrak investigated this protest.

Findings of Fact and Analysis

On October 19, 2016, Dave Schneider and Connell Crooms campaigned in support of the Teamsters United slate at Student Transportation of America’s facility at 340 Lee Road, Jacksonville, FL. STA provides transportation services to schools and employs members of Teamsters Local Union 512. The campaigners took up a position in a small parking lot adjacent to the main entrance to the building.  They arrived about 3:10 p.m. and, five minutes later, were approached by terminal manager Debby Murphy, who told them they could not be there and had to leave.  Schneider produced our advisory on parking lot access; Murphy replied that she had spoken to the union and they could not be there.  Murphy returned to the building, and Schneider and Crooms continued to campaign.  A few minutes later, Murphy returned and, according to Schneider, told an employee not to take a flyer; Schneider told Murphy she would face “labor board charges” for interfering.  According to Schneider, Murphy then called the police.  Jacksonville Police Officer D.E. Smith responded to the scene, spoke with Murphy and then with Schneider and Crooms.  Schneider said the officer spoke with the campaigners for about ten minutes, during which Schneider showed the officer the parking lot advisory.  The officer told the campaigners they had to leave the property, threatening to arrest them if they remained.  They complied.

This protest followed.  Our representative attempted an informal resolution of the access issue.  Thus, she spoke with Schneider and then with a woman at STA who refused to identify herself.  Our representative attempted to explain the provisions of the Rules and the Court Order granting members the right to campaign on employer parking lots where employees park their vehicles when reporting for work.  The unidentified woman told our representative to contact business agent Wylie Darden at Local Union 512 and then hung up.  Our representative called back and was immediately placed on hold, where she remained for an extended period before hanging up.

Our representative then left voice messages for local union BA Darden and principal officer Jim Surely.  Darden did not return the message; Surely did and was helpful.  Surely stated that Darden is a part-time agent not well-versed in the Rules.  Surely stated further that STA’s Murphy called him on October 19, the date of the campaign activity, but Surely could not speak with her because he was in negotiations.  Surely stated that after he received our representative’s voice message, he contacted Murphy, explained the parking lot access rule, and sent her a copy of it.  Surely stated that Murphy complained to him that the campaigners were in the administration parking lot, which is not used by Teamster members, and that they did not heed her directive to move across the street to the employee parking lot.  Surely said he told Murphy that she had to remain neutral and could not get involved in the election.

According to Surely, STA maintains three parking lots.  Investigation showed that the STA facility is dominated by a large, roughly square, one-story building with metal sides and roof situated within a six-foot high chain-link fence that is topped with three strands of barbed wire.  The street-side quarter of the building is given over to offices; the balance is a maintenance area that buses access through three large overhead doors on the north and south sides of the building.  The so-called administration parking lot is a ten-space lot surrounded by chain-link and barbed wire immediately adjacent to pedestrian doors into the public entrance to the building.  Office employees who are not Teamster members and business visitors use this lot.  Across Lee Road, a two-lane residential street, is an unmarked and unstriped gravel and grass L-shaped lot surrounded by a white privacy fence where many employees park their vehicles.  The vehicle capacity of the lot may range as high as 50.  The third lot is an expansive area on the same side of Lee Road as the STA building and is largely occupied by school buses.  The back parking area, immediately to the west of the building behind a line of trees, has capacity for some 130 buses.  Another area to the north of the building has space for some 25 more buses.  Just to the south of the building and street-side to Lee Road in the bus yard is space for another 20 to 25 cars, and Teamster members park there in addition to the gravel lot across Lee Road.

Our representative spoke with Murphy on Saturday, October 22, after attempting to reach her by phone the day before and email on October 22.  Murphy was helpful and cooperative.  She told our investigator that her assistant manager, Lisa Boogyi, was the person who hung up on our representative previously; Murphy apologized for Boogyi’s conduct.  Murphy further explained that she just recently taken over management of a Teamster-represented facility and therefore was unaware of OES oversight of Teamster elections.  She stated that when she was leaving the facility on October 19, she encountered the campaigners in the administration parking lot, where she said managers, supervisors, and the dispatcher park, and told them to leave.  She said the campaigners became belligerent, told her they were within their rights and that she could not make them leave, and said to “kiss their ass.”  Murphy said she told the campaigners the employee parking lot was across the street, but they remained in place in the administration lot.  Murphy said she then called the police.  According to Murphy, the responding officer nearly arrested one of the campaigners, who were hostile to him, but they left as instructed by the officer.

Having discussed with Murphy that Schneider and other campaigners had rights under the parking lot access rule, our representative told Murphy that she would inform Schneider that Teamster members park in the gravel lot across Lee Road and not in the administration lot.  Our representative further explained that if Teamster members park in the bus yard, parking lot campaign rights may extend to that location as well.

Our representative gave Schneider information about the lots where Teamsters members park their vehicles.  Schneider replied that the administration lot was not marked as being for supervisors and managers, but he nonetheless agreed to refrain from campaigning there.

Our representative gave Schneider the mobile phone number for Murphy and suggested he give her a “heads up” when he was returning in order to insure a smooth campaign experience.  Our representative told both Schneider and Murphy to call her if problems arose.  Murphy asked whether it would permissible to thank Schneider for his cooperation when he returned.  Our representative replied that it would be.

On Monday, October 24, Schneider and two other campaigners appeared at STA.  They campaigned in the entrance to the bus yard, across the street from the gravel lot Murphy said was the employee parking lot.  Murphy approached Schneider and pointed out the lot across the street; Schneider did not move to that location and instead remained in place in the bus yard.  Murphy phoned and emailed our representative to report that Schneider and others were campaigning in the bus yard entrance, an area Murphy regarded as unsafe, rather than the employee parking lot across Lee Road.  Our representative immediately phoned Schneider, reaching him at the bus facility.  Schneider told our representative that he believed the gravel lot was that of another employer, not STA.  Our representative contacted Murphy, who told her that she and her staff pointed out the employee parking lot to Schneider and told him that employees indeed parked there, but he did not move to that location.  Murphy said although she believed Schneider’s location in the bus yard was unsafe, she permitted him to remain and carry on his campaign activity.  Because of her concern that the location Schneider chose for campaigning was potentially unsafe, however, Murphy instructed her staff to make sure the campaigners stayed out of the way of bus traffic and did not create a risk of accident.  Our representative received no further report from Schneider or Murphy concerning problems with campaign activity at STA-Jacksonville.

Accordingly, we conclude that this protest is RESOLVED.

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 317

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