(BUFFALO) – As a direct result of incumbent Mark Schroeder’s high-profile and recent support for an anti-Union/anti-Worker Walmart store in South Buffalo, the Western New York AFL-CIO Area Labor Federation (WNYALF) has issued a “no recommendation” in his 145th District State Assembly election race and will ask the New York State AFL-CIO not to endorse Schroeder’s re-election bid.
In addition to Schroeder, the WNYALF also issued “no recommendations” in two other races, the first involving the 144th Assembly District and incumbent Sam Hoyt, and in the 58th Senate District Primary - which pits Democratic incumbent William Stachowski against fellow Democrat and Erie County Legislator Tim Kennedy.
In an interview with WNYLaborToday.com, WNYALF President Angelo Vellake - who also serves as executive vice president and area director for UFCW (United Food & Commercial Workers) Local One - minced no words when it came to addressing Schroeder, a Democrat, and his public stance on Walmart. Vellake sharply called Schroeder a “hypocrite” for describing himself as a “champion of Labor,” while “doing the exact opposite” when it came to championing a new Walmart store within his district.
“The UFCW is happy the Area Labor Federation has taken this action,” said Vellake, whose Union represents grocery store workers in Western New York. “(Schroeder) is not worthy of Labor’s support. He held secret meetings with Walmart without (Labor’s) knowledge and was given an opportunity to ‘cease and desist.” He refused to do that. He’s a hypocrite for saying one thing and doing the exact opposite. This is why the WNYALF will ask the New York State AFL-CIO not to issue an endorsement in the 145th District race.”
Last week, Schroeder was one of a number of 25 area local and state elected officials and candidates to come before the WNYALF’s endorsement committee meeting that was held at the IUPAT (Painters) District 4 Union Facility in suburban Cheektowaga.
Area Labor Leaders said an “emotional” Schroeder “jumped right in to it” during his interview and verbally “lashed out” at WNYALF Vice President Richard Lipsitz, who also serves as Business Agent/Labor Movement Liaison with Cheektowaga-headquartered Teamsters Local 264, and Buffalo AFL-CIO President Michael Hoffert – who, along with Vellake, recently met with Schroeder to discuss his public stance on Walmart.
Several Union Officials who attended the WNYALF candidates’ meeting tell WNYLaborToday.com that Schroeder was also upset that details of what he believed was a “private meeting” and discussion with the three Labor Leaders was reported on by Labor’s Regional, On-Line Labor Newspaper.
“We didn’t even ask the question. He jumped right into it. Did he think we would publicly approve of what he’d done? Did he think we would just sit on our hands and do nothing?” Buffalo AFL-CIO President Hoffert asked.
Another Labor Leader, who asked to remain anonymous, said: “Schroeder’s in The (Buffalo) News, quoted as saying the Walmart project was a ‘game-changer” in his district and that he had been meeting with Walmart, and he doesn’t like Labor making the community aware of what’s going on in ‘our’ newspaper?”
Added Vellake: “(Schroeder) knows about Walmart (and its anti-Union/anti-Worker track record). He chose not to share with Organized Labor what he was meeting with Walmart about. We found out about that in Buffalo’s daily newspaper.”
Despite the fact Walmart is known as an anti-Union retailer that has been charged with numerous worker wage violations, Schroeder publicly calls the decision by Walmart to open a new 115,000-square-foot supercenter - which would employ 300 and straddle the border between South Buffalo and West Seneca - a "game-changer" for Seneca Street. Reportedly, the store would feature general merchandise and a full-service grocery store under one roof.
For years, Walmart has come under fire for years for its shoddy treatment of its employees.
For example, WNYLaborToday.com recently published a Labor News Report from California detailing Walmart's agreement to settle a class-action lawsuit and pay up to $86 million to 232,000 affected employees. Walmart employees had charged they were collectively denied over $12 million in vacation pay and $74 million in other unpaid wages mandated by California law. While agreeing to settle the multimillion-dollar lawsuit, Walmart continues to refuse to acknowledge cheating its workers out of hard-earned wages. The report also noted the settlement is separate from the $640 million agreement in 2008 in which Walmart agreed to settle 63 federal and state class-action lawsuits that claiming similar illegal wage violations.
Schroeder, meanwhile, stood behind his nearly 100% voting record with Organized Labor on issues important to Unions during the WNYALF endorsement meeting. But, Vellake said, Schroeder “went off the deep end” at one point - blaming New York State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and the “three men in a room” for the overall inability of locally-elected state officials to bring to fruition a number of important projects and initiatives in Western New York.
“If that’s the case, maybe (Western New York’s Labor Leaders) should go straight to Albany and meet with the ‘three men in a room’” to get things moving, Vellake said.
Vellake, meanwhile, said he was still having a hard time understanding why Schroeder would back such a project. He added the reaction from the WNYALF will impress on any elected official or candidate that “you can’t take Organized Labor for granted.”
“It doesn’t make sense to me (why Schroeder would involve himself in the Walmart project). It doesn’t bring about economic development. This would take jobs away. This also shows that you can’t engage in any action that damages any (Union) affiliate of the Federation. (Organized Labor) has never been more unified in this decision and I thank all the individual Unions that took part in the process,” Vellake said.
Asked how the action might be taken by the individual member Unions of the Buffalo Building & Construction Trades Council – which has traditionally been a big supporter of Schroeder – Vellake replied: “What Mark Schroeder did would be no different that if he had met with the (non-Union) ABC (Associated Builders & Contractors, Inc.) and the Trades would have come to the WNYALF afterward and asked he not get our endorsement.”
Despite the way things rolled out, Hoffert said Schroeder informed “all Labor Representatives the WNYALF endorsement meeting that he was in favor” of the Walmart project.
Democratic Buffalo Assemblyman Hoyt, meanwhile, did not get the needed two-thirds support from Organized Labor to receive a “positive recommendation,” WNYALF Vice President Lipsitz tells WNYLaborToday.com. Instead, Hoyt received “non-recommendation” status after the area’s Teachers Unions had addressed a number of issues and problems they have had with Hoyt, which led to the “non-recommendation,” Lipsitz said.
A “no recommendation” was also issued by the WNYALF in the 58th Senate District race pitting Stachowski and Kennedy. No immediate reason was given by the WNYALF for the non-recommendation in that race.
Another Assemblyman – Republican Jack Quinn, who is vying for the 58th State Senate seat held by Stachowski – also found himself in the middle of a charged discussion with Buffalo AFL-CIO President Hoffert, who took issue with Quinn’s stance on the use of taxpayer subsidies to large companies such as Bass Pro on Buffalo’s Waterfront.
“It got a little hot,” is the way Hoffert described the question-and-answer session.
“(Quinn) starts talking about how the Republicans are doing this and that to roll back taxes. I said, ‘Hey Jack, this is our money here. You’re going to be giving thirty-five-million dollars to Bass Pro so they can sell Chinese-made lures,” Hoffert said he told Quinn. “You’re looking to roll back taxes? How about rolling back taxes for the Working Man instead of corporations?’”
Editor’s Note: The WNYALF’s recommendations will be forwarded to the New York State AFL-CIO. The New York State AFL-CIO Executive Council will then submit their final recommendations for a vote that will be held at the New York State AFL-CIO COPE Convention on August 15th & 16th. The following is a full list of the WNYALF’s recommendations:
New York
State Senate:
District 60 - Antoine Thompson
District 61 - Marc Coppola
District 62 - George Maziarz
New York
State Assembly:
District 138 - Francine Delmonte
District 141 - Crystal Peoples
District 143 - Dennis Gabryszak
District 146 - Brad Rybczyinski
District 150 - William Parment
U.S. Senate: Charles Schumer & Kirsten
Gillibrand
U.S. House of Representatives:
Congressional District 27 - Brian Higgins
Congressional District 28 - Louise Slaughter
Congressional District 29 - Matt Zeller
