Protest of the I.L.E.U. Elections - cont'd

Below is a scan of the document the Union received as a protest to the elections of November 2008. Herb's phone number has been removed from the image for obvious reasons. A formal protest committee was appointed in response to this, as specified in the Union's Constitution. The committee was made up of the ILEU President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer, and the Chair Person of the 2008 Union Election Committee. After thoroughly investigating the allegations, the committee's findings are listed below. A full-size version of the image can be found here.

The following is a transcript of the actual text of the letter sent to Herb Barry reporting the findings of the ILEU Election Protest Committee.

It is important to note that the Union had sent all documents related to the election protest via certified mail return receipt requested. None of the documents sent in this fashion were ever picked up. The Union has since re-sent each document by regular mail. It is currently unknown if Herb has ever received any of the documentation he requested.

The Independent Laboratory Employees Union, Inc. has concluded its investigation based on your letter of protest. The letter that you sent to Maria Marques was difficult to understand, in the base case. You made no specific allegations of violations to which anyone in the Union was party to. You stated that you were never contacted by anyone following the election. The Union President sent an email to you at your ExxonMobil.com email address on Friday, November 14, 2008. This email told of the vote tally and the election results. The Union has a copy of this email which we are enclosing for the sake of completeness. You also chose not to receive our letter of December 2, 2008, which was sent by Certified mail with a return receipt. Please find a copy of that letter enclosed, as well.

Your alleged violations of the Union's Constitution mention no specific deeds that were or were not accomplished, nor was anyone named in any of these violations. The Investigation Committee went through each provision that you listed and made an assessment based on the entire article.

I.L.E.U. Answers to the 2008 Election Protest

Article XIII Section 1

The Investigation Committee finds that any violation of Article XIII, Section 1 was limited to not posting the names of the nominees on the bulletin boards following the membership meeting on the previous night. This was strictly an oversight. The ballots were printed and delivered to the Election Committee on the day immediately following the nominations, and in the confusion the bulletin boards were not updated with the list of nominees. The committee does however, have a strong recollection that the list was posted on our Web site. Based upon the results of the election, this Committee feels that this condition would have had no effect on the outcome of the election.

Article XIII Section 4

The Election Committee did an admirable job in their conduct of this year's elections. The Investigation Committee finds no violation of Article XIII, Section 4.

Article XIII, Section 7

Our investigation revealed that the Election Committee followed all of the procedures in the Constitution. No one requested an observer. Therefore, the Investigation Committee finds no violation of Article XIII, Section 7.

I.L.E.U. Answers to the "NLRB" Violations

It is important to point out that the NLRB (National Labor Relations Board) has no jurisdiction over the Union election process. Because the ILEU's officers and election committee are familiar with the laws governing Union elections, they recognized the document to which you have referred in your protest. To that end, it must be noted that the Independent Laboratory Employees Union, Inc.(ILEU), has a constitution which is in compliance with all applicable Federal laws governing labor unions. That being said, all of the items which you claim as violations of law, have already been addressed through Article XIII of the ILEU Constitution. The document to which you refer is a laymen's guide to Union elections. It explains the law and how it should be interpreted. Its use is mainly for Unions and Election Committees which do not have election procedures in their constitution. The ILEU Constitution is the prevailing document in the case of this Union's elections, as it has been written to remain compliant with Federal law. In the interest of being thorough, however, we will address each of your concerns.

Complaint #1 - Lack of Secret Ballot

This committee finds that your claim of "Lack of Secret Ballot" has no basis. If you feel that you didn't have a secret ballot because the ballots and envelopes were numbered, the numbers ensure that the ballots and envelopes are "Official Ballots", and not ballots that were photocopied, or otherwise duplicated. Any ballot without the official number is immediately discarded and the vote contained therein is not counted. This is expressly stated in our Constitution. The Committee finds no violation.

Complaint #2 - Election Notice

The following is a direct quote from the pages you specified in your complaint. "In a mail ballot election, no separate election notice is necessary if the ballot package is mailed at least 15 days prior to the date by which ballots must be mailed back in order to be counted and the instructions for marking and returning ballots are clear and complete." The committee, therefore, finds no violation of the "Election Notice".

Complaint # 3 - Candidates

This provision, specifically, is to ensure that a fair and impartial election is conducted. All of the ILEU's election rules are stated in the ILEU Constitution. The committee finds no violation of any candidate's rights.

Complaint #4 - Nomination Notice

A Nomination notice was posted on the Union's bulletin boards and the Union's web site for a period of more than thirty days prior to the actual night of nominations at the Union's membership meeting on October 23, 2008. The fact that your request for nomination by a fellow member (Name Removed) was made on time and in the right place, shows that more than adequate time was given prior to the actual nomination meeting. The Committee finds no violation regarding a "Nomination Notice".

In conclusion, this Committee finds that this protest lacks merit. With the exception of the small oversight mentioned above, there was no basis for a protest to be filed. The committee feels strongly that the oversight would not have caused any change in the outcome of the election. Your protest of the 2008 Independent Laboratory Employees Union, Inc. election is denied.