IBEW Local 2222 (Boston MA) members debate election, war, economy

Politics pays visit to offices: Candidates not alone in debates
By Jay Fitzgerald
Thursday, October 14, 2004

Nick Argenio's Verizon co-workers once told him to pipe down with all his cheerleading.
And at State Street Corp., according to employee Rich York, people have chosen up sides.
Yankees vs. Red Sox?
Nope.
Try Bush vs. Kerry.
``It's passionate all right,'' says Argenio, an ardent Republican and central office technician at Verizon's Post Office Square regional headquarters. ``I was once asked to hush it down at work because I was getting pretty loud'' during one debate over the election.
Indeed, the office politics of letting politics into the office can be even dicier than a your typical water-cooler throwdown over baseball.
``It's definitely on most people's radar screen,'' said Paul Feeney, a work colleague of Argenio and a supporter of Bay State native U.S. Sen. John Kerry [related, bio], the Democratic presidential candidate. ``It's a pretty polarizing election with a lot of vocal supporters on both sides.''
From Verizon to Citizens Bank to Fidelity Investments, most companies say they have no written policies about workplace campaign buttons, stickers or other political paraphernalia.
``It's a First Amendment issue,'' said Ed Merritt, chief executive of Mt. Washington Bank in South Boston.
He says it's frowned upon for ``customer-facing'' workers, such as tellers, to wear campaign buttons smack in the face of clients, even though the bank has no specific policy about political paraphernalia at work.
``(Customers) who support Kerry don't want to see a Bush button and it goes the other way,'' Merritt said.
But that doesn't stop Mt. Washington and other firms' employees from debating the race - or at least taking lighthearted digs at colleagues when their candidate appears to be down.
``People are taking sides,'' said York, who works in State Street Corp.'s wire transfer department in the financial district. ``But it all seems good-natured.''
If there's indeed a Red-Blue split across the country between GOP and Democratic-leaning states, there's also a white-collar and blue-collar split when it comes to loud workplace debates.
``There's just something about offices that stifles'' passionate discussions, York said.
Phil Johnston, chairman of the Massachusetts Democratic Party, proudly displays political paraphernalia and photos at the offices of his health care consulting firm, Philip W. Johnston Associates. But he does have to be a tad careful when meeting with, oh, pro-Bush clients.
``I try to separate the roles,'' he said.
But at outdoor construction sites and loading docks, watch out. They can shout all they want.
``Now more than ever there's a lot of debate over the war,'' said Feeney, a steward for the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 2222.
``Iraq seems to be the No. 1 issue among members,'' said Feeney, who also ticked off worries about the economy and workers' benefits as other big issues.


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