The Teamsters local fighting to unionize “clean team” street sweepers at 18 business improvement districts around the city lost a crucial election that would have forced BID managers to negotiate new wages and working conditions.

The union lost the Dec. 11 election, which polled the union sympathies of about 65 workers throughout the city, by a substantial margin, according to Rob Hill, an organizer for Teamsters Local 210. “I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t disappointed,” said Hill. “But it was not a fair election.”

Official results have not been released pending an investigation of vote-tampering charges leveled by Hill and the Teamsters. The union claims that Atlantic Maintenance Corp., the Staten Island- based subcontractor that employs many of the workers, rigged the election by allowing anti-union company managers to vote. Hill has filed numerous complaints with the National Labor Relations Board.

“I have no comment on any of this until the case is heard,” said Patrick DeSimone, part-owner of Atlantic.