On December 17, 2013, the Department entered into a voluntary compliance agreement with American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) Local 53 (located in Norfolk, Va.), concerning its February 22, 2013, election of officers. Local 53 agreed to conduct new nominations and a new election for president, 1st vice president, 2nd vice president, 3rd vice president, 4th vice president, secretary, treasurer, chief steward, and trustee on or before March 14, 2013. The OLMS investigation of the challenged election disclosed that the local failed to do the following: provide all members with a notice of nominations; provide adequate safeguards and mail election notices or ballot packages to members’ last known home address; and ensure members the right to a secret ballot when the membership mailing/eligibility list, ballots, and related ballot envelopes were numbered thereby compromising voter secrecy. The agreement follows an investigation by the OLMS Washington District Office.
On December 4, 2013, OLMS entered into a voluntary compliance agreement with the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) National Union and AFGE Local 1917 (located in New York, N.Y.) to conduct new nominations for the office of 2nd vice president, and a new election for the offices of 2nd vice president and the fair practices coordinator under OLMS supervision no later than April 18, 2014. The investigation established that Local 1917 denied a properly nominated member in good standing the right to be a candidate when it removed the 2nd vice president’s name from the ballot, denied otherwise eligible voters the right to vote in the mail ballot election because ballots that were hand-delivered to the designated election mailing house were not included in the ballot tally, and failed to provide adequate safeguards for a fair election insofar as ballot packages sent to voters did not contain secret ballot envelopes to ensure voter secrecy. The agreement is a result of an investigation conducted by the OLMS New York District Office.
On October 29, 2013, OLMS entered into a voluntary compliance agreement with Local 3197 of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), located in Seattle, Washington, to conduct a new election for 1st vice president, chief steward, local women’s coordinator, and local fair practice coordinator under OLMS supervision. The investigation disclosed: inadequate safeguards to ensure a fair election; members were denied the right to vote by not including the date by which voted ballots had to be returned in order to be counted; some members were denied the right to vote by not providing adequate time between the ballot mailing and the tally; voted ballots and undelivered ballots were not properly safeguarded; and no effort was made to mail ballots to members whose ballots were returned undelivered and there was no announced duplicate ballot request procedure. The agreement follows an investigation by the OLMS San Francisco-Seattle District Office.
On October 22, 2013, OLMS accepted a voluntary compliance agreement with United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 5 (located in San Jose, Calif.), concerning the challenged election of officers conducted on September 4, 2012, as well as the March 22, 2013 re-run election ordered by the International union. The union agreed to conduct a new election, including new nominations, for the offices of president, secretary-treasurer, recorder, and vice-presidents 1 through 31 under OLMS supervision. The investigation of the challenged election disclosed that union resources were used when the UFCW International President sent a campaign letter to various UFCW officers soliciting contributions and his executive assistant obtained the recipients’ addresses while on union time. The agreement follows an investigation by the OLMS San Francisco-Seattle District Office.
On October 18, 2013, OLMS entered into a voluntary compliance agreement with Illinois Education Association (IEA) Region 67 (located in Chicago, Ill.) to conduct new nominations, a new election, and installation for the offices of chair and vice chair on or before February 21, 2014, under OLMS supervision. The investigation disclosed that two locals in Region 67 did not have the opportunity to nominate or vote in the March 15, 2013 election and April 3, 2013 run-off election. The agreement follows an investigation by the OLMS Chicago District Office.
On August 15, 2013, the Department entered into a voluntary compliance agreement with American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) Local 3553 (located in New Orleans, La.), concerning its February 16, 2013, election of officers. Local 3553 agreed to conduct new nominations, if necessary, and a new election for president, 1st vice president, 2nd vice president, treasurer, secretary, and chief steward on or before December 12, 2013. The investigation disclosed the following: the local failed to provide adequate safeguards and failed to properly count the votes cast when additional ballots were retrieved from the post office and included in the tally after the ballots were initially tallied, the local failed to follow the AFGE Constitution and the AFGE Election Manual when ballots received after the established deadline were counted as valid ballots, and the local failed to maintain election records in violation of Section 401(e) of the LMRDA. The agreement follows an investigation by the OLMS New Orleans District Office.
On August 15, 2013, the Department entered into a voluntary compliance agreement with the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM), located in Upper Marlboro, Md., concerning the 2013 election of international officers. The IAM agreed to conduct new nominations and a new election, if necessary, for the offices of international president, general secretary-treasurer and eight general vice presidents under OLMS supervision prior to June 2014. The investigation disclosed that the union failed to provide notice of nomination to the membership regarding the nomination of international officers, local lodges did not provide notice of their nomination meetings to all members, and members were denied a reasonable opportunity to nominate candidates when some members were working at the time of the nomination meeting and/or endorsement vote and no alternative method of nomination was provided. The agreement follows an investigation by the OLMS Washington District Office.
On August 13, 2013, the Department entered into a voluntary compliance agreement with Security, Police and Fire Professionals of America (SPFPA) Local 652 (located in Mililani, Hawaii), concerning the election of officers conducted on February 23, 2013. The union agreed to conduct new nominations and a new election for president, vice president, financial secretary-treasurer, recording secretary, sergeant-at-arms, and three trustees, under OLMS supervision. The investigation of the challenged election disclosed that Local 652 failed to provide proper notice of the election to all members; denied certain members the right to vote when they were not provided an opportunity to vote by absentee ballot; improperly provided some Oahu members absentee ballots; allowed at least one non-member to vote; and failed to preserve election records for one year. The agreement follows an investigation by the OLMS Honolulu Resident Investigator Office.
On July 19, 2013, OLMS entered into a voluntary compliance agreement with American Postal Workers Union (APWU) Local 229 (located in Aurora, Colo.) to conduct new nominations, a new election, and an installation for the offices of Clerk Craft Director, Director of Maintenance, Maintenance Trustee, and Motor Vehicle Trustee under OLMS supervision no later than January 10, 2014. The investigation established that Local 229’s meeting attendance requirement (potential candidates were required to attend at least three of nine union meetings prior to nominations) disqualified more than 97 percent of the union’s membership. During the investigation, it was determined that there were members who would have run for office and been qualified for the positions except for the union’s meeting attendance requirement. The agreement specifically states that the meeting attendance requirement will not be enforced in the OLMS supervised election. Additionally, the local agreed to take the necessary steps to remove the meeting attendance requirement from its bylaws. The agreement follows an investigation by the OLMS Denver District Office.
On June 29, 2013, the Department entered into a voluntary compliance agreement with the United Security and Police Officers of America Local 208 (located in Bethesda, Md.), concerning its December 22, 2012, election of officers. Local 208 agreed to conduct new nominations and a new election for president, vice president, financial secretary-treasurer, recording secretary, sergeant at arms, and two trustees on or before December 15, 2013. The OLMS investigation of the challenged election disclosed the following: members were denied the right to vote when the local failed to mail a corrected ballot to all eligible members, ineligible members were permitted to vote when members outside of the bargaining unit received ballots, members were denied the opportunity to run for office when the names of self-nominated candidates were not included on the ballot, and the local failed to maintain election records. The agreement follows an investigation by the OLMS Washington District Office.
On May 9, 2013, the Department entered into a voluntary compliance agreement with Machinists Local Lodge 1976 (located in Moon Township, Pa.), concerning its December 5, 2012 election of officers. Local Lodge 1976 agreed to conduct a new election for president, vice president, recording secretary, grievance committee chair, two grievance committee positions and two trustees under OLMS supervision on or before October 31, 2013. The OLMS investigation of the challenged election established that employer equipment and supplies were used to produce campaign literature that promoted the incumbent slate of officers in violation of section 401(g) of the LMRDA. The agreement follows an investigation by the OLMS Pittsburgh District Office.
On April 18, 2013, the Department entered into a voluntary compliance agreement with International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) Local 142 (located in Honolulu, Hawaii), concerning a challenged election held in November 2012. Local 142 agreed to conduct a new election and installation for the office of Kauai Division Business Agent on or before September 30, 2013. The OLMS investigation established that a candidate for business agent campaigned on company time and property, and inappropriately used company bulletin boards for campaign purposes. The agreement follows an investigation by the OLMS Honolulu Resident Investigator Office.
On April 1, 2013, the Department entered into a voluntary compliance agreement with the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) (located in Washington, D.C.), concerning its July 26, 2012 election of officers. The IAFF agreed to conduct a new election for District 5 Vice President under OLMS supervision before August 15, 2013. The OLMS investigation of the challenged election disclosed that some locals in District 5 failed to elect delegates and proxies by secret ballot or without proper nomination or election notice in violation of Sections 401(a) and 401(e) of the LMRDA. The agreement follows an investigation by the OLMS Washington District Office.
On March 18, 2013, the Department entered into a voluntary compliance agreement with Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) Amtrak Police Lodge 189 (located in New York, N.Y.), concerning the lodge’s failure to hold an election in October 2012. The union agreed to hold an election for all offices. The OLMS investigation found that Lodge 189 failed to hold a regularly scheduled election of officers in violation of its bylaws and in violation of Sections 401(b) and 401(e) of the LMRDA. The lodge’s last officer election was in October 2009. The agreement follows an investigation by the OLMS New York District Office.
On March 18, 2013, the Department entered into a voluntary compliance agreement with United Steelworkers Local 689 (located in Piketon, Ohio) concerning a challenged election held in April 2012. Local 689 agreed to hold a new election for the office of president. The OLMS investigation concluded that Local 689 failed to notify the membership of the availability of absentee ballots. The agreement follows an investigation by the OLMS Cincinnati District Office.
On March 15, 2013, the Department entered into a voluntary compliance agreement with Association of Western Pulp and Paper Workers Local 5 (located in Camas, Wash.) concerning a challenged election held in December 2012. Local 5 agreed to rerun the runoff election for finance officer and install six candidates who won office in the original election. The OLMS investigation concluded that Local 5 violated its constitution and bylaws by failing to set up polls at a worksite where its members are employed. In addition, Local 5 disqualified six winning candidates by enforcing an unreasonable meeting attendance requirement after completion of the election. The investigation established that the meeting attendance requirement was unreasonable because it disqualified approximately 95 percent of the members from running for elected office. The agreement follows an investigation by the OLMS Seattle District Office.
On February 27, 2013, OLMS entered into a voluntary compliance agreement concerning the challenged election of officers conducted by American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) Local 2274 (located in Saginaw, Mich.), on July 18, 2012. The agreement provides that Local 2274 will conduct new nominations and a new election, under OLMS supervision, for the offices of president, first vice president, and chief steward. The OLMS investigation of the challenged election disclosed that Local 2274 failed to do the following: comply with a reasonable request to distribute campaign literature; treat candidates equally with respect to campaign literature distribution; elect officers by secret ballot when candidates in the election collected ballots at a work site; provide adequate safeguards; properly count the ballots; and maintain election records. The agreement follows an investigation by the OLMS Detroit District Office.
On February 26, 2013, OLMS entered into a voluntary compliance agreement with American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) Local 607 (located in Elkton, Ohio), to conduct a new election for president under OLMS supervision on or before May 8, 2013. The investigation established that AFGE Local 607 improperly disqualified an otherwise qualified member from running for president because he was also a member of a Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) local lodge. Although the AFGE Constitution has long contained a provision that prohibits a member who holds membership in a labor organization not affiliated with the AFL-CIO from being qualified to run for office, the local had previously allowed members who were also FOP members to run for and hold elected office. The agreement follows an investigation by the OLMS Cleveland District Office.
On January 5, 2013, OLMS entered into a voluntary compliance agreement with Studio Teachers and Welfare Workers of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) Local 884 (located in Los Angeles, Calif.), to conduct an election and installation for the office of business representative under OLMS supervision no later than May 15, 2013. The investigation established that Local 884 failed to consistently apply an election rule deadline related to postmarks on voted ballots. Additionally, the union failed to ensure adequate election safeguards when the election chairperson mailed ballots without observers or other election committee members present, kept voted ballots at her home in an unsecured shoebox, and recounted the ballots and changed the winning margin in the sergeant-at-arms race without observers or other committee members present. The agreement follows an investigation by the OLMS Los Angeles District Office.
Last Updated: 1-7-13