Dueling protests outside congressman's office

CHARLESTON - With several dozen protesters on each side, the American Federation of Government Employees and area Tea Party supporters massed outside Rep. Tim Scott's (R - SC) office on Sam Ritenberg Blvd. in West Ashley Thursday afternoon.

AFGE organized the protest to confront Scott over his votes for the Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) budget, his vote to freeze the pay of federal employees for five years and his support for stripping federal employees of the right to have union dues deducted from their pay, according to President John Gage.

Upon learning of the planned demonstration, area Tea Party supporters organized a counter protest to show support for Scott and opposition to unions.

"The Congressman has a zero voting record for federal employees," Gage said. "He's gone out of his way to work against us."

Scott countered that he has no problem with people joining unions on a voluntary basis, he just doesn't think the Federal Government should do anything to make it easier for unions to increase membership.

"If you want to join the union you write a check," Scott said.

AFGE maintains that refusing to let federal employees select union dues among a slew of other pay check deductions available, including things like donations to the United Way and other nonprofit organizations, is a "direct ideological slap at unions," according to Gage.

The group also takes issue with Scott's opposition to allowing Transportation Security Administration employees to bargain collectively. When asked about the TSA issue by Gage during the protest Scott did not answer the question directly.

Scott supporter Roger O'Sullivan who did not vote for Scott because he did not live in his district at the time, said he is happy with Scott's performance so far.

"He's still brand new, he has a record to accumulate," O'Sullivan said. "I hope he doesn't fall prey to the siren song of liberalism in Washington (D.C.)"

O'Sullivan was among approximately two dozen Tea Party supporters. Similar numbers were present on the pro-union side.

"We're really supporting the concept of a right to work state," O'Sullivan said. "Unions are welcome, they just have to work to get their membership.

"Right now they're just trying to bully their way into some kind of recognition by the population," he said. "But Tim Scott won't be bullied."

Scott waded into the protest a little after noon and spent more than half an hour engaging the AFGE protesters in sometimes heated conversation while protesters on both sides tried to drown out each others' shouts and chants.

Tim Kauffman, a communications specialist for AFGE and AFL-CIO, said Scott had turned his back on many of his own constituents who are federal employees through his votes in Congress. Approximately 9,000 federal employees live in Scott's district, including approximately 5,000 Department of Defense employees and approximately 1,500 Veterans' Affairs employees.

"A lot of folks think all union members are Democrats, but a third of our members are Republicans, and probably voted for (Scott)," Kauffman said. "Now he's voting against them."

But Cindy Costa, another Scott supporter says unions aren't needed or wanted in South Carolina.

"If you work hard, you don't need a union," Costa said. "Unions are killing jobs in the north."

"I just came out to support Tim Scott, he's a good man," she added.

John Sammons, President of AFGE Local 1872 at Shaw Air Force Base said the protest was not a personal attack on Scott, but was a response to the policies he supports.

"His views against federal employees, to me are anti-American," Sammons said. "Federal union employees didn't get this country into this financial mess, the banks and Wall Street did, but now they're trying to balance it on our backs."

During encounters with protesters Scott maintained his position that union membership should be voluntary and that the government shouldn't either discourage or encourage membership, and that allowing federal employees to deduct dues from their pay was a tacit endorsement of unionization.

"I believe we're better off in a right to work environment," Scott said. "NuCor Steel is a nonunion shop and their wages are higher than other unionized plants."

AFGE's Gage counters that membership is entirely voluntary regardless of the pay check dues deduction, and that allowing employees who want to be members to have their dues deducted from their pay is no different than any other deduction the government allows them to make.

Scott disagreed, and said unions are different than other nonprofits.

"Basically he's trying to tell us who we can and can't support," said Russell Bannan, a union organizer with Jobs With Justice.