Day 1 - Sweet Irony

Life sometimes kicks up ironies so fantastic you have to laugh out loud. On opening day of the SEIU convention there were more than I could count. The first one happened less than ten minutes after I got inside the convention center. (Yes, they did scan the barcode on my ID badge, albeit only once, and I did have to pass through a turnstile)

I was being escorted to the press section of the convention floor along with Kris Maher from the Wall Street Journal and Michelle Amber from the BNA’s Daily Labor Report when I got pulled out of our little convoy by one of the convention sergeants-at-arms. When I looked over at him, whose face was I staring at? Yup, Frank Hornick (seen below, dutifully guarding the door in question):

SEIU Convention - Hornick Sgt-At-Arms

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For those of you scratching your head (true, Frank Hornick's not yet a household name) Frank was leading SEIU’s version of the flying wedge in April when over 150 staff and members tried to storm the banquet hall at the Labor Notes conference. Here is Frank in action back then:

SEIU Convention - Hornick Labor Notes 1
SEIU Convention - Hornick Labor Notes 2
SEIU Convention - Hornick Labor Notes 3

Mark Brenner is the former director of Labor Notes and is currently an instructor at the University of Oregon's Labor Education & Research Center.
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