Below is a list of voluntary compliance agreements entered into in 2024.
On November 5, 2024, OLMS entered into a voluntary compliance agreement with the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU) Local 3 (located in Long Island City, N.Y.) concerning the union’s April 15, 2024, election of union officers. RWDSU Local 3 agreed to conduct a new election, and installation for the offices of secretary-treasurer and seven (7) vice presidents before March 31, 2025. The investigation disclosed that the union failed to elect its officers by secret ballot, in violation of Section 401(b) of the LMRDA. The union also failed to provide adequate safeguards to ensure a fair election when a campaign flyer was left on a polling site voting table, in violation of Section 401(c) of the LMRDA. The investigation also found that the union distributed a Spanish ballot with significant translation issues, potentially causing confusion among members, in violation of Section 401(c) of the LMRDA. Finally, the investigation uncovered several issues with election safeguards, including the union’s failure to maintain all election records for the required year and a lack of effort to resolve challenged ballots, in violation of Section 401(e) of the LMRDA. The agreement follows an investigation by the OLMS New York District Office.
On September 19, 2024, OLMS entered into a voluntary compliance agreement with United Steelworkers (USW) Local 6163 (located in Albany, Oreg.) concerning the union’s April 3, 2024 election of officers. The union agreed to hold new nominations, a new election, and installation for the following offices: president, vice president, recording secretary, financial secretary, treasurer, guards (2), guide, and trustees (3). The investigation determined that the union applied an unreasonable candidate eligibility requirement when they denied members in good standing the right to run for office. Additionally, the union failed to elect by secret ballot. The agreement follows and investigation by the OLMS San Francisco-Seattle District Office.
On September 13, 2024, OLMS entered into a voluntary compliance agreement with United Steelworkers (USW) Local 1940 (located in Lewistown, Pa.), concerning the union’s April 23, 2024 officer election. The union agreed to hold new nominations and a new election for the office of president under OLMS supervision. The investigation determined that Local 1940 failed to follow its constitution and bylaws and applied an unreasonable candidate eligibility requirement when they denied a member in good standing the right to be a candidate for office. The agreement follows an investigation by the OLMS Philadelphia-Pittsburgh District Office.
On August 22, 2024, OLMS entered into a voluntary compliance agreement with American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) Local 609 (located in Indianapolis, Ind.), concerning the union’s December 6, 2023 officer election. The union agreed to hold a new election and installation for the office of president under OLMS supervision. The investigation determined that Local 609 failed to comply with reasonable requests to send campaign literature. The agreement follows an investigation by the OLMS Cincinnati-Cleveland District Office.
On July 21, 2024, OLMS entered into a voluntary compliance agreement with International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) Local 333 (located in Charleston, S.C.) concerning the union’s December 27, 2023 officer election. The union agreed to hold new nominations and a new election for the office of president. The investigation determined that Local 333 mailed the ballots too late to allow members to vote and return their ballots in time to be counted. In addition, the union failed to ensure voter secrecy when election officials at the ballot tally wrote voters’ initials on the ballot secrecy envelopes before the ballots were removed and counted. The agreement follows an investigation by the OLMS Atlanta-Nashville District Office.
On June 21, 2024, OLMS entered into a voluntary compliance agreement with Heat and Frost Insulators and Allied Workers Local 30 (located in Syracuse, N.Y.) concerning the union’s November 30, 2023, election of union officers. The union agreed to hold a new election for the offices of president, vice president, business manager, recording secretary, corresponding secretary, financial secretary, sergeant at arms, and five executive board members. The investigation concluded that the union failed to ensure voter secrecy by not providing any means for members to vote in private during the election. In addition, the investigation found that the incumbent candidate for business manager campaigned during his office hours to members while they were at work.
On May 29, 2024, OLMS entered into a voluntary compliance agreement with American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) Local 2876 (located in Washington, D.C.) concerning the union’s November 14, 2023 officer election. The union agreed to hold a new election for the offices of president, vice president, and secretary-treasurer. The investigation determined that Local 2876 misaddressed the pre-printed envelopes members used to return voted ballots in the mail ballot election. The agreement follows an investigation by the OLMS Washington District Office.
On May 1, 2024, OLMS entered into a voluntary compliance agreement with National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC) Branch 142 concerning the union’s December 7, 2023 officer election. The union will install the correct recording secretary candidate from this election. The agreement follows an OLMS investigation that determined that Branch 142 made a mistake in tabulating votes for the recording secretary race and improperly determined that the race had resulted in a tie necessitating a runoff election. The investigation also determined that the candidate who won Branch 142’s runoff election had actually lost the initial election. The agreement follows an investigation by the OLMS Washington District Office.
On April 30, 2024, OLMS entered into a voluntary compliance agreement with the Communications Workers of America (CWA) Local 6215 concerning the union’s October 23, 2023 officer election. The union will conduct a new election of officers under OLMS supervision for the positions of president, vice president, and chief stewards of five jurisdictions within the local. The investigation determined that Local 6215 failed to accommodate a candidate’s reasonable request to distribute campaign literature via the union’s email address list. The investigation further found that the local failed to properly maintain its voter eligibility list, thereby denying eligible members the right to vote and permitting votes to be cast by ineligible members or nonmembers. The agreement follows an investigation by the OLMS Dallas-New Orleans District Office.
On April 23, 2024, OLMS entered into a voluntary compliance agreement with International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) Local 675 (located in Eugene, Ore.) concerning the union’s November 28, 2023 officer election. The union agreed to conduct new nominations, and a new election for the offices of president, business agent, treasurer, and executive board member #2. The investigation found that IATSE Local 675 did not properly safeguard the voted ballots, did not maintain the necessary election records, and did not properly follow nomination procedures as prescribed by the local rules and bylaws. The agreement follows an investigation by the OLMS San Francisco-Seattle District Office District Office.
On April 22, 2024, OLMS entered into a voluntary compliance agreement with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) Local 2750 (located in Cincinnati, Ohio) concerning the union’s November 16, 2023 officer election. The union agreed to conduct a new election of all contested officer positions under OLMS supervision. The agreement follows an OLMS investigation which revealed that Local 2750 denied eligible members a reasonable opportunity to vote when it failed to notify members of a polling site opened at the union’s office on the day mail ballots were due to the union, and when the local instituted a 30-day mail balloting period that did not give members sufficient time to vote and return ballots due to the nature and locations of their employment. The agreement follows an investigation by the OLMS Cincinnati-Cleveland District Office.
On April 18, 2024, OLMS entered into a voluntary compliance agreement with American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) Local 506 (located in Sumterville, Fla.), concerning the union’s November 15, 2023 officer election. The union agreed to conduct a new election for the office of Vice President (VP) CLP (Pen-2) under OLMS supervision, on or before August 15, 2024. The investigation disclosed that AFGE Local 506 failed to provide a reasonable opportunity to nominate when a properly nominated candidate did not appear on the ballot for the position of VP CLP (Pen-2). The agreement follows an investigation by the OLMS Atlanta-Nashville District Office.
On March 19, 2024, OLMS entered into a voluntary compliance agreement with the Industrial Division of the Communications Workers of America (IUE-CWA) Local 86116 (located in St. Joseph, Mo.) concerning the union’s October 8, 2023 officer election. The union agreed to conduct new nominations, a new election, and installation for the offices of president, vice president, financial secretary, recording secretary, sergeant-at-arms, chief stewards (2), and trustee before July 31, 2024. The investigation disclosed that Local 86116 failed to elect its officers by secret ballot, in violation of Section 401(a) of the LMRDA. Local 86116 also failed to provide adequate safeguards to ensure a fair election in that the union oversaw an additional polling site on election day which were not included in the local’s election notice, in violation of Section 401(c) of the LMRDA. Finally, Local 86116 failed to provide proper notice of election to all members, in violation of Section 401(e) of the LMRDA. The agreement follows an investigation by the OLMS Denver-St. Louis District Office.
Last Updated: 11-14-24