OFFICE OF THE ELECTION SUPERVISOR
for the
INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF TEAMSTERS
IN RE: DAVE SCHNEIDER and ) Protest Decision 2020 ESD 21
FERNANDO FIGUEROA, ) Issued: September 23, 2020
) OES Case No. P-022-081420-SO
Protestors. )
____________________________________)
Dave Schneider and Fernando Figueroa, members of Local Union 512, filed a pre-election protest pursuant to Article XIII, Section 2(b) of the Rules for the 2020-2021 IBT International Union Delegate and Officer Election (“Rules”). The protest alleged that Student Transportation of America (STA) violated the Rules by barring members who were campaigning for candidates for International office from soliciting support in an employer parking lot where employees park their vehicles.
Election Supervisor representative Dolores Hall investigated this protest.
Findings of Fact and Analysis
On August 12, 2020, protestor Schneider and two other members of Local Union 512 sought to campaign and gather accreditation signatures at the STA Jacksonville facility on behalf of candidates for International office on the O'Brien-Zuckerman 2021 slate. When confronted by site management, the campaigners presented a copy of the order permitting limited access to employer parking lots for such purpose, entered February 14, 2020 by Hon. Loretta Preska, United States District Judge, in U.S. v. International Brotherhood of Teamsters. They also demonstrated that their campaign activity was on behalf of candidates for International office, which the order permits. Despite this, STA site management ordered them from the property. This protest followed.
Our investigator sought repeatedly to reach STA site management and senior management, both directly and with the assistance of local union leadership, to seek their compliance with Article VII, Section 12(e) and the Court order. This approach succeeded in the 2015-2016 election cycle, where site management at the same STA location barred campaigners, and regional management eventually permitted the limited access those provisions require. See Teamsters United, 2016 ESD 317 (October 27, 2016). Despite repeated efforts in the weeks that followed the filing of the instant protest, however, STA declined to comply.
On September 3, 2020, OES contacted counsel for STA, explained the basis for the protest, and sought STA’s compliance. On September 18, STA counsel advised OES by email, stating that he had spoken with senior management over the STA Jacksonville and other locations and reached an understanding that “[a]s long as the campaigners adhere to the dictates of Judge Preska’s order, there shouldn’t be any issue.”
We accept this commitment from the employer to comply with the order going forward. Specifically, the order grants the limited right of access to the employer parking lot where employees park their vehicles and is available –
- only in connection with campaigning during the 2020-2021 IBT International Union Delegate and Officer Election,
- only during hours when the parking lot is normally open to employees,
- may not be exercised among employees who are on working time,
- does not extend to campaigning which would materially interfere with the normal business activities of the employer,
- does not extend to areas other than the parking lot where employees park their vehicles, and
- does not permit members exercising access rights to engage in any activity other than campaigning for candidates in the International Union Delegate and Officer Election.
The employer may require reasonable identification to assure that a person seeking access to a parking lot pursuant to the order is a candidate or other member entitled to such access.
On this basis, 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. Any party requesting a hearing must comply with the requirements of Article XIII, Section 2(i). All parties are reminded that, absent extraordinary circumstances, no party may rely in any such appeal upon evidence that was not presented to the Office of the Election Supervisor. Requests for a hearing shall be made in writing, shall specify the basis for the appeal, and shall be served upon:
Barbara Jones
Election Appeals Master
IBTappealsmaster@bracewell.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, all within the time prescribed above. Service may be accomplished by email, using the “reply all” function on the email by which the party received this decision. A copy of the protest must accompany the request for hearing.
Richard W. Mark
Election Supervisor
cc: Barbara Jones
2020 ESD 21
DISTRIBUTION LIST (BY EMAIL UNLESS NOTED):
Bradley T. Raymond, General Counsel
International Brotherhood of Teamsters
braymond@teamster.org
Edward Gleason
egleason@gleasonlawdc.com
Patrick Szymanski
szymanskip@me.com
Will Bloom
wbloom@dsgchicago.com
Tom Geoghegan
tgeoghegan@dsgchicago.com
Rob Colone
rmcolone@hotmail.com
Barbara Harvey
blmharvey@sbcglobal.net
Kevin Moore
Mooregp2021@gmail.com
F.C. “Chris” Silvera
fitzverity@aol.com
Fred Zuckerman
fredzuckerman@aol.com
Ken Paff
Teamsters for a Democratic Union
ken@tdu.org
Dave Schneider
daveschn2012@gmail.com
Fernando Figueroa
fernando.roberto.figueroa@gmail.com
Student Transportation of America
Debby Murphy
murphy@ridesta.com
Student Transportation of America
Jason Haywood
jhaywood@ridesta.com
Teamsters Local Union 512
Jim Shurling
jqsurely@aol.com
Dave Frenzia
dfrenzia@ridesta.com
Bruce Boyens
boyensb@aol.com
Dolores Hall
dhall@ibtvote.org
Jeffrey Ellison
EllisonEsq@gmail.com