Man fired for wearing Bush sweatshirt at Obama rally

[sabra]

Source: wtkr

Son currently serving on the aircraft carrier U.S.S. George H. W. Bush.

LOS ANGELES (KTLA) - Don't try wearing a Bush hat or sweatshirt at an Obama rally.

Duane Hammond says it's what got him fired.

Hammond is a union stagehand who was part of the crew that built the platform for the Obama event on campus.

He came to work early this morning wearing clothing that says "George H. W. Bush".

Hammond's son is in the Navy, currently serving on the aircraft carrier U.S.S. George H. W. Bush.

Hammond says he was not trying to make a political statement.

He says he got the sweatshirt and hat during a visit to the aircraft carrier on Family Day.

The back of his sweatshirt has a large drawing of the ship.

He says he wore it to show how proud he is of his son.

That didn't go over well with his union supervisor.

Hammond says he was told to take off the sweatshirt, or he would have to go home.

He refused. They told him he was fired from the job.

James Wright, a business representative from IATSE Local 33, says the union is still investigating what happened.

"If he was sent home because of the sweatshirt, he will be paid for the day," he said.

Read more: http://www.wtkr.com/news/wtkr-bush-sweatshirt,0,1836174.story

[PeaceNikki]

1. A) old news

B) Duane Hammond says union officials called him that afternoon (10/22) to apologize for the incident. He say they are "bending over backwards" to make it up to him.

http://blogs.ktla.com/news_custom_eric/2010/10/man-fired-for-wearing-bush-sweatshirt-at-obama-rally.html

[Renew Deal]

3. The story was posted an hour ago

:shrug:

[RaleighNCDUer]

6. It was also posted two days ago.

And the union said if he was unjustly removed from the work site he would be paid for the day - and as it was a 1-day job, that doesn't exactly qualify as 'fired'.

A poster in the other thread suggested that perhaps, as a Union stage hand, he was supposed to show up in stage black, and so came to work inappropriately dressed for the job. Don't know if that is valid or not.

[Renew Deal]

2. People need to be smart.

And clearly his supervisor isn't very smart.

[Wickerman]

4. Dumb Supervisor

[Ian David]

5. Not so much

Man Fired for Wearing Bush Sweatshirt at Obama Rally
Fri Oct-22-10 04:29 PM
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x9369937


#36 OK, Lets get some facts straight about this.

One, when a union member shows up to a show/event call such as he did, he is supposed to have on stage Blacks....What are stage blacks might you ask? They are black shirt, black shoes, black pants, black socks, no logos of anything on them(though sometimes small logos are accepted or overlooked). This is written in the contract so he can be fired for not showing up in the specified attire. Now he showed up to the event in attire that offended some of the management. He was asked to turn his shirt inside out and remove his hat, he refused and thus was fired by management, not the union, for not complying with the contract.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x9369937#9370161

[Obamanaut]

7. Link to one of the earlier threads->

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=9369937&mesg_id=9369937