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From the March-April 2006 issue of Union Democracy Review #161
DOL challenges close election in Food Workers L. 951
In September 2005, the U.S. Department of Labor filed suit to compel new elections for president and three regional vice-presidents of Local 951, United Food and Commercial Workers, the only contested posts in the local's August- September 2004 mail ballot election. Local 951, with 33, 000 members throughout Michigan, is the largest in the state and one of the largest in the UFCW. It represents workers at Meijer, a chain of retail supercenters, and other retailers.
In 2004, President Bob Potter, in office some 24 years and running for his 9th consecutive term was challenged by Russell Blunden, a union member for 23 years. In what local officials reported was the greatest voter participation in local history, Blunden got 45% of the vote (3,420 to 4,181 for Potter.) It was an astonishing achievement: insurgent Blunden could not boast of a long record of union leadership. Moreover, the DOL claims that numerous and substantial violations of the LMRDA favored the incumbents. The DOL charges that union officials distributed blank ballots and then collected the voted ballots from members at worksites; that they required ballots to be cast in the open in front of pro-incumbent union officials, failed to account for hundreds of unused ballots, discriminated against insurgent candidates in the use of the membership list, denied eligible voters the right to vote, and mishandled replacement ballots. It also claims that union and employer money was used to promote the incumbent slate.
(When the suit was filed, the Grand Rapids Press, reported on pending lawsuits involving Local 951: Former union staffers charge a transfer out of state for one and eventual discharge for both for failing to contribute to a union legal defense fund and for cooperating with a prior DOL investigation into Local 951's finances and Potter's expenses. The Press says that the investigation led to a DOL demand that the union account for Potter's expenses, including more than $269,000 in additional payments, golf equipment, luggage and gifts of wine.)
Blunden has charged that he was threatened by union officials after it was known that he was going to run but his NLRB charge was dismissed after a judge concluded that he did not meet the burden of proof.
Potter denies wrongdoing by any local officers or staff and claims that any improprieties were by "the DOL, its investigators and other outside groups who interfered with the election in the first place." The union says that it will vigorously contest the department's suit. (According to press reports, it has lost one round when a federal judge compelled its officers to appear for depositions or face contempt of court charges.)
Whatever the outcome of the DOL action, it appears that Blunden, with 45% of the vote, has tapped into substantial dissatisfaction in the local.
Articles on the UFCW:
Pressuring
witnesses to save a suspect election in Food Workers Local 951
(1/07-2/07)
DOL
challenges close election in Foodworkers L 951(3/06-4/06)
Union
democracy online survives two lawsuits(11/05-12/05)
Results of AUD rank-and-file
website contest (special 2/04)
Using the Internet
for Union Democracy (10/8/02)
Free speech irritates
UFCW (4/5 2002)
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