Union officials don't want Miami mayor in Obama Cabinet

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Miami Herald

Posted on Thursday, 12.04.08


Union officials don't want Miami mayor in Obama Cabinet

Miami Mayor Manny Diaz is facing criticism he doesn't care about the common worker -- criticism he disputes, but that could hurt his chances for a Cabinet post.

BY MICHAEL VASQUEZ
[e-mail]

Miami Mayor Manny Diaz's potential ascent to a Cabinet post in the Obama administration -- a possibility buzzed about for weeks -- is being challenged by a coalition of labor and activist groups who argue he has not done enough for working people.

The coalition includes, most prominently, the nation's largest federation of labor unions, the AFL-CIO.

''Manny Diaz's track record is he's ignored the middle class,'' said Fred Frost, president of the South Florida AFL-CIO. ``The Obama election signified that working people were going to be respected, and he's shown no respect for working people.''

Union support played a key role in Obama's election, making the AFL-CIO's stance noteworthy. Frost recently put his objections in writing to the national AFL-CIO office in Washington, which vowed to pass them along to the Obama transition team.



Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/460/story/800134.html

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Manny Diaz

[Kolesar]

1. No mention of the totalitarian police chief Timoney

I looked for it. Here the story of the FTAA protest. They even beat up lawyers:

Diaz's relationship with the AFL-CIO first turned sour in 2003, during the Free Trade Area of the Americas summit. Miami police went into the summit eager to avoid the violent protests and property damage that had accompanied an economic summit in Seattle four years earlier.

The streets of downtown Miami survived relatively unscathed, but police were faulted for treating nonviolent protesters like criminals.

''I was outraged,'' said Thea Lee, the AFL-CIO's policy director in Washington, and one of those in Miami during the FTAA. ``Nobody where I was was challenging the police in any way or disobeying any orders and we were being shot at and pepper-sprayed.''

The AFL-CIO has a pending lawsuit against the city for its handling of the FTAA. Miami has already paid out legal settlements to others.

''Overall, I think the police did a very good job,'' Diaz said Thursday. ``Can something like that be absolutely perfect? I don't think so.''

How do I write to Obama?

[Greyhound]

2. I'm resolved to wait until he gets into office, but every damn story that

comes out fills me with dread.

What is he thinking? I mean I suppose I should be grateful he hasn't floated Frist for HHS, but :wtf: