Cops and firefighters flock to protest rally
Rick Bloomingdale, president of the Pennsylvania AFL-CIO, addressed hundreds of union supporters at a rally in opposition to the legislation. He knows how to fire up a crowd.
At stake is dues deduction and contributions to politicians on our side.
Hundreds of union members including police, firefighters, nurses and teachers, gathered last week at the Pennsylvania state capitol for a rally against legislation that would prohibit the deduction of union dues and political action committee contributions from public sector employee associations.
State representative Bryan Cutler (R-Lancaster County) is the sponsor of a bill in the Pennsylvania state House to prohibit state and local governments from deducting union dues from paychecks. Cutler says he wants to “put up a bright line between political activity and public assets.”
Critics say the measure, backed by conservative groups around the country, is an effort to destroy the employee associations that represent people who work for local, county and state government agencies.
Rick Bloomingdale, president of the Pennsylvania AFL-CIO, addressed hundreds of union supporters at a capitol rally in opposition to the legislation.
“It is nothing more than outside billionaires coming into Pennsylvania to try to silence workers. That’s all this is,” he said.
One person, commenting on the Philadelphia CBS website wrote: “Dues are a line item like any other payroll deduction and cost the tax payer nothing; On top of that it is illegal for unions to require political contributions to be made without consent of the individual. Furthermore dues are not just sent automatically to the DNC. Any contribution is decided on by the body of the union. It could be a republican or democrat that that particular Local Union supports. Why don’t people take any issue with the Billionaires that are influencing our state politicians to even introduce these bills? Don’t you think our state legislators could be working on anything else?”
Watch Rick Bloomingdale fire up the crowd at a pre-election rally in Pennsylvania.
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