MCDCC Ball Boycott/Picket Focus is Solidarity

(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)

Saturday’s picket at the MCDCC Spring Ball “is about solidarity, pure and simple,” says Metro Washington Council president Jos Williams. The boycott and picket were sparked by the MCDCC’s support last year for the Question B referendum, which took away the police union’s right to bargain the effects of management decisions, but the underlying issues are less about arcane labor law than fundamental union movement principles like “An injury to one is an injury to all.” The Fraternal Order of Police “is not even a member of the AFL-CIO,” Williams noted, “yet the entire local labor movement did not hesitate to support them in their struggle last year, just as the police and firefighters stood with us in Wisconsin.” The boycott is also an attempt – long overdue, some say – to tangibly and forcefully express labor’s simmering frustration with being treated by the County Democratic party as no more than “an ATM and campaign foot soldiers” as UFCW 1994 MCGEO president Gino Renne said earlier this week. "Our generation is seeing ever-increasing economic inequality as challenges to the right to organize have increased,” says Montgomery County Young Democrats President Dave Kunes. “The future of youth in our county and around the country is at stake. I'll be on the picket line because I stand with working families and Democrats who uphold collective bargaining rights as a cornerstone of our party and our values." Adds Progressive Maryland Executive Director Kate Planco Waybright, "Collective bargaining rights are necessary to building a strong middle class that benefits us all. We're proud to stand with labor on the picket line in support of working families across the state." Saying that “We're going to turn this thing into a good old-fashioned street party,” Local 1994's Renne reports that the local has lined up live music, food and refreshments for the 5:30p picket, which continues to generate support, with UFCW Local 400 on board, as well as Maryland delegates Kumar Barve, Bonnie Cullison, Sheila Hixson, Shane Robinson, Luiz Simmons and Craig Zucker joining the boycott yesterday. Check out the picket's Facebook page here. 
photo (top): February 2011 DC solidarity rally for Wisconsin workers; photo by Bill Burke/Page One