OFFICE OF THE ELECTION SUPERVISOR
for the
INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF TEAMSTERS
IN RE: CRAIG CHAPPELL ) Protest Decision 2021 ESD 101
and DEREK CORREIA, ) Issued: April 9, 2021
) OES Case No. P-123-032321-FW
Protestors. )
___________________________________)
Craig Chappell and Derek Correia, members of Local Union 542, 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 the local union violated the Rules by permitting an opposing slate to use a union membership list to text a campaign message to members.
Election Supervisor representative Bruce Boyens investigated this protest.
Findings of Fact and Analysis
Local Union 542 will elect 10 delegates and 6 alternate delegates to the IBT convention. The Members for Members 542 slate, comprised of rank-and-file members, is competing against the Teamsters 542 Members First slate, consisting of local union officials and rank-and-file members. The protestors here are delegate candidates on the Members for Members 542 slate.
On March 19, 2021, protestors received a campaign text message in support of the Teamsters 542 Members First slate. They alleged that Local Union 542 violated the Rules either by permitting the slate to make campaign use of mobile phone numbers obtained from membership records or by transferring that information to the Teamster Power slate of candidates for International office so that Teamster Power could send the message.
Investigation showed no Rules violation. Teamster Power is comprised of accredited candidates for International office. Those candidates achieved accreditation by gathering the requisite number of petition signatures for that purpose. Accredited candidates are permitted by Article VII, Section 3(a) to obtain the IBT membership list, which they may use to campaign. Accredited candidates may use the membership list to support the election of delegate candidates who will advance the nomination at the IBT convention of those accredited candidates.
Teamster Power obtained the full IBT membership list as the result of its candidates’ accreditation. Through a vendor, Teamster Power performed a phone match for mobile phone numbers of the portion of the list consisting of members of Local Union 542. The phone match function relied on publicly available records and databases to match names with mobile phone numbers. With the resulting mobile phone list, Teamster Power engaged another vendor to direct a campaign text message to local union members in support of the Teamsters 542 Members First slate. The Rules permit this activity, and all accredited candidates for International office have equal right to do the same thing.
For these reasons, we DENY this protest.
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
2021 ESD 101
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
Craig Chappell
glamiscraig@gmail.com
Derek Correia
Dmcorreia13@aol.com
Jaime Vasquez
jvasquez@teamsters542.org
Michael Miller
Miller.michael.j@verizon.net
Deborah Schaaf
dschaaf@ibtvote.org
Jeffrey Ellison
EllisonEsq@gmail.com