Tag: 47%

WASHINGTON — Now that he’s gone public, Scott Prouty, the man behind the infamous “47 percent” video of Mitt Romney’s remarks at a Florida fundraiser, has been in talks to work for the United Steelworkers union in a role that’s yet to be determined, the head of the union told HuffPost on Thursday.

Steelworkers President Leo Gerard said the union met Prouty through Charles Kernaghan, a labor rights activist who heads the Institute for Global Labour and Human Rights, headquartered in Pittsburgh. Prouty had gotten in touch with Kernaghan, who’d been researching Bain Capital and outsourcing as Prouty anonymously disseminated his video last year. Gerard said that union officials met with Prouty at the presidential inauguration in Washington, D.C., in January, before the videographer was willing to go public.

Gerard explained his respect for Prouty, paraphrasing a quote from President Barack Obama that one voice can change a room, that room a city, that city a state, and so on. “I think Scott Prouty is one voice that changed the country,” Gerard said.

“He’s going to come work for us,” Gerard went on. “We’re going to sit down and talk. He has lots of skills, and we’ll try to put him in a place where he can use the skills he’s got.”

Prouty said in a brief phone call with HuffPost Thursday that he intends to take the job. “I’d be honored to be involved with them. I think they’re awesome people,” he said of the union. “There’s a good possibility it will work out.”

In addition to putting him to work, Gerard said the union will protect Prouty, given his new and overwhelming exposure. “No one’s gonna mess with him,” Gerard said.