A church in Seattle, Washington was accused of "proselytising with pepperoni," as Fox News put it, by serving free pizza slices to students of three high schools in the city.
Although the Seattle School District has given permission to the Bethany Community Church to serve the free pizzas to the students, a union representing the public school cafeteria workers raised a howl of protest last week, warning that the weekly pizza giveaway could result in cafeteria layoffs, according to Fox News.
The International Union of Operating Engineers thus launched a campaign to intimidate and bully the church into submission. The school cafeteria workers accused the church of "consciously and deliberately harming our families and community through their actions."
The lunch ladies union even accused the church of "luring" students off campus with "high fat, empty calorie pizza from boxes out of the trunk of a car."
One union member even delivered a threatening phone message to Youth Pastor Nick Steinloski, who led the free pizza distribution.
Steinloski wondered why they were being targeted by the lunch ladies. "We are not telling them a Bible story before they get pizza," he told television station KOMO.
He said they only wanted to show the kids that the church cares about them.
But the union lunch ladies would have none of the pastor's explanation.
They even threatened to picket the church unless its pizza ladies stopped serving pizza.
They said cafeteria jobs are based on how many meals are sold. With fewer meals sold because of the free pizzas being given by the church, fewer workers would be needed.
"That means a number of families will potentially lose health benefits and (ultimately) the basic income that supports them," the union said in a statement.
So as not to inflame the situation, the Bethany Community Church settled for a compromise solution. It decided to stop serving free pizza at lunch and will instead do so after school.
"We do care about the workers, we care about the immigrant workers and those working here at the school," Steinloski said.
