Reich

The primary question before us is what a union must do to comply with the provision of section 401(e) of the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959 (“LMRDA”) that requires unions to give notice of union elections to their members. Here we consider the rules that apply when notice is given by mailing the union newspaper to the membership. There is little case law on point.

I. Facts and Proceedings

On July 19, 1989, District 720, International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, AFL-CIO (“District 720” or “the union”) conducted elections for President and Secretary-Treasurer that were subject to Title IV of the LMRDA, 29 U.S.C. section 481 et seq. The union notified its membership of the elections by means of its monthly newsletter. The newsletter was timely mailed to about 6200 union members but was not sent to more than 2000 other members for whom the union had no addresses or believed it had incorrect addresses. The incumbent candidates won re-election for the two union offices in dispute here by the following margins:

Several union members protested the election and, after exhausting their internal remedies, filed a complaint with the Department of…

concurring in part and concurring in the judgment:

I agree with the result reached by the majority opinion and concur in Parts I, II and 111(A). However, I do not agree that this appeal requires us to consider whether the union made reasonable efforts to keep a *1505 current mailing list, or the extent to which its efforts bear on the statutory violation which is at issue. The government did not charge the union with keeping bad addresses. Rather, the union was charged with failing to send notices to each member’s last known address, in violation of 29 U.S.C. § 481 (e). The only issue presented is whether the failure of District Lodge 720 to mail an election notice to the last known address of all members may have affected the outcome of the July 19, 1989 election for District Lodge President and Secretary-Treasurer. 1 On that issue, we must reverse and remand because the district court erred as a matter of law in basing its decision on evidence of how members would have voted. That leaves on remand the determination of whether, without consideration of what some members now say they would have done, the outcome may have been affected. See Donovan v. Local Union 70, Int’l…