Wouldn't this have been nice to see in Wisconsin over the past year or so?
From Firehouse.com: An image of Baltimore Mayor Stephanie
Rawlings-Blake's face on a roll of toilet paper recently circulated on
the Internet has sparked turmoil within the local firefighters union
whose members created it.
The image, and another of Fire Chief James Clack's face in a toilet
bowl, were determined to have been created and distributed online last
month by two members of the Baltimore Firefighters Local 734 union who
are now being disciplined, president Rick Hoffman said.
Hoffman acknowledged recent conflict between the mayor's office and
the Fire Department over closing fire companies but said he and the
union "unequivocally" condemn the images.
"No way in hell would I stoop to these levels. I don't think anyone
deserves that," he said, offering an official apology to Rawlings-Blake.
"Here I am trying to build a decent foundation for us to work together,
and the mayor's face gets posted on toilet paper. It's degrading and
embarrassing."
The mayor's office declined to comment on the issue.
Other members of the union pointed the finger at Hoffman, saying at a
protest outside the union hall Monday afternoon that he has undermined
trust among union members in recent weeks by allowing the image to
circulate without publicly condemning it and by suspending another union
leader for alerting city officials to the matter.
"We're a labor union, we're not a gang of thugs, and we should be
conducting ourselves professionally," said David Zepp, a protest
organizer.
Lenore Scharf, a 24-year paramedic with the Fire Department, said she
was suspended from her position as the union's first vice president at
the end of a July 31 meeting of the union's nine-member board of
directors. Hoffman asked the board to suspend her for "misconduct, libel
and slander" relating to her sharing concerns about the image with
Larissa Parrish, a labor relations specialist in the city's Office of
the Labor Commissioner, Scharf said. http://www.firehouse.com/news/10756203/baltimore-fire-union-disciplines-members-over-images
"We're a labor union, we're not a gang of thugs, and we should be
conducting ourselves professionally," I wish more unions, public and private, felt the same way.
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