Some 100 volunteers from Comcast cares turned out to do volunteer work at Fawcett Elementary School in Tacoma, Washington this weekend, but some felt like the endeavor wasn't all that worthwhile. Volunteers said that much more could have been accomplished than actually was because of school and union rules. Union and school officials met several days before the planned work party to review and approve the proposed projects for the weekend. The two groups wanted to make sure that the projects were safe for volunteers to do, in the best interests of the school, and not taking away substantially from union employee livelihoods. Several projects were not allowed to go forth, which angered some volunteers. One said that the disapproved projects needed to get done, and it was clear that union employees were not doing them.
See "Union squelches Tacoma school volunteer work", Debbie Cafazzo, Seattle Post Intelligencer, April 28, 2010