No new election
for IBEW, judge says

The Labor Department did not
show a scheme to eliminate the
only opponent on the ballot

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By Rick Daysog
rdaysog@starbulletin.com

The union representing 2,000 Verizon Hawaii Inc. employees does not have to hold a new election for the position of business manager, a federal judge ruled.

In a 34-page order yesterday, U.S. District Judge Susan Oki Mollway said that the U.S. Labor Department failed to show that the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 1357 and its current business manager, Harold Dias Jr., schemed to eliminate the sole challenger to the office last year.

"The court could not conclude that, in the absence of prejudice, the February 2001 election failed to be fair and open," Mollway wrote.

"A new election makes no sense."

Assistant U.S. Attorney Ted Meeker, who is representing the Labor Department, declined comment.

In a lawsuit seeking to overturn last year's election, the Labor Department alleged that the union mischaracterized evidence to disqualify Dias' only opponent, George Waialeale, who had served as the IBEW's business manager until 1998.

The Labor Department also said that the IBEW improperly banned Waialeale from holding office for five years after it discovered more than $80,000 in questionable union expenditures.

But the union said that its 2001 election was conducted legally and that Waialeale was disqualified as a result of appropriate disciplinary action.

The IBEW also said it did not violate Waialeale's due process rights; It held hearings, interviewed witnesses, and conducted an audit of the union's books.

Mollway said the union "made specific factual allegations" about questionable transactions and spelled out how Waialeale allegedly violated the union's governing rules.

She also noted that Waialeale waived his right to run for office until January 2008 to settle a suit he filed against the union last year.

Mollway's decision comes after she held four days of hearings earlier this month, in which she heard testimony from 18 witnesses.

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Verizon
IBEW Local 1357