Every member has the right to vote their own ballot in secret. It is a serious violation of the Rules for someone to solicit, mark, or mail another member's ballot. For example, protest rulings issued in two different delegate elections found that ballots had been collecting in violation of the Rules. Go to www.ibtvote.org to read 2006 ESD 316 and 2006 ESD 278 and see what sanctions were issued in those cases.

Dates for Ballot Mailing and Ballot Counting - I announced dates for the ballot mailing and ballot count in earlier issues of the Graphic Communicator. Those dates are now changed slightly.

Due to the postal service holiday schedules in the United States and Canada, ballots will now be mailed to IBT members on October 6, 2006. The ballot count will start on November 14, 2006, and will continue day-to-day until completion.

The ballot count site is in Alexandria, Virginia. All candidates and their designated observers are permitted to observe all phases of the ballot counting process. Additional information about balloting and the count will be published on www.ibtvote.org.

Candidate Forum - The Rules require the two Candidates for the office of General President - James P. Hoffa and Tom Leedham (or, if they choose, the General Secretary Treasurer running on their respective slates) - to participate in a Candidate Forum. At this writing, the forum is scheduled for August 25, 2006 in Washington, DC. The forum plan calls for the candidates to answer questions posed by a panel of journalists, and by IBT members. You should be able to view a recording of the forum or read a transcript of it, at www.ibtvote.org or www.teamsters.org.

Political and Campaigning Rights of IBT Members - The Rules protect the rights of all IBT members to support or oppose any candidate and it is unlawful for the International or any Local Union to subject any member to retaliation for exercising political rights. Candidates have the right to display campaign literature on Local Union campaign literature tables or Local Union bulletin boards and members may put campaign bumper stickers and signs on their personal cars (but not on Union-supplied cars, or employers' vehicles). Candidates and IBT members have the right to distribute campaign literature to IBT members entering and exiting employee parking lots at employer locations. This right extends to all employee parking lots where IBT members, including GCC members, work, not just the candidate's Local Union jurisdiction. IBT members may also wear campaign buttons at work, if any type of buttons or pins have been worn by employees in the past, unless at the time they are wearing a campaign button they are also wearing a company uniform and interacting with the public, or if wearing the campaign button poses a safety hazard while working around machinery or equipment.  In July, we upheld a member's right to wear campaign buttons while on the clock in a setting where the member was not interacting with the public and where employees had a pre-existing right to wear such items. In re Misich, 2006 ESD 323 (July 8, 2006), affirmed, 06 EAM 56 (July 21, 2006).

If you believe an employer, a Union officer, or Union member is interfering with your political right or retaliating against you because you have expressed your political views on the IBT International office election, you have the right to file a protest under Article XIII, § 2 of the Rules. A protest must be filed within two (2) days of when you became aware of the interference or retaliation. You may also contact OES in Washington, DC or contact your Regional Director for information on your right to be free from interference or retaliation.

Publication Review Advisory - Union publications such as monthly newsletters, magazines, and websites are paid for with members' dues money. The Rules and federal labor law prohibit using a Union publication to endorse, support, or attack a candidate for IBT International Union office. To guard against such violations, all Union publications distributed between August 2006 and November 2006 must be submitted to OES for review before publication. All Local Unions and lodges have been informed for this procedure (the Publication Review Advisory is also posted at www.ibtvote.org). For more information about the policy, or if you suspect violation, contact OES at 888-IBT-2006 or ElectionSupervisor@IBTvote.org.

Richard W. Mark

Election Supervisor

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