Union boss goes off at meeting, prison guards say

The Washington Times ^ | Sunday, March 20, 2011 | Joseph Weber and David Hill

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

Prison guards at a Western Maryland correctional facility say a union boss berated and tried to intimidate them after they raised questions at a pre-shift meeting about how their fees are spent and the benefits of belonging to a union.

The guards said the March 11 meeting at the Maryland Correctional Training Center started amicably enough when Steve Berger, their American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) union representative, tried to rally opposition to proposed changes in the employee retirement plan.

The meeting took an unexpected twist, they say, when Mr. Berger opened the floor to questions. When asked about the benefit of belonging to a union, why non-union members must pay a fee to AFSCME and whether the fees go into the same pot that helped the union give millions to Democratic candidates and causes in the 2010 elections, the representative launched into a threatening and profanity-laced tirade.

Sgt. Brian Kelley said Mr. Berger pretended to ignore the first question, then shot back at one of the guards making inquiries, “Come on, be a man and say what you have to say.”

Sgt. Kelley and several other guards also said Mr. Berger, a retired guard generally liked by current guards at the facility, grew angrier with each new question, eventually challenging to a fist fight a 6-foot 2-inch tall guard who later posed a query.

“At first, I thought it was some kind of act or Charlie Sheen moment,” said another guard, who asked not to be identified for fear of reprisal. “We just looked at one another, bewildered. These were legitimate questions. We’re supposed to go to Mr. Berger if we have concerns — and he called me a Republican.”

[midwyf]

And it is all non taxable since unions are “non profits”. It is past time to end the non profit status of every group with assets of half a million or more.

[GeronL]

These people are insane. Leftism is a real mental dosorder!

[dennisw]

The guy doesn’t get it. Democrats expect their rank-and-file to be mindless drones who do what they are told to do.>>>>>>>>>

And most importantly to pay pay pay those union dues that fund the lavish lifestyles of porky union bosses and the rest given to Democrat hacks to buy them off come contract negotiation time

[GeronL]

You can buy a lot of Democrats with that kind of loot.

They have. The NEA also takes some pretty insane stands, a lot of posts on FR about that

[chickadee]

Ah, glad you mentioned that - unions must pay taxes on funds used for political purposes. Landmark Legal Foundation has filed a complaint (again) with the IRS on the NEA’s lack of tax compliance.

[Abundy]

This guy's problem is his entire audience are pretty conservative as they live and work up here in Western MD...

with the exception of a few douchenozzles in the local union, most of them get the fact that when taxes go up they get hit along with the rest of us..

plus we cling to our guns and religion up here and don't care for the idiots down state

[ryderann]

This is merely the modern-day version of the mob shaking down the mom and pops for “protection” money.

[Walkingfeather]

“Prison guards at a Western Maryland correctional facility say a union boss berated and tried to intimidate them”
One has to wonder, how you go about intimidating a guy that gets paid to be intimidated by prisoners all day?

[spokeshave]

“At first, I thought it was some kind of act or Charlie Sheen moment,” said another guard, who asked not to be identified for fear of reprisal. “We just looked at one another, bewildered. These were legitimate questions. We’re supposed to go to Mr. Berger if we have concerns — and he called me a Republican.”

Welcome to the party pal.

[Leisler]

...and he called me a Republican.”

Well, how much can a man take, really?

[susannah59]

They filed a complaint, a grievance, on the union guy? I love it!

I worked in management in a unionized facility, and the union was a huge thorn in our sides.

This will probably open a lot of eyes about how things really are, especially the part about how non-members still have to pay into the union. Well, maybe a few eyes, anyway.

[oh8eleven]

Union boss goes off at meeting, prison guards say
Life imitating art ...

"A fired cop and useless lawyer sign up as
security guards and find they've joined a corrupt union."

[digger48]

#12. Service Employees International Union— $29,140,232 (D)95% (R)3%

http://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/summary.php?id=D000000077

[digger48]

#8. National Education Assn-—$32,024,610 (D)93% (R)6%

http://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/summary.php?id=D000000064

[chickadee]

Thanks - a great resource. I bookmarked it for future use:)

[kittymyrib]

Ah...Nancy Pelosi’s home state is still promoting the old union/mafia life style that her crooked father was part of. She must grow nostalgic when she reads this report.

[talac_121]

Some things need clarified as the reporter was not able to or willing to put the entire quote. Berger said, “You must be a f**king republican, ya piece of sh**.” I was the one who he said that to. I asked him why AFSCME needs service fees if they spent $90 million on democratic campaigns last year. Good luck trying to intimidate a group of 80 correctional officers, but the only resource we had available to us to fight this forced unionization was to go to the media. Also the person he attributed the quote to wasn’t responsible for it.