MIDLAND, MI — A prominent local business leader from here said he feels secure in his job despite calls for his resignation after he supported an organization named in a federal lawsuit filed last month.
Jimmy Greene, president of ABC of Michigan, was the focus of a protest outside his organization’s Midland headquarters Tuesday, Feb. 1. About 75 protest participants took issue with Greene’s recent support of United Electrical Contractors.
The Lansing-based group was named in a federal lawsuit filed Thursday, Jan. 20, in the U.S. District Court Eastern District of Michigan in Detroit.
Six former employees alleged they and other workers of color were routinely subjected to racist names like the N-word and “wetback” and comments like “Hurry up before I pull out my whip” and “Go back to your plantation.” They also were given severe disparate treatment, training opportunities and compensation in relation to white workers, they allege.
Greene and ABC of Michigan were not targets of the lawsuit. ABC of Michigan serves as a trade association statewide for contracting companies, including United Electrical Contractors.
Protesters, though, were upset with Greene because of a statement he released last month following the lawsuit’s filing. In the statement, he called the lawsuit “bogus” and an attempt by a competing, union organization — International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers — to oust the nonunion United Electrical Contractors from a job it won in a contract bid. The project: The Standard, a 10-story housing development being built for University of Michigan students in downtown Ann Arbor by Georgia-based Landmark Properties.
Greene, who is Black, said he decried racism and discrimination in the workplace, and that the protest Tuesday was an “absurd” extension of the campaign to impact United Electrical Contractors’ Ann Arbor contract.
“There were complaints filed (against United Electrical Contractors), and if they’re found guilty, they should have every kind of repercussion there is,” said Greene, of Saginaw Township.
“However, it’s an allegation. What the union did was take the allegation, make it as if there was already a verdict rendered, and decided that they were going to ask (Landmark Properties) to throw out United Electrical before they even had a chance to defend themselves.”
Some of the participants in Tuesday’s protest in Midland also rallied last week at the Ann Arbor construction site of The Standard, criticizing Landmark Properties for working with United Electrical Contractors.
In this 2017 file photo, Jimmy Greene speaks at the YWCA Great Lakes Bay Region Women of Achievement Awards at Horizons Conference Center in Saginaw Township.Tori Schneider
The protestors’ dispute with Greene played out — sort of — during the Tuesday roadside rally in front of ABC of Michigan’s Midland headquarters, where Greene served as the group’s regional leader until he was hired as the organization’s statewide president in 2020. Greene now works largely in Lansing, including on Tuesday.
Still, protesters chanted “Shame on Jimmy Greene” at the Midland gathering, where he was called “a biting snake.” Two of the lawsuit’s six plaintiffs attended as well as members of Bay City’s NAACP chapter and the president of a chapter of the organization led by Rev. Al Sharpton.
Rev. Charles Williams II, president of the Michigan chapter of Sharpton’s National Action Network, spoke at the rally. He said Greene “turned a blind eye to justice” by coming to the defense of United Electrical Contractors.
“In the words of Thurgood Marshall, it doesn’t matter whether you are a black snake or a white snake: the snake still bites,” said Williams, who is Black.
“Jimmy Greene is a biting snake because he isn’t standing up for what’s right. How can you qualify yourself as a Black man in America and suggest you stand on a pedestal while there are Black and Brown and White brothers who are being persecuted for standing up for what’s right.”
The protesters sent members of the media a 36-second video clip of Greene speaking to an audience of United Electrical Contractors employees at a 2021 event, where he appeared to discuss the benefits of working outside of a union setting.
“I love my freedom,” Greene said in the clip. “I like the fact that I can talk about Black (expletive) and I can talk about Republican (expletive); I can talk about anything I want to and not have you label me.”
Critics said the clip showed Greene “encouraging” behavior that could lead to racist and discriminatory practices in the workplace.
Greene, a Republican, said the clip was edited and presented outside of context.
“The idea that they would take my whole body of work and reduce it to a snippet in a video is absurd to me,” Greene said. “People who use racism for business and/or political means are disgusting to me. When racism is real, it should be addressed and punished. When people use it to advance a business gain, I take great offense to that.”
Members of the group protesting Tuesday pledged to continue calling for Greene’s resignation.
“We plan to march all over the state,” Williams told the crowd. “Wherever there is ABC, we will be there. Wherever United got a job site, we’ll be there.”
Charles Williams, president of the Michigan chapter of the National Action Network, speaks during a protest in front of ABC of Michigan's Midland headquarters on Tuesday, Feb. 1.
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