National union leader rallies against Des Moines cuts

The leader of the international union that represents many of the Des Moines school district workers who’ll soon be laid off is pledging a public relations campaign to shame school officials into using cash reserves to balance the budget instead.Gerald McEntee, international president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, was in Des Moines on Saturday and met with some of the workers who may be getting pink slips. McEntee says the union will send a 25-thousand dollar check to the local union that represents the workers to make sure “nobody has to have a sad or dark Christmas.” McEntee says school officials plan to lay some of the workers off before Christmas. McEntee says the school board and the superintendent are acting like Scrouge. The Des Moines School Board voted last week to lay off over 40 workers to deal with a recent reduction in state aid.