February 14, 1996
VIA UPS OVERNIGHT
Donald Marr
8637 S.W. 50th Street
Cooper City, FL 33328
Amadeo Bianchi
12920 N.W. Miami Court
North Miami, FL 33168
Re: Election Office Case No. P-413-LU390-SEC
Gentlemen:
A pre-election protest was filed pursuant to Article XIV, Section 2(b) of the Rules for the 1995-1996 IBT International Union Delegate and Officer Election ("Rules") by
Donald Marr, a member of Local Union 390, against Amadeo Bianchi, a member of the same local union and a candidate for delegate. The protester asserts that Mr. Bianchi faxed a copy of a protest he filed against Mr. Marr (P-356-LU390-SEC) to his employer in an attempt to get Mr. Marr fired and in violation of the Rules.
The protest was investigated by Regional Coordinator J. Griffin Morgan.
Mr. Bianchi filed a protest on January 24, 1996 alleging that Mr. Marr, the chief steward at Allied Systems ("Allied"), interfered with his right to campaign on Allied's property. Mr. Bianchi states that he faxed a copy of the protest to Allied because he thought that, as the events involved occurred at the company, the Rules required this action. Mr. Bianchi insists that he had no interest in causing Mr. Marr's dismissal. Mr. Marr has not been disciplined by Allied as a result of Mr. Bianchi's sending the protest.
Donald Marr
February 14, 1996
Page 1
Article XIV, Section 2(d) of the Rules requires that all pre-election protests "be filed by sending the Election Officer and the Union(s) involved a clear and concise written statement of the alleged improper conduct. The protest should identify by name, address and telephone number each person who or entity which may be a subject of the protest."
Section 2(e) states:
The Election Officer shall provide a copy of the protest to any person who or entity which the Election Officer determines may be a subject of the protest, decision or remedy. Each such person or entity shall have the opportunity to present evidence and/or legal argument to the Election Officer.
In the protest form that Mr. Bianchi filed with the Election Officer, he identified one charged party, Mr. Marr, and did not implicate Allied in any way. Accordingly, the Election Officer did not provide a copy of the protest to Allied.
The Election Officer finds that Mr. Bianchi misunderstood the procedure outlined in Article XIV and should not have notified Allied of his protest against Mr. Marr. As stated clearly in Section 2(e), the decision to send a copy of a protest to an interested party is totally within the province of the Election Officer. It could be potentially very damaging to the whole election process if protesters took it upon themselves to notify persons or entities, other than the local union involved, of their protests.
In the instant case, however, the Election Officer finds that Mr. Bianchi thought he was complying with the Rules and did not fax the protest to Allied with the intent of jeopardizing Mr. Marr's employment. As stated above, no discipline of Mr. Marr resulted from
Mr. Bianchi's action.
In these circumstances, the protest is DENIED.
Any interested party not satisfied with this determination may request a hearing before the Election Appeals Master within one day of receipt of this letter. The parties are reminded that, absent extraordinary circumstances, no party may rely upon evidence that was not presented to the Office of the Election Officer in any such appeal. Requests for a hearing shall be made in writing and shall be served on:
Kenneth Conboy, Esq.
Latham and Watkins
885 Third Avenue, Suite 1000
New York, NY 10022
Fax (212) 751-4864
Donald Marr
February 14, 1996
Page 1
Copies of the request for hearing must be served on the parties listed above as well as upon the Election Officer, 400 North Capitol Street, Suite 855, Washington, D.C. 20001, Facsimile (202) 624-3525. A copy of the protest must accompany the request for a hearing.
Sincerely,
Barbara Zack Quindel
Election Officer
cc: Kenneth Conboy, Election Appeals Master
J. Griffin Morgan, Regional Coordinator