A top labor executive and minimum wage campaign leader was suspended Monday after personnel complained about his inappropriate relationship with a staffer, BuzzFeed reports.
The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) suspended Executive Vice President Scott Courtney for violating the union’s “Code of Ethics and Conflict of Interest Policy.” Courtney had married someone on his staff over the weekend.
Courtney allegedly has a history of sleeping with female staffers, then promoting them. The practice was well known among the women of the union’s Fight for $15 campaign, according to BuzzFeed.
“Our union has been fighting for justice for working families, immigrants, women, people of color, LGBTQ people and people of all faiths and backgrounds in their work places, in our communities and in our economy and democracy,” SEIU International President Mary Kay Henry told BuzzFeed in an email. “Just as we fight to make change in our society, we know that our organization should reflect the kind of just society that we fight for across the country.”
Henry’s “organization,” however, has an internal culture vastly different than the society it promotes, several women inside the union told BuzzFeed.
Bloomberg contacted Courtney earlier in the week via Twitter, but the SEIU vice president said he was on his honeymoon and could not comment on his suspension. His wife posted photos on social media of their wedding, though, with the caption, “No matter what you do to us, I will not apologize for getting married. #LoveAlwaysWins.”
Courtney has played an influential role in the Fight For $15 movement that has advanced its agenda through Democratic politicians, driving them increasingly left in the process, according to Bloomberg.
All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.