Angry union members chase Governor Quinn out of the State Fair grounds.
I got some written equivalents to a raised eyebrow when I referred to Pat Quinn as the most anti-labor Governor since World War II in a recent post.
Did I overstate the matter?
Not according to AFSCME, which sent this email out to its members:
AFSCME members in state government have never faced an Administration so totally indifferent to its responsibility to provide vital services to Illinois citizens—or so unremittingly hostile to the employees who provide those services. It’s going to be a long, tough fight to preserve those services and to protect the gains we’ve made over the years.
In the coming weeks, your local leaders will be reaching out to you to affirm your commitment to making that fight. Be sure you’re there on the frontlines to carry it on.
That last graf is ominous. Strike?
* In the same newsletter, AFSCME talks about the large crowd booing Gov. Quinn at the Illinois State Fair…
Quinn has one of the worst records in the country—coming up right behind Wisconsin governor Scott Walker—when it comes to attacking working families. He is trying to lay off more than 4000 state workers, destroying jobs in communities across Illinois. He’s withholding negotiated pay raises, leading the charge to cut pensions, and pushing for huge contract concessions
So it’s no wonder that when Quinn finally made his appearance at a rally on the fairgrounds, hundreds of angry union members were waiting to greet him with signs, boos and chants. Their righteous chorus quickly drowned out anything the governor had to say and sent him scurrying off to leap into his waiting limo.
The most anti-labor Governor right up behind Governor Walker of Wisconsin.
That would make him not only the most anti-labor Governor in Illinois history, but the second most anti-labor Governor in the United States.
That would make him one-term Quinn.
Fred Klonsky 