Montgomery County Workers Pledge Fight-Back

(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)

As their bargaining team met down the hall with Montgomery County negotiators, hundreds of fired-up UFCW 1994 MCGEO members jammed the ballroom in the Gaithersburg Hilton Friday afternoon. "The union's out there!" shouted MCGEO vice-president Yvette Cuffie, who took the stage in a robe and crimson boxing gloves, "and it looks like a lot of power to me!" The militant mood continued as speaker after speaker, including local labor and community leaders as well as 1994 negotiating team members, pledged to fight the Montgomery County administration's efforts to slash county worker wages, benefits and union rights. Montgomery County's three government employee unions, unable to reach agreement with the county on wages, benefits and other issues, went to impasse earlier this week after negotiating since last September, with a deadline of March 15, when County Executive Isiah Leggett (D) releases his 2012 budget proposal. "Your fight is our fight," said AFSCME Council 26 -- and Metro Council board member -- Carl Goldman, who added that he was "happy to be with MCGEO in Gaithersburg" after watching his fellow AFSCME members battle union-busting in Wisconsin all week. “This is your fight!” roared 1994 President Gino Renne (left), breaking away from the negotiating table to address the gold-shirted crowd. “This is your family’s fight, your community’s fight. We’re in this together, from Michigan to Ohio to Montgomery County, and when I see you all here it makes me want to fight even harder!” UFCW 400 President Tom McNutt warned “Don’t let Montgomery County become a Third World country” and pledged his local’s support. The County administration “doesn’t care about us,” said a county corrections officer on the bargaining team, “to them, you’re just a body that can be replaced.” Click here for the latest update on MCGEO 1994 news. - report/photos by Chris Garlock