A New Jersey labor union has apologized for 'poor judgment' after it left a coffin with a picture of a toe-tagged dead body outside of an elementary school last week - causing the furious school superintendent to knock it over and cover it up.
Liuna Local 77, which represents construction workers, was protesting the Edison Township school district's decision to hire a contractor that would 'only hire workers of Macedonian and Serbian decent' for a $9 million job, the union said Friday.
They left a coffin right next to Lincoln Elementary School's welcome sign with a banner featuring a photo of a dead body's toe-tagged feet and the words, 'Irresponsible contractors are killing our middle class wages.'
In video captured by Edison mayoral candidate Keith Hahn, school Superintendent Bernard Bragen walks toward the coffin and topples it onto the grass.
Liuna Local 77 left a coffin with a banner of a toe-tagged dead body outside of Lincoln Elementary in Edison Township, New Jersey in protest of a contracting firm hired by the school
In video captured by Edison mayoral candidate Keith Hahn, school Superintendent Bernard Bragen walks toward the coffin and topples it onto the grass
Bragen says he tried to get the union to remove it.
'They said, 'tough s***,''' he told NJ Advance Media.
'It's inappropriate for children to have a casket, especially 5 and 6-year-olds who are returning to school after probably some of the most traumatic times we've had in the last 18 months,' Bragen added, referring to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Hahn said he also had a hard time reasoning with the union.
'They didn't want to hear it. They insisted on leaving it there,' Hahn said. 'Parents were very angry.'
The union had previously installed a giant inflatable rat outside of the elementary school on Wednesday, the first day of classes, but they say students were never exposed to the rat or to the coffin. (Scabby the Rat is a popular symbol used by labor unions engaged in feuds with businesses.)
'All of these things were set up before school had started and the coffin and banner were down before students arrived. How do we know this? Because at 8.21 a school official actually knocked down the display which was never put back up before its removal,' union business manager
