Ohio Postal Workers Union Election Hijinks Revealed

The U. S. Department of Labor’s Office of Labor Management Standards was charged with investigating allegations into the union officers election of Local 72, American Postal Workers Union, of Cleveland, Ohio.  A Stipulation of Settlement and Order means the Labor Department supervised an officer election last month.   It appears these officials did everything possible to see that the election of officers was a farce. 

The Labor Department found multiple violations, including failure to update the membership mailing list, including not following up on undelivered ballots, failure to provide a timely response to members requesting replacement ballots, and ballot counting for members without secret ballot envelopes.  

Ballot return envelopes were printed with the ballot number on the outside of the envelope and those officials responsible for conducing election had access to these and a voter list which correlated the ballot numbers to members’ identities.  Furthermore, union officials responsible for the election gave inconsistent and inaccurate information about deadlines and procedures for returning ballots.