Poor Joe the Plumber, victimized once again

Samuel "Joe" Wurzelbacher - a.k.a., “Joe the Plumber" - announced today on Facebook and earlier on his Web site that he has landed a union job with Chrysler Group LLC.

Mr. Wurzelbacher, 40, of Springfield Township, who once was vilified as an "unlicensed plumber," said he was on his fourth day today and taking a smoke break at the time, when he was accosted by a co-worker as a “teabagger,” a derogatory term used for Tea Party members.

In long message, Mr. Wurzelbacher said, “I was just recently hired on at Chrysler,” and explained that while he's known as a conservative, he's not an enemy of private unions.

“In order to work for Chrysler, you are required to join the Union, in this case UAW. There’s no choice – it’s a union shop – the employees voted to have it that way and in America that’s the way it is,” he wrote.

“I had three days of orientation, and now I’m “on the job” over here at Chrysler and on Day 4, I’m outside on a break smoking a cigarette and right on cue – some guy calls me a ‘teabagger,’” he said.

He said the man called himself a "journeyman," and then quickly walked away.

"I asked him if he recognizes the training we receive in the military in the trades as legitimate, but he didn’t seem interested in a serious discussion and just rushed off…" Mr. Wurzelbacher said. Mr. Wurzelbacher has said that he learned plumbing in the Air Force.

“I’m a Christian and a conservative and I refuse to give my [union dues] to things I oppose, like Planned Parenthood, gun control and the Democratic Party.”