Unions March Against Yuengling

Beer maker may or may not be against union laws.

Unions protested Saturday in Pottsville against right-to-work laws, claiming that Yuengling owner Dick Yuengling supports the laws, which are not enacted in Pennsylvania.

Right-to-work laws prohibit unions to enforce membership by mandating that paying dues to a union is a requisite to employment at the company.

Whether Yuengling is actually against the laws is bizarrely ambiguous. The unions claim he is, but he declined comment to the Morning Call. The paper said that he “reportedly announced his support for such a law in August.”

Chanting, “Organize, don’t fool around, Pottsville is a union town” and “Richard Yuengling, rich and rude, we don’t like your attitude,” demonstrators marched through the city’s streets to the courthouse. Allentown Mayor Ed Pawlowski, a candidate for governor, was among the numerous speakers to address the rally.

“It’s going to eliminate anything that has to do with organized labor,” Pawlowski said of the legislation. “We can’t afford this in Pennsylvania.”

[Morning Call]