The Gazette
C COMMUNITY OMMUNITY NE N NEWS EWS www.gazette.net
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Wednesday, September 11, 2013
Happy birthday, Montgomery
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Page A-4
Striking worker hit by company trash truck n Trash collectors might end picket, return to work BY KRISTA BRICK AND ST. JOHN BARNED-SMITH STAFF WRITERS
PHOTOS BY TOM FEDOR/THE GAZETTE
Dick Parks of Virginia, leader of the Sunshine Skiffle Band, plays an alto horn during the Montgomery County Historical Society’s birthday celebration Sunday at the Beall Dawson House in Rockville. The county was established Sept. 6, 1776.
County Republicans hear from Haddaway Lieutenant governor candidate: Craig would take hard line against taxes, budget growth n
BY
RYAN MARSHALL STAFF WRITER
Taking a hard look at Maryland’s taxes and government agencies will be a key part of David Craig’s administration if he’s elected governor in 2014, his running mate told a group of Montgomery County Republicans last week. Del. Jeannie HaddawayRiccio (R-Dist. 37B) of Newcomb, the lieutenant governor candidate with Harford County Executive Craig (R), spoke Sept. 3 to the Republican Club of Montgomery County at Savannah’s American Grill in Kensington. Haddaway-Riccio is using only her maiden name, Haddaway, for the campaign. The gathering of 10 to 15 people was a chance for Montgomery Republicans to get to know the delegate from the Eastern Shore, whom Craig chose in July as his running mate, said Mark Uncapher, chairman of the Montgomery County Republican Central Committee. A Craig administration would be centered around getting the state’s fiscal house in
order by stopping the growth of a state budget that’s increased every year in recent memory, cutting taxes and aggressively fighting waste, HaddawayRiccio told the members of the Republican Club. She praised Craig as a candidate with proven executive experience, who has lowered taxes and balanced the budget in Harford County. According to Harford County government spokeswoman Sherrie Johnson, the county is required to submit a balanced budget every year. Everywhere the candidates go in Maryland, they hear from people concerned about taxes, Haddaway-Riccio said, and there’s no tax a Craig administration wouldn’t review, reduce or repeal. Every state agency can be looked at and pared down, Haddaway-Riccio said. She also called for budgetary consequences for agencies that don’t correct problems and issues turned up by state audits. Haddaway-Riccio said the campaign plans to keep a steady presence in Montgomery County, where registered Democrats outnumber the 125,000 registered Republicans by a nearly 3-to-1 ratio. Their message seems to resonate in Montgomery when they talk to business owners about taxes and other issues, she said.
Good turnout statewide will be necessary to win in the general election, and they won’t discount any county in the state, she said. Craig and HaddawayRiccio will spend a lot of time in Montgomery because the sheer numbers dictate it, said campaign manager Paul Ellington. With 125,000 registered Republicans in the county, they’re hoping to get at least a 65 percent turnout, he said. Haddaway-Riccio said it was too soon to tell what the effect would be of Charles County businessman Charles Lollar’s recent entry into the GOP gubernatorial primary, joining Craig and Del. Ronald A. George (R-Dist. 30) of Arnold. Last month, Frederick County Board of Commissioners President Blaine R. Young ended his pursuit of the Republican nomination and said he’d endorse Lollar. Lollar officially kicked off his campaign Sept. 3 with several events. When asked about Lollar’s impact, Ellington played up Craig’s executive experience in Harford County, as well as his experience in the state Senate and House of Delegates, which Ellington said would allow him to hit the ground running in Annapolis. “Governor is not an entrylevel position,” Ellington said.
A striking worker at Potomac Disposal was hit by a trash truck Wednesday morning, as workers at the Gaithersburg trash-collecting company continued to picket the company over accusations of worker intimidation by managers. About 50 employees for Potomac Disposal went on strike Monday morning, claiming the company tried to intimidate them during labor negotiations last week with threats of immigration checks. Wednesday morning the two sides were working out a deal and workers were unable to report to work. As the strike continued Wednesday one striker was hit by a Potomac Disposal trash truck as a driver failed to negotiate a turn from the company’s gate entrance, driving onto the sidewalk and hitting the worker, according to Montgomery County Police spokeswoman Cpl. Rebecca Innocenti. “He was leaving the company property and making a turn, he failed to control his speed and did not navigate the turn correctly, went up on the sidewalk and hit the pedestrian,” Innocenti said. Anibal Rivas, a striking worker who said he witnessed the accident, said the truck driver “gunned the engine” adding that his co-worker was on the ground and bleeding after being struck. “He didn’t look too good,” Rivas said. The male striker was taken to a local hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, Innocenti said. The driver was charged with failing to control speed to avoid a collision, police said. Nicole Duarte, communications director for Laborers’ International Union of North America Mid-Atlantic Regional Organizing Coalition, which bargains for the workers, wrote in an email on Tuesday that strikers have offered to return to work, as they are legally required to do to keep their jobs. Duarte said Wednesday, the negotiations continued, but that the workers were not allowed back at work. Potomac Disposal did not address the accusations that workers made against the company. On Tuesday afternoon, Lee Levine, president of the company, invited a Gazette reporter to speak with him at the company’s offices on Woodfield Road, then canceled at the last minute after company officials learned that the strikers planned to come back to their job site on Wednesday. “Striking is an option of last resort and we felt it was warranted with the severity of the intimidation here,” Duarte said during an interview on Tuesday. “They felt they have made their point and want to hear what management has to say,” she said.
DAN GROSS/THE GAZETTE
Felix Rodriguez uses a bullhorn Tuesday to lead the chants as workers from Potomac Disposal protest along Woodfield Road outside the company’s Gaithersburg headquarters. Duarte said the workers were not ruling out future strikes. On Tuesday, dozens of strikers milled about on Woodfield Road in Gaithersburg, holding signs with slogans like “We haul trash, but we’re not trash,” as trucks rolled by, horns blasting in support. The signs and the strike continued Wednesday morning. “There’s a lot of injustice going on,” Yovany Ramos, a striker, said on Tuesday, when the workers normally would have been collecting trash from 18,000 homes sprawling across Potomac, Bethesda, Wheaton and Silver Spring. According to Duarte, the workers had been negotiating with the company’s managers Thursday, seeking higher wages, health care benefits, and sick days. When workers showed up Friday morning, they found Form I-9’s — forms the government uses to verify citizenship — attached to their time cards, something they had never experienced before, strikers said. “In general, the company should have gone through this process right when the workers were hired. ... If they do have records for some workers, then the timing of this particular action on their part is even more suspicious,” Duarte said. “If it wasn’t a priority when [the workers] were hired, you have to wonder what made it a priority this week,” she said, adding that only the company’s mostly Latino crew, which covers Montgomery County, was asked for I-9’s. “It’s a very common tactic — you’ll see it through out country in a bunch of different industries,” Duarte said. “That was sort of the straw that broke the camel’s back,” Ramos said. “We condemn that kind of practice,” said Sirine Shebaya, an attorney at the ACLU of Maryland. “If this was happening in Montgomery County, that would be really shocking because we would expect more from these more progressive areas of Maryland.” She said labor laws prohibit reprisals against workers, even if they are undocumented. Potomac Disposal has a $5 million contract with Montgom-
ery County. It serves about 40,000 homes in the county, according to county officials. “We don’t want workers who work for county contractors to not have the right to organize and bargain collectively. ... We’re monitoring this and we’ll see where things lead,” said Patrick Lacefield, a county spokesman. He did not know if the county would audit Potomac Disposal, he said. Right now, though, the county is focusing on the basics. “We want to make sure trash get picked up. If this company can’t do it, we have other provisions [so that] the other two [that already collect trash] are required to step in and do the work,” he said. Ernest Ojito, an organizer at the strike, said the workers began trying to improve their working conditions last November. The workers claimed they were being called names and were not allowed to file for worker’s compensation, among other issues. Drivers earn about $120 to $130 per day, Duarte said, and receive some sick days or vacation days. Helpers make about half of that, and do not receive sick time. “Sometimes I finish my route and they want me to finish another route. They don’t pay more for any of that work,” said Oscar Martinez, adding that the workers do not receive holiday pay. Martinez has been with Potomac Disposal for eight years. Union attorney Brian Petruska said employees file I-9’s when they start their jobs, but employers can update their records if they have a good reason to do so — for instance, if documents had been damaged in a flood. “Ordinarily, you get it done on the first day and never hear about it again,” he said. In another labor dispute earlier this year, a company used the same tactic to fire about half of its workforce, he said. “It’s not proper or legal for those people to lose their jobs because they were trying to join with other workers to collectively bargain for a raise,” Petruska said. Staff Writer Andrew Schotz contributed to this story. sjbsmith@gazette.net
Clarksburg man dies in motorcycle crash Incident still under investigation n
BY
KRISTA BRICK
STAFF WRITER
A 53-year-old Clarksburg man died Friday when the motorcycle he was driving hit a utility pole on Hawkins Creamery Road in Damascus. Officers responded to the 9500
block of Hawkins Creamery Road, where they found a 2012 Harley Dynaglide Switchback that had left the roadway and hit a pole. Kenneth Alan Burch, 53, of Clarksburg was thrown from the bike and pronounced dead at the scene, according to a police news release. Preliminary investigation indicates the motorcycle was traveling east on Hawkins Creamery Road when, for reasons still un-
der investigation, the motorcycle failed to negotiate a curve, left the roadway, and struck a utility pole. Police had no further information on Tuesday. The accident remains under investigation. Anyone with information is asked to contact the Collision Reconstruction Unit at 240-773-6620. Callers may remain anonymous. kbrick@gazette.net