Posted on 10/05/2004 5:30:32 PM PDT by I'mPeach
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) - Bush-Cheney campaign workers in three Florida cities said they were intimidated by chanting labor union activists who showed up unwelcomed in their offices on Tuesday, protesting changes pushed by the Bush administration on overtime pay.
Dozens of union activists showed up at the Bush-Cheney campaign offices in Miami, Orlando and Tampa to deliver postcards from people opposed to the Bush administration regulations that they claim would threaten the overtime payments of chefs, nurses, police officers, journalists, athletic trainers, lower-level computer employees.
Similar protests organized by labor unions occurred in other cities around the nation.
A criminal complaint was filed with the Orlando Police Department after Rhyan Metzler, a field director for the Republican Party of Florida in Orlando, said his wrist was sprained while he was trying to stop protesters from getting through the office door. About 50 of the 120 protesters in Orlando got into the office.
The head of another campaign worker was slammed against the glass door, Metzler said.
"I locked the door to keep them from coming in. I asked them to leave," Metzler said. "I told them they were trespassing, that I had called the police and that if they didn't leave I would have them prosecuted." *
Police officers were considering filing two misdemeanor battery charges against a protester, said Sgt. Brian Gilliam, a spokesman for the Orlando Police Department.
Another protester apparently used a magic marker to draw devil horns on a poster of President Bush but no vandalism charge was going to be filed because officers couldn't identify the protester, Gilliam said.
Debra Booth, president of the Central Florida AFL-CIO, described the protest as "peaceful" and said the hand of one of the protesters was cut because of scuffling at the door.
"It was a peaceful action and (Republicans) turned it into something raucous for publicity," Booth said.
In Miami, more than 100 union protesters stormed the Bush-Cheney campaign office and pushed volunteers inside, police said. No one was arrested and most of the protesters had left by the time police arrived, said Miami police spokesman Delrish Moss.
Union workers tried to leave hundreds of post cards for President Bush and demanded a meeting with Labor Secretary Elaine Chao.
Lenny Alvicar, spokesman for the Bush-Cheney campaign in Miami, said about 20 volunteers, including elderly people working phone banks, were at the headquarters when the union workers came inside. The protesters chanted, tried to put stickers on the walls and removed campaign signs. Other protesters blocked the street outside, he said.
"It was pushing, it was intimidation," Alvicar said. "In some cases just more than disruptive but in fact violently intimidating volunteers."
Countered South Florida AFL-CIO president Fred Frost: "It was as civil as it gets."
In Tampa, about three dozen protesters crowded into the second-floor office of the local Bush-Cheney headquarters where three elderly volunteers, two interns and a campaign staffer were working at the time, said Wes Maddox, a Bush-Cheney volunteer.
"It shook them up," Maddox said.
INTIMIDATION is all the DemocRATic party has to offer.
The goon squads are out. And still nothing is done by our "government"!
I'm thinking about what a typical "both parties are the same" committed independent voter airhead would say. "The Republicans do this too".
Not once you came through the door. Protest outside on the public sidewalk. Goons.
When was the last time you heard of a democRAT party worker getting their head slammed into a glass door? Hmmmm! Both parties DO NOT do this!
In the RAT-run cities like Miami nothing will be done about it. And just like the voter fraud going on there, it won't make an MSM news or Don I'man-ass report either. The sad thing is cops there are likely to be some of the ones doing the protesting.
How believable is that?
This is the USA.
WE are the government!
The only way to stop a bully is often a judiciously administered slap upside the head.
So be judgemental when you defend yourselves from intimidation tactics...
How many union thugs threatening you does it take before you break out the Ruger?
I vote 2, but I am female, and so less tolerant of threatening behavior by belligerant thugs than many posters.
The union thugs don't represent the views of the rank and file. America's unions have been hijacked by marxists. They get installed in running the union, take the worker's dues money, then spend the cash as they like completely disregarding their members. Union heads find a few goons like this and give them a free hand in smearing the reputation of the rank and file, the majority of which would be appalled at these kinds of actions. It's important to look at who is running this union and force them to explain themselves. If there are any journalists who aren't still living in the 1970's they should call the union head on the carpet for this.
36 vs 6? ...isn't this the same ratio of liberals vs conservatives on a typical Chris Matthews panel discussion?
They need to have a digital camera available at every HQ. Snap pics of the intruders and prosecute them. Period!
Florida has some of the better concealed carry laws.
That's exactly what I was thinking.
Keep your digital camera and video handy.
Now there's a good idea!
Now there's a better idea!
Heh!
"Countered South Florida AFL-CIO president Fred Frost: "It was as civil as it gets.'"
"Debra Booth, president of the Central Florida AFL-CIO, described the protest as "peaceful'"
If there are any union members in florida here, you may want to contact these people to let them know what you think.
Debra Booth - Central Florida AFL-CIO (407) 649-8557
Here's an e-mail for Fred Frost's branch
info@sfaflcio.org
And here's an email for journalist Mark Schlueb at the Orlando Sentinel newspaper.
mschlueb@orlandosentinel.com.
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