Chattanooga Mayor Sells out City to Union Bosses

ATR’s Center for Worker Freedom has obtained an agreement made between Chattanooga Mayor Andy Berke and the Services Employees International Union (SEIU), which effectively hands over the city's workforce to the left-wing labor organization.

The “2014 Memorandum of Understanding” allows unionized workers to conduct union business, including travel to and from union conventions and events, while on the job at the Chattanooga taxpayers’ expense.

The Mayor’s agreement with the SEIU allows for up to 600 hours of this so called “release time,” which amounts to a huge public gift to the mayor’s private supporters— the SEIU was a generous contributor to Berke’s mayoral campaign. Other unions were among Berke’s top campaign contributors in his campaign for State Senate in 2008.

Most outrageous, in spite of city workers not having asked for or voted on SEIU representation, Article 1 of the agreement states that “…the City of Chattanooga recognizes….. that the UNION is the authorized Representative of all General Government employees.”

The SEIU is a large and aggressively left-wing union that functions as an ATM for the Democratic Party.  In 2009, SEIU President Andy Stern bragged that “We spent a fortune to elect Barack Obama — $60.7 million to be exact — and we’re proud of it.”

The entire agreement can be read at WorkerFreedom.org