Union thugs, but I repeat myself...

Did a union that supports a candidate for U.S. Rep. Rahm Emanuel's seat fire a worker for endorsing a different candidate?
The campaign of Dr. Victor Forys, a Polish-born physician seeking Emanuel's seat, will host a news conference today allowing Agnes Sobczyk to tell her story.

Agnes Sobczyk holds up the letter she passed to a co-worker detailing her concerns about State Rep. John Fritchey. Sobczyk believes her endorsement of Forys caused her to be fired. (Chris Sweda/Sun-Times) Sobczyk said she had been working as a receptionist for the Rosemont-based United Food and Commercial Workers Union for nearly a year when she was abruptly fired Thursday.
Her crime?
She said she passed a letter to a co-worker detailing her concerns about State Rep. John Fritchey, the candidate the union has endorsed to replace Emanuel.
She passed the letter to her co-worker on Wednesday night and on Thursday morning, she said Union President Ron Powell called her into his office.
"He shoved this in my face and said, 'Explain this!'" she said. Sobczyk said she told Powell she was concerned about some stories she read about Fritchey and that she thought Forys was a better candidate.
"Then I just stopped talking and said, 'I'm fired, right?'" she said. "He said, 'Yes you're fired.' I couldn't believe it. I got nothing but good reviews there." Sobczyk came to the United States from Poland as a child herself like Forys but that is not why she is supporting him, she said.
"He's not part of the machine, like Fritchey, like the union," she said.
Sobczyk spoke to the Sun-Times Saturday afternoon at a Forys campaign office on the Northwest Side. She said she only started volunteering for his campaign after getting a call two weeks ago.
Sobczyk's immediate supervisor at the union told the Sun-Times, "I have no comment on that."
The Sun-Times called Powell and his son Steve, the union's vice-president, at their homes Saturday. Steve Powell said he would have someone at the union call back to comment on the issue. No one called. The Sun-Times placed more calls Sunday morning and was told by family members that the Powells would call back later. Steve Powell was also present for the meeting at which Sobczyk was fired, she said.
Fritchey said he was unaware of the story until the Sun-Times asked him about it Sunday. He was skeptical.
"This sounds like a different version of a candidate throwing a brick through their own window and then calling the press conference," Fritchey said. "I've spent my legislative career fighting for the rights of working men and women. Obviously, I would never condone anything that would hurt anyone's ability to exercise their free speech."