Protest Decisions

OFFICE OF THE ELECTION SUPERVISOR

for the

INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF TEAMSTERS

IN RE: FRED ZUCKERMAN,                   )           Protest Decision 2016 ESD 331

                                                                        )           Issued: November 18, 2016

            Protestor.                                           )           OES Case No. P-395-101916-ME     

____________________________________)                      

Fred Zuckerman, candidate for IBT General President, 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 Hoffa-Hall 2016 campaign flyer was impermissibly posted on a union bulletin board at a UPS facility

            Election Supervisor representative Dan Walsh investigated this protest.

Findings of Fact and Analysis

            The protest alleged that a Hoffa-Hall 2016 campaign flyer was posted behind the glass of a locked union bulletin board in the feeder driver area of UPS’s Middleburg Heights, OH facility.  Investigation showed that Jim Anzalone, a steward at the facility responsible for maintaining the union bulletin board, among other duties, posted the flyer late in the week of October 10 to 14, 2016.  The protest was filed in the evening of October 19, 2016 and was acknowledged by our office on October 20.  That same day, Local Union 407 president Dennis Roberts received the protest, learning for the first time that a campaign flyer had been posted on the union board.  He took immediate action to have the flyer be removed, and it was removed that same day.  He told our representative that the person who posted it should have known better than to do so.

            Anzalone told our representative he obtained the flyer from members campaigning in the facility’s parking lot, and he posted it on the board with no thought that it may violate the Rules or the UPS-IBT collective bargaining agreement that limits postings on the board to official union notices.  After speaking with local union president Roberts and our representative, Anzalone stated that he would not post campaign material on the board in the future.

            Although we find that the material was posted on the board impermissibly, we conclude that it was promptly removed once protested, the duration of its posting was brief, and the time remaining for counter-campaigning was substantial.  Accordingly, we deem this protest RESOLVED with the removal of the flyer and the perpetrator’s promise not to engage in such conduct going forward.

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 331

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