Protest Decisions

OFFICE OF THE ELECTION SUPERVISOR

for the

INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF TEAMSTERS

IN RE: HOFFA-HALL 2016,                      )           Protest Decision 2016 ESD 319

                                                                        )           Issued: October 28, 2016

            Protestor.                                           )           OES Case No. P-399-102116-SO     

____________________________________)                      

Hoffa-Hall 2016 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 Teamsters United campaign stickers were impermissibly posted inside work areas at a USF/Holland facility in Atlanta, GA.

            Election Supervisor representative Dolores Hall investigated this protest.

Findings of Fact and Analysis

The protest alleged that Teamsters United supporters placed several pole and bumper stickers in work areas at Holland Motor Freight in Atlanta, GA, which the protestor asserted constituted an impermissible employer contribution to Teamsters United candidates.  Further, the protestor argued that the presence of the stickers in work areas was proof that Teamsters United supporters campaigned inside those work areas, which the protestor contends constituted campaigning on employer-paid time.

Photos appended to the protest showed yellow “Fred” pole stickers, with blue and white printing, affixed to concrete posts in the parking lot of the USF/Holland facility; in addition, one photo showed a rectangular blue and yellow “Teamsters United” sticker affixed to a wall next to a fenced cage area; this sticker was torn such that a large middle section was missing. 

Investigation showed that all the stickers were on the outside of the building and in the parking lot.  Terminal manager Wes Nuckolls told our investigator he noticed the stickers on Friday, October 21, as he was leaving work.  October 21 was the same day the protest was filed.  Nuckolls said the yellow concrete posts, roughly three feet high, to which the pole stickers were affixed are in the yard near the building; he stated further that the wall on which the sticker was posted is on a storage cage that faces the parking lot.  Nuckolls removed all of the pole stickers immediately on seeing them.  Given their conspicuous locations in the parking lot, Nuckolls is confident he saw the stickers on the same day they were posted.  Nuckolls was unable, however, to remove the sticker on the storage cage completely, but was able to tear off a large strip of it.  Nuckolls said there are security cameras around the yard, but none in the areas where the stickers were and he therefore can’t tell who put the stickers there. 

The protestor presented no evidence, and we found none, that the stickers were put up in work areas on work time.  All the evidence we found shows the stickers were in non-work areas.

Nonetheless, we have held the posting of campaign material on employer property to be an improper endorsement of a candidate by an employer.  Hoffa-Hall 2016, 2016 ESD 64 (January 8, 2016).  However, the prompt removal of the improper endorsement has often been held sufficient remedy for the protest. Id. See also, Halstead, 2006 ESD 386 (October 26, 2006); Wright, 2006 ESD 361 (October 2, 2006); Leedham Slate, 2006 ESD 301 (July 5, 2006); Halstead, 2005 ESD 31 (June 6, 2005); Domeny, 2001 EAD 499 (October 5, 2001); Speak, 2001 EAD 239 (March 14, 2001). 

Given Nuckolls’s prompt removal of the stickers, we deem this protest 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 319

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