It’s unfortunate that there will be a recall vote in early October, and we hope that supporters of state Rep. Paul Holvey will come out to support him by voting down this frivolous and disruptive effort by UFCW leadership.

When signature-gathering workers attempting to unionize were fired and replaced with new employees the following week, we’re glad EW called foul (“From Recall to Revolt,” August 10). This is a new low for the UFCW’s leadership following their ridiculous recall effort against Holvey. That campaign was misleading and hypocritical anyway and will ultimately prove unsuccessful. Voters should use the election box and not a recall vote to “express their dissatisfaction with Holvey’s representation” (ufcw555.org). 

UFCW spent big bucks to hire a signature-gathering company (Osprey), co-founded by the union’s political director Mike Selvaggio. But when those workers tried to unionize to protect themselves from mistreatment, they were fired. Osprey claims it was UFCW that ended the contract. But why, as soon as the union supporters were gone, did another contract from UFCW miraculously reappear? This is classic union-busting, ironically made possible by UFCW. UFCW’s president makes more than $240,000 a year, and the workers he represents make less than one-fifth of that. As voters in House District 8, we have always appreciated being represented by an honest, hard-working and pro-worker leader like Paul Holvey. Shame on UFCW leadership.

Anne McGrail
Russell Shitabata
Eugene

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