Protest Decisions

November 4, 1996

VIA UPS OVERNIGHT & U.S. EXPRESS MAIL 

James Buck

November 4, 1996

Page 1

James Buck, Trustee

Teamsters Local Union 745

1007 Jonelle Street

Dallas, TX  75217

T. C. Stone

P.O. Box 571

Kaufman, TX  75142

James P. Hoffa

2593 Hounds Chase

Troy, MI  48098

Bradley T. Raymond

Finkel, Whitefield, Selik, Raymond,

  Ferrara & Feldman, P.C.

32300 Northwestern Highway, Suite 200

Farmington Hills, MI  48334

James Buck

November 4, 1996

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Re:  Election Office Case No. P-1039-LU745-SOU

Gentlemen:

A pre-election protest has been filed pursuant to Article XIV, Section 2(b) of the Rules for the 1995-1996 IBT International Union Delegate and Officer Election (“Rules”) by

James Buck, trustee of Local Union 745, and Local Union 745 members and Business Agents

Al Utley and David Miles, against T.C. Stone, a candidate for International vice president on the Jim Hoffa-No Dues Increase-25 & Out Slate, and the Hoffa campaign.  The protesters allege that they and others at the local union have been the target of a “continuing pattern of violence, intimidation and disruption” orchestrated by the charged parties.  The protesters specifically point to demonstrations held outside the Local Union 745 hall on September 20 and 27, 1996,

at which vandalism and acts of violence occurred.

The charged parties deny any connection to the demonstrations on September 20 and 27

and state that they do not condone or encourage violence by anyone connected with the Hoffa campaign.   In addition, the Hoffa campaign outlines the affirmative steps it has taken to discourage supporters from affixing campaign material to employer or union-owned property in response to a prior decision of the Election Officer.

Regional Coordinator Dolores C. Hall investigated this protest.

James Buck

November 4, 1996

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Local Union 745 was placed in trusteeship by the International union on August 21, 1996, with Mr. Buck appointed as trustee.  Mr. Buck took possession of the local union on August 23, 1996.  Mr. Stone served as secretary-treasurer of the local union prior to the imposition of the trusteeship.  Mr. Stone is a candidate for International vice president on

Mr. Hoffa’s slate.

On Sunday, September 1, 1996, supporters of Mr. Hoffa and Mr. Stone held a rally in the parking lot of Local Union 745, at which Mr. Stone spoke.  Approximately  200-250 people attended this event.  During the month of September, Hoffa supporters held a rally in the parking lot every Friday around noon.   The participants wore Hoffa shirts, hats and buttons, and carried signs in support of their candidate.

On September 20,  the investigation conducted by the Election Officer shows that the rally was particularly raucous.  Demonstrators placed Hoffa stickers on the glass front door of the local union hall and smeared fish guts on the outside of the building.  Chanting “Hoffa, Hoffa, Hoffa,” demonstrators shouted obscenities at Trustee Buck as well as at female employees of the trustee.  An off-duty police officer working at the local union asked the demonstrators to leave, but was told that the demonstrators would be gone by 2:00 p.m. as they all worked on the second shift.[1]   

Due to the demonstrations, Trustee Buck had instituted a rule that only two members of the local union could enter the union hall at any one time.  The members were not required to identify themselves to the DPS officers prior to entering the hall.  Two DPS officers were posted at the door to the union hall.  When two members were permitted to enter the hall, one DPS officer would go inside the union hall.  The union hall is very large.  The offices for the union officers and business representatives and the offices for clerical employees are located in areas separate from the location where hot coffee is kept and the entrances to the women’s and men’s restrooms.  Since the local union employees had been frightened by the demonstrations, they were instructed by the DPS officers to remain at their desks when members came into the hall.

On September 20, 1996, a man and a woman (who were not identified during the investigation) went into the union hall.[2]  Both of these people were wearing Hoffa hats and

James Buck

November 4, 1996

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t-shirts.  While at the union hall, the woman went into the women’s restroom and the man went into the men’s restroom.  After the woman had exited the union hall, the employees at the local union discovered that she had pulled the paper towel holder off the wall and shoved it into the toilet bowl.  Similarly, the employees at the local union discovered “Fuck Buck” written on the mirror and walls, and several Hoffa stickers pasted on the walls inside the men’s room.

On Friday, September 27, violence erupted at the noon-time rally supporting Mr. Hoffa.   According to eyewitnesses, the demonstrators engaged in the following behavior:  (1) they pounded on the glass door and windows of the union hall with their hands and with the Hoffa signs they were carrying; (2) they cursed at female employees of the local union and at the trustee; (3) they vandalized the men’s and women’s bathrooms inside the union hall;  (4) they overturned garbage cans and spread the contents all over the steps leading into the union hall;

(5) they threw beer cans at the front door of the hall, spewing beer in the entryway; and (6) they broke the railing going up the steps in the entryway.  When a DPS officer asked the participants to leave the premises because the female employees were frightened, one of the demonstrators, Brent Taylor, responded that “they need to be afraid.”

In terms of the vandalism inside and outside the hall, the investigator reviewed photo-graphs revealing Hoffa ‘96 stickers and at least one Hoffa-Stone bumper sticker pasted all over the outside doors and windows and garbage strewn about the steps and front door of the union hall.  An investigation of the vandalism inside the hall revealed that on September 27,

Patricia Newby, a local union member and an employee of the local union prior to the trusteeship, and an unidentified man came into the union hall.  Both individuals were wearing Hoffa t-shirts and hats.   Ms. Newby went into the women’s room.  When she exited the women’s room, Trustee Buck immediately sent an employee in to check the room.  The employee found that Ms. Newby has ripped the toilet paper dispenser off the wall and shoved it into the toilet.  After the man exited the union hall, the employees discovered that again the men’s room was covered with obscenities, Hoffa stickers were pasted on the walls and the toilet stall and someone had urinated on the walls and the floor.

    At the conclusion of the rally on September 27, an IBT member followed the demonstrators in his car as they left the premises.  According to this member, the demonstrators went to the Hoffa campaign’s headquarters in Dallas, where they deposited their signs outside the building and then went inside.

The protesters, all of whom were present in the Local Union 745 hall during the demonstrations on September 20 and 27, claim that the “violence and intimidation” displayed on those dates were “planned at Hoffa campaign headquarters in Dallas, where the charged parties have met before and after engaging in the misconduct.”

Mr. Stone states that he is aware that Hoffa supporters demonstrated at the Local

Union 745 union hall on September 20 and 27, 1996 after gathering campaign materials at the Dallas headquarters.  Mr. Stone admits that he was present at the Hoffa campaign headquarters on September 20 and interacted with supporters as they were leaving to go to the union hall.   However, Mr. Stone asserts that neither he nor any representative of his campaign was present during those demonstrations and that he exercised no control over the behavior of the partici-pants.  After this protest was filed, Mr. Stone states that he instructed his supporters to cease the

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November 4, 1996

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Friday demonstrations at Local Union 745.  Indeed, no demonstrations have occurred since the protest was filed.    

Mr. Hoffa makes a similar argument on behalf of his campaign.  There is no evidence, Mr. Hoffa states, connecting his campaign to the alleged unlawful activities that occurred during the September 20 and 27 rallies “other than the apparent fact that some of the persons who were demonstrating [on those dates] may have been wearing Hoffa campaign shirts and buttons, and that someone may have improperly affixed Hoffa campaign stickers to the Local 745 hall.”

Article VIII, Section 11(f) of the Rules prohibits retaliation and the threat of retaliation by any person against a member for exercising any right guaranteed by the Rules.  The right to engage in political and campaign activities includes the right to be free from threats of violence.  Lopez, P-456-LU743-CHI (April 10, 1996) (finding “I’ll kill you” to violate the Rules, in light of ongoing animosity between the parties); Smith, P-600-LU150-CSF (April 30, 1996) (finding remark “you’ll be taken out of here in a body bag” to violate the Rules); Cecere, P-935-LU122-ENG (October 23, 1996) (finding that charged party violated the Rules by deliberately driving his car towards campaigners);  Kelly, P-600-LU705-CHI et seq. (March 27, 1991) (finding an aggressive threat to “kick their ass” made in a menacing manner to be harassment, in violation of the Rules).

The Election Officer has held that “conduct which results in the interference with the enjoyment of property is similarly violative of the Rules.”  Volpe, P-763-IBT-NYC et seq.

(June 18, 1996) (pasting campaign stickers inside the restrooms of a member’s bar constituted harassment and retaliation).  See also Chentnik, P-182-LU325-CHI (October 31, 1995) (affixing of adhesive stickers to protester’s car found to be vandalism and a violation of the Rules);

Gregory, P-800-LU135-SCE (July 18, 1991) (smashing windows of a member’s car violated the Rules).

In Willett, P-863-LU331-PNJ (August 16, 1996), the exterior of a local union hall was plastered with Hoffa campaign stickers and literature shortly after it had been scraped and repainted.  Although this action could not be attributed to a specific person or persons, the Election Officer, finding that “the vandalism at Local Union 331’s hall involved serious violations of the Rules,” formulated a broad remedy.  The Election Officer sent a copy of the decision with an attached letter to all candidates for International office, instructing them “to make appropriate efforts to communicate the substance of this notice to members who campaign for them.”  The notice stated that affixing campaign stickers and other material on local union or member property equals “vandalism, not protected activity.”  The Election Officer ordered the candidates “to discourage persons who campaign on your behalf from defacing property with campaign material.”  Mr. Stone states that he never received the notice in the Willett case.  Records of the Election Office, however, indicate that the notice was sent by overnight delivery to Mr. Stone’s personal post office box on September 3 via the U.S. Postal Service Express Mail.  The package containing the notice was not returned to the Election Office.  Therefore, the Election Officer presumes it was received by Mr. Stone. 

James Buck

November 4, 1996

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In the instant protest, the charged parties insist that they should not be held responsible for the actions of the demonstrators on September 20 and 27, 1996 as there is no evidence linking Mr. Stone or the Hoffa campaign to the alleged unlawful conduct.  Mr. Hoffa points to memo-randums sent by Mr. Hoffa on September 6 and September 23, 1996 to his campaign staff, volunteers and supporters, asking them to refrain from placing campaign materials on union and private property, including vehicles. 

With respect to the Hoffa campaign, the Election Officer finds that its efforts to discourage supporters from defacing union property have not been effective at Local Union 745.  Supporters of Mr. Hoffa’s campaign participated in the violence that occurred during the rallies on September 20 and 27.  An eyewitness testified that the demonstrators drove to the campaign’s Dallas headquarters after the September 27 rally, depositing their Hoffa signs in front of the building.

The Election Officer finds that by staging such demonstrations from the Hoffa campaign headquarters and making a major focus of their rally support of the Hoffa slate, the Hoffa slate must be held accountable in some fashion for the intimidation and vandalism which occurred on September 27.  This is not a situation where an isolated, misguided supporter commits an act of violence or vandalism.  Rather, the actions that occurred on September 27 emanated from a campaign rally by several members of the rallying crowd.  The Hoffa/Stone campaign in Texas was aware of the Friday demonstrations and the potentially volatile situation.  Even if the vandalism was not coordinated by campaign leaders, the Stone and Hoffa campaigns in Texas failed to take steps that could have prevented these incidents.

Indeed, Mr. Stone informed the Regional Coordinator that he was present in the Dallas headquarters on September 20 as the Hoffa supporters were preparing for their rally at

Local Union 745.  Given Mr. Stone’s knowledge of the animosity felt by many members of the local union towards the trusteeship and Trustee Buck, the Election Officer finds that Mr. Stone should have been wary of the potential for violence at the Local Union 745 hall.  In addition, by this time, Mr. Stone had received the Election Officer’s notice in Willett and presumably one of the memos sent by Mr. Hoffa on September 6 regarding placing campaign materials on private properties.  It was particularly incumbent on Mr. Stone and other Hoffa slate representatives to take measures to avoid such conduct after the September 20 demonstration when vandalism first occurred.  Such action may have prevented the more serious actions which occurred on September 27.

As stated above, the Election Officer has held that the defacement of private property with campaign materials constitutes a violation of the Rules.  In the instant case, the destruction caused by the demonstrators on September 20 and September 27 is more serious than affixing stickers on a union hall or even smashing a car window because the elements of fear and intimidation were involved.  In addition to the acts of violence, such as vandalizing the bathrooms inside the union hall and breaking the railing in the entryway, on both dates the demonstrators yelled obscenities not only at the trustee but at female employees inside the hall.  When the off-duty officer working for the local union informed the demonstrators on

James Buck

November 4, 1996

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September 27 that these employees were frightened, a demonstrator replied that “they need to be afraid.”

In Tobin, P-862-LU150-CSF (August 21, 1996), an unknown person placed an anti-Hoffa sign on the protester’s property in the middle of the night.   This action frightened the protester’s wife, who was alone in the house with her young children while the protester was attending the IBT Convention.  The Election Officer stated:

While the Tobin’s property was not damaged, the nocturnal trespass placed Ms. Tobin in fear of her safety and that of her children.  The intrusion and public display of the placard are serious Rules violations clearly motivated by an intent to intimidate and harass.  Such conduct is anti-democratic, unlawful and runs directly counter to the mission of the Consent Decree, the Rules and the Election Officer.

For the foregoing reasons, the protest is GRANTED.

When the Election Officer finds that the Rules have been violated, she “may take whatever remedial action is appropriate.”   Article XIV, Section 4.  In fashioning the appropriate remedy, the Election Officer views the nature and seriousness of the violation, as well as its potential for interfering with the election process.

Accordingly, the Election Officer order the following:

1.  The Hoffa/Stone campaign in Texas shall immediately cease and desist from allowing their supporters to demonstrate on the property of Local Union 745.

2.  Within seven (7) days of this decision, Trustee Buck will send an invoice to the Hoffa/Stone campaign at its Dallas, Texas office for the property damage incurred on

September 20 and 27, with a copy to the Election Office.  Within five (5) days of receipt of the invoice, the Hoffa/Stone campaign will reimburse Local Union 745.

3.  Within five (5) days of the date of this decision, the Hoffa campaign shall post the attached notice in its Dallas headquarters.  The notice must remain posted through December 10, 1996.

4.  Within five (5) days of the date of this decision, Mr. Stone shall distribute the attached notice to all volunteers working for the Hoffa/Stone campaign in the Dallas area. 

5.  Within ten (10) days of the date of this decision, Mr. Stone and the Hoffa campaign shall submit separate affidavits to the Election Office demonstrating their compliance with this order and attaching a copy of the check submitted to Local Union 745.

James Buck

November 4, 1996

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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 & Watkins

885 Third Avenue, Suite 1000

New York, NY 10022

Fax (212) 751-4864

Copies of the request for hearing must be served on the parties listed above as well as upon the Election Officer, 400 N. Capitol Street, Suite 855, Washington, DC 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

Dolores C. Hall, Regional Coordinator

              NOTICE TO ALL HOFFA CAMPAIGN VOLUNTEERS

The Election Officer has found that supporters of the Hoffa campaign violated the Election Rules by destroying property at Local Union 745 on September 20 and 27, 1996, and by intimidating persons working in the local union hall on those dates.

Local union and private property does not belong to members and must not be defaced or destroyed in any fashion.  Campaign stickers may not be posted on local union property.

You are hereby instructed to not participate in any such activity and to take affirmative steps to halt any such activity that you observe by supporters of

Mr. Hoffa and his slate.

______________________                                          ____________________________

Date                                                                                                  T. C. Stone

_____________________________

James P. Hoffa

This is an official notice which must remain posted through December 10, 1996 and must not be defaced or altered in any manner or be covered with any other material.

Approved by Barbara Zack Quindel, IBT Election Officer.