Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, January 4, 1995                   TAG: 9501040072
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: B-8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: MICHAEL STOWE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

TEAMSTERS MUST HOLD ELECTION

The decision by U.S. District Judge James Turk clears the way for a slate of reform-minded candidates to hold a new election. The reformers have been bidding for a new vote since they lost the union's last election in October 1993.

"I can't see anything holding it up," said Berkely Newbill, a Teamsters member from Roanoke who was defeated by Jim Guynn in his bid to become the local union president in 1993.

The losing slate of officers filed several protests of the election results after Guynn and six other officers on his ticket were re-elected to new three-year terms.

Candidates who opposed Guynn said the election should be held again because 161 mail ballots were voided. They were not counted because they were returned in envelopes that did not have required stickers showing the voter's return address.

The Teamsters Joint Council, based in Richmond, denied the protest last February, but that decision was appealed to the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Warehousemen and Helpers of America.

On Nov. 8, the international's governing body reversed the joint council's decision and ordered the local to conduct a new election.

Less than a month later, Local 171 - led by Guynn - filed a lawsuit asking a federal judge to issue a temporary injunction that prohibited the international Teamsters from mandating a new election.

Turk denied the motion for a temporary injunction and dismissed the suit. In his opinion filed Friday, Turk ruled that the federal courts did not have jurisdiction to hear the complaint.

Guynn defeated Newbill by 118 votes in the 1993 election, but Newbill believes he would win if the election is held again.

"I think I have a real good chance," he said Tuesday.

Guynn was out of town Tuesday and could not be reached for comment on the suit's dismissal.

Local 171 represents about 1,200 members in Western Virginia. It has contracts with Kroger Co., United Parcel Service and several trucking companies.

The turmoil within Local 171 mirrors a national dispute within the union - stemming from the 1991 election of International Teamsters Union President Ron Carey.

Carey, who ran as a self-styled reformer, was elected by members who believed the Teamsters needed to update the powerful union's public image. Local unions in Richmond and Norfolk have both elected reform-minded presidents in the last several years.

Newbill, a Carey supporter, said it's time for Local 171 to do the same.

The local union's current officers "are more connected to the old guard," he said.

Guynn has been president of Local 171 since 1978, and, until 1993, he had been unopposed for re-election.