Worker Suspended For Dressing As Boss For Halloween Party
He’s the guy in the back left in the picture wearing a suit and looking important. But the real boss suspended him when he showed up at a costume party as–the real boss.
“It was meant to be satirical, meant to be fun,” said Bo Whitener, who ships products from a Georgia distribution center for the pharmaceutical company McKesson. He told Salon the stunt was “really a way to come out and say we’re here and we mean business.” The company did not respond to requests for comment regarding the incident or the audio recording.
The costume saga started when Whitener, a leader in a still-ongoing effort to win Teamsters union representation at the Georgia facility, showed up to a McKesson Halloween party dressed up as company CEO John Hammergren. Whitener told Salon he gave out chocolate coins and told co-workers, “You’re not going to get any money here until you get a union.” (Reuters reported that Hammergren’s compensation — including “a $159 million lump-sum pension payment” if he retired — stirred controversy at McKesson’s July shareholder meeting.)
Whitener said fellow employees “were thrilled with it.” But Whitener and the Teamsters allege management ejected him from the party with a threat to call the police, and then interrogated and suspended him once he returned to work — only bringing him back after the union filed charges with the National Labor Relations Board.
