UNION LEADER CALLS DeLEO’S BREAKFAST ABSENCE “NO LOSS”

STATE HOUSE, BOSTON, APRIL 4, 2016….If anyone was disappointed not to see House Speaker Robert DeLeo at the Greater Boston Labor Council’s breakfast Monday, the union group’s president was not among them.

“The speaker of the House, Bobby DeLeo, will not be here. I think he lost his way in the snow, sorta screwed him up,” GBLC President Louis Mandarini said in an introduction to those gathered on the top floor of the Omni Parker house. “No loss. Trust me on that, no goddamn loss.”

The speaker, a Winthrop Democrat who drew the ire of organized labor last year when the Democratic-controlled Legislature embraced Gov. Charlie Baker’s proposal to temporarily suspend the “Pacheco Law” that imposes controls on privatizing public services, was invited to the breakfast but could not make it, according to his office.

When some members of the audience responded to Mandarini’s comments with groans and surprised expressions, Mandarini said, “Well, let’s set the tone. Can’t make it, take the hit.”

Last year, the Boston Globe reported that some union leaders were advocating a picket of a fundraiser DeLeo hosted for Rep. Michael Moran at Carrie Nation in the wake of Democratic support for the suspension of the state’s privatization law for the MBTA.

DeLeo, whose office declined to comment on Mandarini’s comments Monday, said last year that he was “very disappointed” with the union rhetoric directed at Democrats who supported the governor’s proposal to suspend the Pacheco Law and pointed to his own record of labor-friendly legislative accomplishments.

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04/04/2016