Two Republican sightings on picket lines
We’ve seen a ton of support for Stop & Shop strikers from what we in the media have called “politicians,” when in fact it’s been almost all Democrats, not Republicans.
Two notable exceptions among Republicans holding state or prominent local office: Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton and Rep. Dave Yaccarino, RNorth Haven.
Boughton, who lost in a 5-way GOP primary for governor last August, Tweeted a picture of himself with nine strikers at noon Monday. “Hang in there! #stopandshopstrike,” he posted.
Yaccarino made it out to his local Stop & Shop picket line on Friday and posted his support on Facebook.
“I’m proud to support the hard working people from stop & shop,” Yaccarino wrote in a shared post from one of his constituents, Cheryl Ann Cac, a picketer.
Yaccarino said he believes there have been others but he and Boughton are among the only GOP officeholders Connecticut with a statewide platform, who have stopped by a picket line since the 31,000 grocery workers went on strike Thursday. (There are no federal Republican officeholders in Connecticut, of course.)
Call me naive, but that seems odd to me. Unlike contracts involving state employees, a private-company dispute is nonpartisan, that is, it’s not connected to votes or actions elected officials need to take. It would be consistent for a Republican, or anyone else, to support strikers but not support, say, the state employees benefits agreement that passed in the General Assembly in 2017.
Yaccarino took some heat on his Facebook post, not from conservatives telling him to knock it off, but from Democrats critical of his votes. For example, he did oppose that
2017 state employee bargaining contract for the coalition of unions known as SEBAC and he has opposed increases in the minimum wage.
In all, Yaccarino received a 30 percent rating from AFL-CIO for the
2017-18 sessions. He was one of ten House Republicans with that rating, the highest in the GOP. Democrats tended to score in the 80s and 90s.
“Dave, just curious, you vote against union contracts, explain how you are supporting these folks in a union contract dispute,” Rep. Russ Morin, D-Wethersfield, posted on his House colleague’s page. In another post, Morin said, “Dave is a good guy! But the facts don’t lie!”
Yaccarino, who owns D-J’s Collectibles, a comics and sports memorabilia store, responded to Morin, “totally different issues and contacts. I voted extending a ten year contract. I believe I said on the floor of the house I would have supported the sebac deal if it was a four year deal. I believe the stop & shop private union is looking to take too much away from the hard working people. Russ, please do not compare the two issues. I thought you knew me better.”
Yaccarino is right on this one. Support for private strikers in a singular labor dispute is not the same as a policy vote in the House.
Considering how much support we’re seeing for the strikers, I’m surprised more Republicans aren’t trekking out to their local picket lines. Connecticut doesn’t have many retail strikes in our recent history, but this one seems to have overwhelming public support for the strikers.
I’ve seen no backlash from anti-union hecklers online, for example, though I’m sure there has been some.
“I don’t think it should be a Republican or Democratic issue,” Yaccarino said to me Monday. “I get endorsed by the fire unions, the police unions, I believe in collective bargaining... I’m definitely not anti-union.”
He’d better not be, in Connecticut. Last August, a Gallup poll showed 62 percent national approval of unions, which, along with the 2017 level, marked a 15-year high. Connecticut is probably higher still.
Democrats, including U.S. Sens. Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy, and Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz, have announced their presence on strike lines with press releases, as we’d expect.
Boughton headed out to Stop & Shop after a Danbury constituent, who said she voted for him, wondered on Twitter why he was absent from the lines. “Happy to stop by. Let me know best time,” Boughton responded on Saturday.
Yaccarino said Monday, “If I had time yesterday, I would have brought the guys and girls doughnuts. People work hard for their living.”