Posted on Fri, Jan. 18, 2008

Unions protest property tax cut

BY DOMINICK TAO

From nurses and phone company employees to those who unload cargo ships, union workers from around Miami banded together Thursday to campaign against the property tax cut referendum that will be on ballots Jan. 29.

Members of local and state unions were up before sunrise, handing out fliers to AT&T employees as they hurried to clock in before 7 a.m.

MOBILIZING VOTERS

As noon arrived at Jackson Memorial Hospital, union nurses handed out voter registration and absentee ballot forms to hospital employees as they went to lunch.

And later, more than 80 members of the painters' union at the Miami Beach Convention Center received information from union reps criticizing Gov. Charlie Crist's ``people's tax cut.''

Unions in Miami and throughout the state are encouraging members to oppose Amendment 1, which would trim property taxes and also allow homeowners to transfer their existing tax savings to a new home if they move.

The unions say the property tax break, which would average about $240 a year, would give little relief to homeowners at the expense of needed public services.

''This affects services for the average worker. If he has to call 911 or have his trash picked up, he's going to suffer,'' said Don Abicht, president of the local Communication Workers of America chapter.

``Our folks are smart enough to know $240 in their pocket ain't going to mean anything.''

Crist traveled the state on Wednesday to push for passage of the amendment. The AFL-CIO is concluding a statewide tour on Friday with stops in Broward and Palm Beach counties.

Fred Frost, president of the South Florida AFL-CIO chapter, said most unions have taken a low-budget, personal approach to combat the glossy TV ads promoting the tax cut that have been running throughout the state.

''We need to be grass-roots,'' Frost said. ``The workers need to go home and tell their wives and friends.''

Frost operated a digital camcorder as he watched volunteers speak to arriving phone company workers Thursday morning, the scene illuminated by pickup truck headlights as the employees rolled into the parking lot.

''The union's finally getting with it on YouTube,'' Frost said.

URGING 'NO' VOTE

In addition to the mobilization of organized labor, local government officials and many Democrats are working to defeat the amendment. One opposition group, Florida is Our Home, has raised $855,000 and is sending voters mail urging a ''no'' vote.

Crist says he believes the measure will pass.

''It's hard for me to imagine people going to the polls and not cut their property taxes,'' he said last week. But on Tuesday, he added: ``I think it will be close.''

Crist maintains that cities and counties can continue to pay police and firefighters and supply other services, just as they did before the escalation of property values in the past several years.