While I am all for the staff Unionizing, why wasn’t this done years ago instead of a couple of days before a LIKELY new chair will be elected. It smells a bit.
As a person who has worked in printing for 25 years, we have often run into roadblocks in getting printing from the SDDP because they require a union printer. I only know of ONE union printer in Sioux Falls and they cannot handle large statewide mailings, that I know. That is why a lot of SDDP LARGE mailings are printed out of state at bigger union facilities. I find it to be a double standard requiring union printers when the staff isn’t even unionized.
Like I said, this is a good step, but it also looks like it will tie the hands of the new chair. Make no mistake, the new chair will want to make staff changes. I think it is pretty obvious that when there is a regime change, you change a few soldiers under that regime. I guess we will see what kind of roadblocks this presents for the new chair. I told one candidate already that if they win they need to ‘Clean House’. You can’t keep remnants of a failing party around when you are trying to rebuild it. Fixing the SDDP will take more than just a new chair, it will take a NEW staff willing to try NEW ideas, whether they are union or not.