Local Labor Takes a Stand with FOP

(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)“What makes this issue so important to us as police officers who leave our homes to go out and protect the community is this is about our family,” said Marc Zifcak, immediate past president of Montgomery Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) Lodge 35 at a press conference yesterday. The FOP was joined by dozens of local labor supporters who turned out to demonstrate their solidarity with their brethren in blue against “Scott Walker-type anti-collective bargaining attacks” in Maryland. Question B would repeal “effects bargaining” for Montgomery County police officers. “For us to stand by and do nothing is the equivalent of a homeowner standing on his porch and saying ‘that’s not my house, let my neighbor fight that fire,’” added Metro Washington Council President Jos Williams. “All it takes is a change of wind and one spark to catch my house on fire,” he added, urging supporters “to rally around our brothers and sisters and draw a line in the sand which says this is a working family-friendly community and ensure that it remains so.” Added UFCW 1994 MCGEO President Gino Renne, “The FOP, the firefighters and every other union that represents individuals in the state of Maryland are part of the greater Maryland labor family and if you attack one you are going to fight us all. It’s that simple.” - photos by Matt Frasca