Barnacles Restaurant To Host Democratic Club Speaker

News Report:

On Tuesday, March 13, Nick Michalik of the Service Employees International Union will be the guest speaker at the monthly meeting of the East Hillsborough County Democratic Club at in Brandon. His topic will be “Privatization and Collective Bargaining: Their Impact on Basic Services for the Vulnerable and a Fair Economy for All Floridians.”

The meeting will begin at 6:30 p.m. at Barnacles, 926 Providence Rd., Brandon. 

As more states face attacks on the right to unionize, Floridians grow uneasy at the prospect of frontal assaults on collective bargaining like those that have wracked Wisconsin and Indiana. In fact, only last year, Florida Gov. Rick Scott created an uproar by his ultimately unsuccessful campaign to strip Florida teachers of most of their collective bargaining rights.

More recently, public outcry put an end to Scott ’s efforts to privatize Florida prisons, which would have replaced unionized prison employees with non-union workers.

While the threat to employee rights is clear in the debate over privatization and collective bargaining, too often missing in the discussion is the threat to basic services. For example, when a hospital is privatized and thus no longer is required to provide urgent medical care to the very poor, or when nursing home workers no longer have a strong collective voice to advocate for safe staffing levels, the foundations of communities are threatened.While privatization leads to union-busting and big corporate profits, it also threatens basic services and economic fairness.

Michalik, the political organizer of SEIU’s Tampa Bay and Southwest Florida regions, is the former field coordinator of the Manatee County Democratic Party and former field organizer for the Florida Democratic Coordinated Campaign. He has created volunteer leadership teams, run offices and liaised with leaders of African-American, Latino, student and business groups to broaden the coalitions necessary for advancing a progressive agenda. A graduate of Florida State University, he is based in St. Petersburg.

The East Hillsborough County Democratic Club was formed in 2005. Its president is Mike Angel. Among its core values are a stronger economy, better quality education, an improved health care system, support for families and communities, protection of the environment, and greater American effectiveness in the world. With members from Brandon, Riverview, Plant City, Mango, Lithia, and points in between, the club’s membership has grown dramatically as the eastern part of the county has increased in political diversity.

Call 813-653-0959.