On Saturday, Feb. 26, 2011, at the rally against Senate Bill 5 sponsored by Debbie Phillips (our state representative) at the Athens Recreation Center, my boss, Archie Stanley, stood up and spoke strongly against SB 5, with this warning for all 350 persons to hear:
“The legislature can undo in about 10 minutes what took your family and mine over 100 years to put together. Everything in Athens County is built on collective bargaining. People in power can become corrupt and collective bargaining is the equalizer for the little guy. I have seen a lot of times when people in power have tried to cripple or do away with collectible bargaining, but they have always failed. Now, it is up to us to stop this onslaught of our public employees’ rights won with great sacrifice by our families. We must prepare to bitterly fight this attempt by state government to balance the state budget on the backs of the working class.”
How true his words were!
I have the best boss of my life. Archie has stood by his employees and in fact, all public sector employees from our entire region for more than 32 years.
He and his family have always been pro-union and always looking out for the little guy. He negotiates labor contracts directly with his employees and so saves thousands of taxpayer dollars. We were all proud to be part of the ultimate defeat (trouncing) of SB 5.
I am asking for all public sector employees, and others who stood by public sector employees in Athens, to join me and vote for Archie Stanley, and return this good man, our full-time county engineer, to office!
Susie Blauser resides in Athens.
