I had been hearing rumors, but the Northwest Herald’s Brandon Coutre nailed the story.
The coroner’s office is the next to the smallest of any of the elected officials. Six employees.
And they want to join Democratic Party Governor Rod Blagojevich’s most supportive union—the Service Employees International Union.
Only the 4-person auditor’s office is smaller
So, what’s this all about?
One observer thought that it might be because Coroner Marlene Lantz was seeking her deputy coroners’ assistance in her campaign against Democrat Dave Bachmann.
Another through it might be because some feared the loss of their jobs should Bachmann defeat Lantz. He did, after all, get more votes in the primary election than she did.
Bachmann thinks that the scurry to join a union results from this McHenry County Blog article, which suggests that six employees are too many for a county the size of McHenry.
Bachmann says Lantz “has overstaffed her office.” Bachmann promises to go out on calls.
Let’s see.
If the boss does more of the work, there might not be a need for as many assistants.
“These workers have no reason to fear my coming in, should I win the election and abusing their hours and or work load,” Bachmann said. “I remember too well the 100 hour weeks I was forced to work in an industry that, in years past, was never challenged by labor unions. I will protect their private time and allow time off for emotional healing when needed.”
A union, however, cannot force an employer to keep people on the payroll, if there are layoffs. It might determine who gets laid off, of course, if that is in the contract.
So, what do you think?
Is this an attempt by insecure employees trying to keep their jobs?
Of is it an attempt by pressured employees to avoid doing political work to keep their boss in office?
Or is it a combination of both?
In any event, the Northwest Herald apparently thinks this might be an issue in the campaign.
Maybe it will find others.
It is funny that Beckman said that employees don’t need to fear him, but than he goes on to talk about layoffs. I believe he doesn’t understand the job as a coroner and would just like to win an election. There is no way possible that this man could do the job alone. The increase in population alone has grown to the point that 6 people may not be enough. Unless you would want to wait to pro long a burial or if you want mistakes made in investigations. As far as anyone wanting to join a union they are protected in Illinois under the strongest labor laws in the country. I have a friend who works in this department and they work unbelievable hours and have allot of respect for their boss. Maybe they formed a union for other reasons than this election. When other unions organized in the sheriffs office no one said they did it because their boss was a bad guy, or Even the highway department or so on. Proud to be Union tradesman and I believe we all should be union. One final note! Government is not there to save money but to make life more efficient and better, Which means if you have to open different offices and bring on ore staff to serve the public than that is what you are suppose to do. Not keep everything in the 19th Century!