MCDCC Ball Boycott/Picket Focus is Solidarity
Friday, May 10, 2013
(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. - photo (top): February 2011 DC solidarity rally for Wisconsin
workers; photo by Bill Burke/Page One