Teamsters’ Leader Agrees to New Election

The leader of the Teamsters in Ventura County has agreed to hold a new union election under federal supervision in October rather than fight a government lawsuit accusing the local of conducting an unfair election last year.

Dennis Shaw, secretary-treasurer of Teamsters Local 186, said he settled the lawsuit with the Department of Labor to avoid spending more union dues on attorney fees and to end the politicking that has interfered with union organizing.

“If I was not confident that I could win another election, I would have continued to play games in court,” Shaw said. But, he said, he didn’t think it was a “wise business decision” to continue a drawn-out legal battle.

The settlement is the culmination of challenges to an April 20, 1990, election that swept Shaw and most of his slate of candidates into the leadership positions of Local 186, which represents about 2,800 members in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties.

In that election, Shaw positioned himself as a reform candidate, accusing the previous Teamster leader of allowing an ex-convict to run the union from behind the scenes, a charge the former leader denied.

A third slate of reform candidates has continued to protest the election with the help of its former campaign manager, ex-Teamster Ray Gonzales of Santa Paula.

Another complaint was filed by unsuccessful candidate David Morrison, who had aligned himself with the incumbent. He protested that it was not fair for one member of Shaw’s slate to run for office when she was retiring immediately after the election. Shaw has since appointed her replacement on the local Teamster board of trustees.

For months, Morrison and the slate managed by Gonzales sought unsuccessfully to have the election overturned at the Teamsters’ Joint Council 42, which governs Southern California and parts of Nevada, and then with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters in Washington, D.C.

In its complaint, the slate alleged that some union members never received notification of the election or their ballots in a timely manner.

After exhausting those appeals required by law, the disgruntled factions filed formal complaints with the Labor Department.

Labor Department officials conducted their own investigation and found probable cause that Teamster Local 186 violated federal labor laws designed to ensure a fair election, according to a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles.

Specifically, the Labor Department alleged in its lawsuit that Teamster Local 186 “denied members in good standing the right to vote” and “permitted an ineligible candidate to run for office.”

In reaching a settlement, Shaw said Local 186 has denied any wrongdoing and that the government did not have a strong enough case to throw out the election results. The settlement was filed May 16.

Assistant U.S. Atty. Donna J. Everett, who is handling the case, declined to comment about the matter. She also instructed Labor Department officials involved in the settlement not to comment, said Michael Miller, a Labor Department official.

Miller will be in charge of the Labor Department’s supervision of the Oct. 1 election to make sure nominations for leadership positions, notification and balloting are conducted in accordance with federal law.

After the election, the Labor Department must report its findings to U.S. District Court, which will certify the results.

Under the settlement agreement, election winners will hold office for two years, fulfilling the remainder of the current terms plus an additional six months.

The Labor Department insisted that the local hold its three-year elections in the fall when most of the seasonal workers are employed at packing plants in Ventura County. The largest is the Nabisco Foods Co. plant in Oxnard, which swells to 1,100 Teamster employees in the fall to process the firm’s Ortega chiles and other agricultural products.

“A lot of these people are migratory and should not be stripped of their votes just because they are out of the area,” said David Mora, a Teamster aligned with Gonzales’ slate.

Gonzales said holding an election in the fall will increase the chances of Latino candidates for the seven leadership positions. Latinos hold three of the seven positions.

“I was surprised the government pushed for it,” Gonzales said.

Shaw said he welcomes the election at a time of year marked by the highest potential membership. “I have no fear of the seasonal employees,” Shaw said. “If I wasn’t confident I could win, I wouldn’t have agreed to a new election.”