Winter Park (FL) pays consultant $2,500 a day to help fight union organizing effort

[Roland99]

Winter Park pays consultant $2,500 a day to help fight union organizing effort
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/orange/os-winter-park-union-dispute-20110509,0,11562.story

Winter Park is paying a consultant $2,500 a day to help the city's staff dissuade about 150 city workers from joining a union.

Employees in the public works, parks, fleet maintenance and water departments are likely to vote in June or July on whether to join the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, known as AFSCME. In the past few years, the city has done away with longevity bonuses and pay increases because of the economy.

In late April, city commissioners voted 4-0, with Commissioner Carolyn Cooper not in attendance, to approve a contract with Kulture LLC, a firm specializing in labor relations. Under the agreement, the city will pay Kulture $2,500 a day, plus expenses, up to about $100,000.

Dressed in green AFSCME T-shirts, about a dozen employees showed up at Monday's City Commission meeting to state their position. Andrew Jordan, 24, who has worked in utilities for five years, said he and his co-workers just wanted "the same rights as the police and firefighters," who are unionized.

Winter Park is a very well-to-do section just north of Orlando's downtown.

Read a bit further down at the article and you'll find a nice reference to the Ayn Rand Institute. joy.

[TheGunslinger]

1. Spend money to keep the slaves muffled.

[Roland99]

2. it's almost pointless in trying anymore...the deck is stacked against us

The media is especially complicit.

[Snoutport]

4. or we can fight harder. i much prefer that to rolling over and showing my belly

[Roland99]

5. Going to take a much worse beating than America is taking now in order to wake the apathetic and....

perhaps finally make the teabagging morans realize they've been had.

[tech9413]

3. It's funny that these affluent citizens can't do the math

2.5K a day could cover the increased wages for 150 employees in a month or so. Lets not forget that those employees will spend their money in the local economy, those consultants will burn rubber taking the money out of state.

[Roland99]

6. Better to help out a crony than to give a hundred people a job w/a good wage and benefits.