Union employees showed CPAC a good time — and their union pride

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/02/13/union-employees-showed-cpac-a-good-time-and-their-union-pride/

By Megan Carpentier
Monday, February 13, 2012 11:29 EST



This weekend, as tuxedoed waitstaff quietly served drinks and dinner to paying CPAC attendees interested in the bon mots of union-busting Wisconsin governor Scott Walker (R), few of the guests likely took the time to peer at their servers’ chests. If they had, the CPACers might have noticed something ironic: even as Walker was lauding the optimism of Wisconsin’s business community in the wake of his union-busting, union employees were placing and removing their dinner plates (which were assembled by union employees in the kitchens and washed by union employees after).

Though some of the contract employees brought in to serve CPAC’s needs were not unionized, the Marriott Wardman Park (like CPAC’s original home, the Omni Shoreham) is a union hotel — which means its employees are organized under the banner of UNITE HERE’s Local 25. And, as part of their contract, every employee is allowed to wear their union button under their Marriott nametag. The buttons ranged from the above subtle button to one displaying a white, cougar-like paw print on a black background to more simple text buttons. But for each, the message was clear to those who noticed: we’re union employees, and we’re not going to hide it, even at CPAC.

And while some CPAC organizers privately complained that unionization at hotels runs up the costs of holding the conference there, few CPAC attendees seemingly noticed the presence of union members — often derided by conservatives as “thugs” — and one even denied they were there at all.

Though some employees, like Patchimanon, didn’t realize that the CPAC conference skewed anti-union, others like Anthony said, “Every year they come here, they’re nice, we’re happy to have them.” But others, like Mahbubul Murshed, had problems with the anti-union and anti-immigrant positions espoused by some at CPAC. “They have the right to what they say,” he said, but noted that “unions are getting stronger day by day.”

FULL story at link.

Megan Carpentier


Megan Carpentier is the executive editor of Raw Story. She previously served as an associate editor at Talking Points Memo; the editor of news and politics at Air America; an editor at Jezebel.com; and an associate editor at Wonkette. Her published works include pieces for the Washington Post, the Washington Independent, Ms Magazine, RH Reality Check, the Women's Media Center, On the Issues, the New York Press, Bitch and Women's eNews.

[seeviewonder]

1. For some reason, I think the irony

was lost on the CPAC people.