-By Warner Todd Huston
Back on the 5th of Nov., we brought you the amusing story of Dems and union thugs eating their own in Maryland. Well, we have an update on this imbroglio that proves there is neither compromise with, nor pleasing union thugs.
The story was that in Prince George’s County, some Dems there were a bit miffed that because the union wasn’t getting all it wanted it was opposing the creation of new jobs in the county. So, instead of working with the new businesses, they tried to stop those business from opening and improving the economy of the county. A few Democrat committeemen took umbrage at this irresponsible behavior and chastised the unions. Then the floodgates of hate opened up by union thugs and these two Dems were attacked unmercifully.
Well, it appears that the two Dem County operatives in question have tried to appease union thugs, even pledging to add more union thug members to the committee, but to no avail. Let’s let the Gazette pick it up from here:
Spat between Democrats and unions continues
Central Committee’s eviction is the latest sign of tensions
Under pressure from union workers and elected officials, Democratic Party leaders in Prince George’s County passed several resolutions supporting organized labor.
But union members said the measures passed last week, which included a pledge to add six pro-union women to the party’s central committee, have not eased the tensions sparked by committee Chairman Terry Speigner and Vice Chairman Arthur Turner earlier this fall by several e-mail messages.
‘‘We were hoping to get on a path to reconciliation,” said Mark Federici, spokesman for the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 400. ‘‘Obviously, they did not do that.”
The crowd of about 30 union workers and officials attending the Nov. 20 meeting booed Speigner as he held up his gavel and tried to assert that he supported the trade groups.
‘‘I don’t know who that was meant for,” Speigner told the crowd after the jeers. ‘‘But I went to vocational school. I work for myself.”
Officials for both the committee and unions stayed late after the meeting in Suitland, arguing in the hallways about whether anything had been improved that night.
Elected in primaries by party voters, the central committee interviews candidates, raises funds and handles voter registration efforts for the Democratic Party in Prince George’s County.
The tensions between the party group and the union have even resulted in an eviction notice. Officials for the Sheet Metal Workers’ International Local 100 have told the central committee to relocate their offices from the union’s Suitland hall by Jan. 31. The central committee has used the space for more than a decade.
It all started when Turner sent an e-mail in September to more than 500 people criticizing the UFCW’s opposition to the Woodmore Town Center project in Landover, where the much-touted, but non-union Wegmans grocery store is planning to locate.
Turner’s mass e-mail criticized the zoning appeal the union filed against the Town Center and in particular Tony Perez, the UFCW Local 400 government affairs specialist who filed it.
‘‘Why is Mr. Perez fighting against those who live, work, play and pray in our beloved Prince George’s County? Why is he acting to keep us in a subservient, second-class, substandard, marginal state?” Turner wrote. ‘‘I am prayerful that his intentions are noble and just and not part of some less than honorable scheme.”
But the e-mails have sparked outrage among the unions, who have demanded that Turner and Speigner apologize for alleging that they were trying to prevent economic development opportunities in the county.
‘‘I was shocked,” said Rick Powell, political and legislative director for the AFL-CIO, an umbrella group that includes more than 100 unions in the D.C. area, including UFCW. ‘‘I’ve never seen a Democratic Party in this area say the things they said about organized labor.”
Last week’s meeting was intended to ease the tensions. Central committee members met for an hour in private, arguing about what to do as union members waited in the hall and continued to express anger about the remarks.
‘‘They’ve insulted the community as far as I’m concerned,” said Susan Flashman, a member of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 26, who knit a sweater as she waited for the committee to come back. ‘‘Somebody should apologize.”
While some members had called for a removal vote to replace Speigner and Turner’s leadership of the committee, the two resolutions were all that came out of the closed session.
One stated that the central committee would support ‘‘hiring agreements that set a standard for hiring county residents for jobs with family sustaining wages and health insurance benefits” in future economic development projects.
The other affirmed the right of employees to form and join labor unions ”without the fear of intimidation or retaliation.”
But both measures seemed hollow from the moment they went before the crowd. A key committee member, retired union worker James Allen, voted against both, citing the fact that Turner and Speigner made no apology for the e-mails during the closed meeting.
‘‘It’s a good resolution, but I don’t think it will be abided by our leadership,” Allen told the crowd. ‘‘I’m the old union. You can’t sit here and talk about me and my [union] family.”
Speigner and Turner declined to comment on the e-mails after the meeting. Perez also declined to comment at the meeting, sending questions to fellow union official Federici.
Speigner, whom union members say helped distribute Turner’s remarks, dismissed the eviction notice from the Sheet Metal Workers.
‘‘It’s not a problem,” Speigner said. ‘‘We have plenty of vacant space in Prince George’s County.”
The remark raised ire from Federici.
‘‘That’s what I would expect from the Republican Party,” he said.
The dispute has begun to affect relations at the state level as well. Local delegates Aisha N. Braveboy (D-Dist. 25) of Mitchellville and Dereck E. Davis (D-Dist. 25) of Upper Marlboro attended the committee meeting, where both called for unity.
‘‘We’ve got to put this behind us,” Davis said. ‘‘We’ve got to move on.”
No such thing as working “with” a union. There is only beating the union or bowing to their thuggish demands as these Democrats are finding out. Now they know how employers feel when confronted by demands of unions!
Can’t say as I feel sorry for them much, though. What comes around, goes around, you know?
____________
Warner Todd Huston is a Chicago based freelance writer, has been writing opinion editorials and social criticism since early 2001 and is featured on many websites such as newsbusters.org, townhall.com, New Media Journal, Men’s News Daily and the New Media Alliance among many, many others. Additionally, he has been a frequent guest on talk-radio programs to discuss his opinion editorials and current events. He has also written for several history magazines and appears in the new book “Americans on Politics, Policy and Pop Culture” which can be purchased on amazon.com. He is also the owner and operator of publiusforum.com. Feel free to contact him with any comments or questions : EMAIL Warner Todd Huston