Judge’s ruling keeps
Local 996 member off ballot
A federal judge has declined to allow bus driver Anson "Slim" Ilae to run in the upcoming elections of Local 996 of the Teamsters Union.
The ruling by U.S. District Judge Susan Mollway means Ilae can't challenge Local 996 President Mel Kahele, who will run unopposed. Ilae had sought a court order to delay distribution of ballots so his name could be added.
The ruling means the ballots will be mailed Friday, said Sean Kim, attorney for Local 996, which represents bus drivers who have been on strike for the past four weeks.
But Ilae, who the union said wasn't eligible because he paid his dues late, said his fight isn't over since Mollway left the door open for him to bring in new evidence or file a new lawsuit by today.
Ilae filed a lawsuit Monday in U.S. District Court alleging that Local 996 discriminated against him when it said he wasn't eligible to run for office.
Because he anticipated problems getting on this year's ballot, Ilae said that he had asked the union and was told in February, March, July and August that he was eligible to run based on his dues-paying history. But the union notified Ilae on Saturday, just days before the ballots for the election were to be printed and mailed, that he was not eligible because he had paid his October 2002 union dues late.
Ilae has also appealed the union's decision to the mainland parent union.
Michael Green, Ilae's attorney, called his disqualification a sham.
"This is as slick as it comes. This was planned," Green said, accusing the union of waiting until the last minute before finding Ilae ineligible and enabling Kahele to run unopposed. "If (Kahele) runs against Ilae, (Kahele's) done."
Kahele could not be reached for comment.
Mollway correctly decided that she had no jurisdiction to hear the matter, Kim said.
Under federal law, candidates who are ruled ineligible for union elections must go through all administrative remedies in the union and in the U.S. Department of Labor before going to court, Kim said.
Ilae had alleged under federal law, which provides protections for members involved in union elections, that he was being treated differently from others who were allowed on the ballot.
"They could have notified me a lot earlier," Ilae said of his ineligibility.
If they had, he would have had time to realign his slate and have someone else run for president, he said.
While Mollway found no evidence others were being treated more favorably than Ilae, she found that Local 996 did cause him to remit his October 2002 dues late because it didn't notify him as such until November 2002. But she noted this was not sufficient to show discrimination.
Ilae has tried unsuccessfully since 1994 to get on the ballot, the last time in 2000, but both times was deemed ineligible. A federal judge ordered his name added to the ballot in 1994, but Michael Chambrella won that election.
Kahele was appointed president in 1996 when Chambrella died and Kahele was elected the following year.
Outside the courtroom, Ilae said he disagrees with how Kahele has handled the bus strike and said there are enough union members who are upset and will not vote to re-elect him.
"(Bus drivers) want to go back work, they need to go back work, they need to settle this darn thing," Ilae said.
