FROM BULLETIN BOARDS TO EXECUTIVE ORDERS
Pro-union protestors gather on Federal Street
TROY, N.Y. » Several weeks after he was escorted from the building, Social Security Claims Specialist Adam Pelletier was back in front of the Social Security Administration Troy Field Office on Wednesday, along with about 75 other people, protesting what he and others feel are attacks on America’s unions both large and small.
Pelletier, who also serves as grievance vice president of American Federation of Government Employees Local 3343, said that on July 2 he was escorted from the SSA office at 500 Federal Street and placed on administrative leave. Why?
“One day my assistant district manager was measuring the size of the union bulletin board, which measured 24 by 36 inches...I anticipated they would be taking it and I didn’t appreciate that; so in addition to attacking due process and employee rights they’re also trying to go after the bulletin board.”
During his off- hours, around midnight, Pelletier made his displeasure known.
“So I bought some temporary water-soluble window paint and came out here to write a bunch of stuff on the window.”
Pelletier said he wrote pro- union messages as well as the criminal mischief statute, which he
doesn’t feel he violated. He said Troy Police did come speak to him, but left without citing him for anything.
Pelletier said he’s on administrative leave and still being paid, with no word from his bosses on what’s to be done with him, or the exact justification for it.
While protestors used Pelletier’s matter as a rallying point, their concerns are far broader.
On May 25, President Donald Trump signed three executive orders which union leaders say diminish the strength of unions by weakening their collective bargaining ability and limit union representation in the workplace.
Wednesday’s protest was organized to coincide with oral arguments being made the U. S. District Court for the District of Columbia challenging the executive orders.
Over half a dozen local unions were represented at the protest, including the Troy Teachers Association, New York State United Teachers, Albany Central Federation of Labor, American Federation of Government Employees ( Local 3343), and the National Association of Letter Carriers, among others.
“We’ve been in a one-sided class war for about the last 30 years in the United States and around the world,” said Mark Emanatian, of the Capital District Area Labor Federation. “The rich are waging war on working people; you can see it everywhere, the Janus case, you can see it with these attacks, you can see it with the fact the Trump Administration has declared that poverty is gone while there are 150 million people living in poverty.”
He said the federal poverty level is $25,000 for a family of four. “There’s no place in the United States of America that one person can live on $25,000 and have a decent life; a family of four? Are you kidding? And if you make a dollar over that you’re no longer on the poverty level.”
It’s important working people unify, he said, since those working against their interests have a great deal of wealth and power. A number of other speakers echoed his sentiments. The protest lasted a little over an hour, featuring a short march and chanting slogans. When it began to rain, pro-