OFFICE OF THE ELECTION SUPERVISOR
for the
INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF TEAMSTERS
IN RE: HOFFA-HALL 2016, ) Protest Decision 2016 ESD 321
) Issued: October 30, 2016
Protestor. ) OES Case No. P-376-100616-NA
____________________________________)
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 a Teamsters United sticker was impermissibly posted inside a UPS facility.
Election Supervisor representative Paul Dever investigated this protest.
Findings of Fact and Analysis
UPS operates a hub on Vero Road in Baltimore, MD that was the subject of our decision in Cintron & Genovese, 2016 ESD 310 (October 26, 2016). The protest here alleged that a Teamsters United pole sticker was found affixed to a post inside the facility. A photo of the sticker was attached to the protest. The protest asserted that the presence of the sticker at that location constituted an impermissible employer contribution to the Teamsters United slate.
The protest was filed Thursday, October 6, 2016 and asked that we order the sticker removed. The protestor did not identify a witness our investigator could speak with until Friday, October 14, more than a week after the protest was filed and nine days after the protestor received information about the sticker. That witness, Local Union 355 business agent Eric Wood, told our investigator on October 14 that he sent the photo of the sticker to the Hoffa-Hall 2016 campaign the previous week. He stated the sticker was put up by an unidentified employee at the facility, since the campaigners “would not have been allowed on the property,” stating further that the sticker “has been ripped down for the most part but you can still see pieces of it.”
Dave Cintron, a Teamsters United supporter, campaigned for that slate with one other person at the Vero Road facility on Tuesday, October 4, 2016, his only time at that facility. He denied he or his fellow campaigner distributed pole stickers, stating that they distributed flyers only.
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). The business agent who took the photo of the sticker also reported to our representative that it had been ripped down.
Given this prompt removal of the sticker, 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, 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
2016 ESD 321
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
Teamsters Local Union 355
1030 S. Dukeland St.
Baltimore, MD 21223
dwhite@teamsters355.com
gbrown@teamsters355.com
Dave Cintron
djcintronics@gmail.com
Eric Wood
ewood@teamsters355.com
Paul Dever
1050 17th St NW, Suite 375
Washington, DC 20036
pdever@ibtvote.org
Jeffrey Ellison
214 S. Main Street, Suite 212
Ann Arbor, MI 48104
EllisonEsq@aol.com