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