Protest Decisions

OFFICE OF THE ELECTION SUPERVISOR

for the

INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF TEAMSTERS

IN RE: HOFFA-HALL 2016,                      )           Protest Decision 2016 ESD 329

                                                                        )           Issued: November 14, 2016

            Protestor.                                           )           OES Case No. P-392-101616-MW    

____________________________________)                      

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 Local Union 710 member Joanne Lizak campaigned on work time and affixed a Teamsters United sticker to a fence post on employer property, in violation of the Rules.  The protest further alleged that Teamsters United received an impermissible involuntary employer contribution in the form of the sticker on the fence post.

            Election Supervisor representative Joe Childers investigated this protest.

Findings of Fact and Analysis

Local Union 710 represents members employed at UPS Freight’s sprawling freight terminal in Bedford Park, IL.  The protest alleged that Joanne Lizak campaigned there on work time on October 13, 2016 and, while doing so, affixed a Teamsters United sticker to a fence post owned by the employer.  Each act is said to violate the Rules.

The protest’s first allegation is that Lizak campaigned on work time.  The protestor’s sole evidence to support this claim was the Facebook-posted photo depicting Lizak holding campaign literature and pointing to a Teamsters United sticker on a fence post.  The caption of the photo, posted by another person, read, “Fred Zuckerman is loved here! – with JoAnne Lizak at UPS Bedford Park.” 

Lizak told our investigator that she campaigned in the evening, after her regular day of work.    Investigation showed that Lizak is employed in a clerical capacity at USF/Holland in McCook, IL, a fact we found in Hoffa-Hall 2016, 2016 ESD 320 (October 28, 2016), which concerned partisan materials on her work desk at that facility.  The USF/Holland facility is some six miles from the UPS Freight facility.  Lizak’s daily work hours conclude at 5 p.m.  She worked on Thursday, October 13, 2016, the date in question in this protest.  Further corroborating Lizak’s evidence that she was off duty is the photo itself, which was taken out-of-doors after dark.  The sun set in Bedford Park, IL at 6:11 p.m. CDT on October 13, well after Lizak’s work shift ended, and the photo was taken well after sunset.  Accordingly, we find no evidence to substantiate the protest’s first allegation that Lizak campaigned on work time in violation of the Rules.

The second assertion is that she affixed the sticker to the fence post.  Again, the protestor’s sole evidence was the photo posted to Facebook which depicted Lizak pointing at but not touching the sticker.  Lizak told our representative she did not affix sticker.  Instead, she said it was on the post when she arrived.  The language of the photo caption is not inconsistent with Lizak’s assertion that the sticker was already present when she posed with it.  Absent proof that Lizak posted the sticker, we accept Lizak’s denial.

Accordingly, we DENY the protest in all respects with respect to Lizak.

The protest also asserted that Teamsters United accepted an involuntary employer contribution in the form of the partisan sticker affixed to employer property.  Local Union 710 business agent Ted Barnhart, the agent with responsibility for the UPS Freight facility, assured our representative that the sticker would be removed from the post, if it was still there when he next checked.

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 the prompt removal of the sticker, we deem this protest RESOLVED with respect to Teamsters United.

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 329

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