The Florida Independent reported Tuesday that as a high school social studies teacher at Deerfield Beach High School in Broward County, Allen West was a member of the Broward Teachers Union. Republican West is running in a close race against Rep. Ron Klein, D-Fort Lauderdale, in the state’s 22nd congressional district, and has attacked unions for potentially “pressuring” businesses, “threatening” Florida’s status as a right-to-work state, and backing his opponent.
Florida AFL-CIO Communications Director Rich Templin calls West’s actions hypocritical.
“People should look closely that when a union benefited him, he was for the unions,” he says. “Now that he wants to use it to get elected, he doesn’t care that he might deny those benefits to other workers. I think it says a lot of him as a person.” Templin also disputes the claim that the Employee Free Choice Act would eliminate the secret ballot in union elections. “There is not now nor has there been an attempt to eliminate the secret ballot in union elections,” he says.
The West campaign has not responded to requests for comment.
Luke Johnson reports on Florida for The American Independent.
