He calls himself pro-labor. But he laid off campaign workers trying to unionize

[Jose Garcia]

Source: The Miami Herald

WASHINGTON
David Richardson, the self-styled progressive Democrat seeking to replace Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen in Congress, says he stands shoulder-to-shoulder in solidarity with his campaign staff after they became the first political campaign in Florida to unionize last week.

But there are fewer campaign workers standing with Richardson today. That's because he laid off eight paid campaign employees at the end of a contentious months-long unionization effort.

"David wanted to be able to fire anyone at will and that wasn’t acceptable to us," said Isaiah Ghafoor, who worked as a field organizer for Richardson from March until he was one of eight Richardson staffers laid off two weeks ago. "Two days after a heated bargaining session, seven field organizers were laid off and the finance manager."

Though the unionization effort was ultimately successful, the timing of the layoffs and the Richardson's campaign's argument to staffers that existing Florida labor laws were sufficient enough to protect staffers' rights contrasts with public statements by his campaign that he will "oppose efforts that are anti-union or that weaken the ability to organize and bargain collectively" if elected to Congress.

Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/article212822109.html

[marble falls]

1. New motto: The Regressive Progressive!

[appalachiablue]

5. +1 "RPs"

[TomCADem]

2. Who is he running against? Is this for a primary?

Or, is this for the general?

[Jose Garcia]

3. The leading candidate in the primary is Donna Shalala

[pecosbob]

4. Save us from the Corporocrats

We've no cake to eat.

[SharonClark]

6. That is just strange

Campaign work is temporary and intense. I've never been or met a campaign worker who has time to organize a union.

[LeftInTX]

7. Laura Moser did it in Texas more or less as a PR stunt.

It lasted two months

[brush]

8. My thoughts too. That's a job that doesn't last.

[aggiesal]

10. Farmer workers are temporary and intense, ...

yet Cesar Chavez organized the Farm Workers Union.

I see no difference.

There are professional campaign workers that move from campaign to campaign that should be unionized.

If farm workers can do it, than campaign workers can do this as well.

[Paka]

11. Thank you...

for that reminder!

[Cal Carpenter]

12. Yep they probably need protections even more than a lot of workers

It is easier to exploit temporary/seasonal/precarious workers.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

13. Several unions of campaign workers have organized and been recognized across the country.

[Maxheader]

9. See so much of this now..

dinos...groomed by professions to appeal to braindead "progressives".
a nice word to sound hip. hip being the impeach trump movement.
isn' it in the 1st amendment?

Definition of Right to Organize. Collective bargaining allows workers to demand better working conditions from their employees. While most labor groups have the right to organize, protected by the National Labor Relations Act, farm workers are excluded from this law.

The First Amendment has been read to protect freedom of association, and the 1935 National Labor Relations Act recognized the “right to self-organization, to form, join, or assist labor organizations,” but in reality, the opportunity to organize is a right without a remedy.Feb 29, 2012