On December 16, 2015, in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas, Fort Worth Division, a Consent Decree and Order and an amended Stipulation of Settlement were filed to resolve the Department’s lawsuit against the Allied Pilots Association (APA) Dallas - Fort Worth Domicile (located in Fort Worth, Tex.).  The order states that the parties have agreed to settle their dispute concerning the 2014 APA Dallas-Fort Worth Domicile union officer election by conducting a supervised mail ballot Domicile election in early 2016, under the supervision of the Department of Labor.  The lawsuit was filed after the investigation determined that APA used an electronic voting system that could identify voters with their votes thereby violating secrecy as defined by the LMRDA.  The electronic voting system also failed to provide adequate safeguards by not affording candidate observers the ability to verify that a vote was recorded and tallied accurately.  The order follows an investigation by the OLMS Dallas-New Orleans District Office.

On October 13, 2015, in the United States District Court for the District of Nevada, the Department filed suit against Laborers’ International Union of North America (LIUNA) Local 872 (located in Las Vegas, Nev.). The lawsuit seeks to nullify the local’s April 18, 2015 election for the office of vice president.  The complaint alleges the local improperly disqualified a nominee for not presenting proof of legal residency although the nominee had served as a shop steward and worked steadily for the same employer for a number of years.  The local also improperly disqualified the same nominee for failing to pass a literacy test which was not given to any other candidate.  In addition, the test lacked a standardized, objective criteria for assessing literacy.  The lawsuit follows an investigation by the OLMS Los Angeles District Office.

On May 7, 2015, in the United States District Court for New Mexico, the Department filed suit against National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC) Branch 504 (located in Albuquerque, N.M.).  The lawsuit seeks to nullify the November 19, 2014 election for president, vice president, recording secretary, treasurer, sergeant-at-arms, and five trustee positions, and seeks a new election under OLMS supervision.  The lawsuit alleges that the union violated the LMRDA when it improperly ruled an eligible candidate for president ineligible to run for office and failed to provide equal treatment to all candidates with respect to the opportunity to publish campaign literature in the union newsletter.  The lawsuit also alleges that the union violated the LMRDA when it failed to provide proper notice of the election to the membership.  The lawsuit follows an investigation by the OLMS Denver-St. Louis District Office. 

On February 10, 2015, in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York, the Department filed suit against Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 1181 (located in Valley Stream, N.Y.).  The lawsuit seeks to nullify the June 12, 2014 election for president, vice president, financial secretary, recording secretary, and nine executive board positions, and seeks a new election under OLMS supervision.  The lawsuit alleges that the union violated the LMRDA when it failed to comply with a candidate’s reasonable request for distribution of campaign material to all members in good standing.  The local used an incomplete list of members in good standing to mail the candidate’s campaign literature, which resulted in a significant number of members not receiving it.  The lawsuit also alleges that the union violated the LMRDA when it denied members in good standing the right to vote, by failing to count a significant number of voted ballots from eligible members.  The lawsuit follows an investigation by the OLMS New York District Office.  

 

Last Updated: 2-8-16