Maybe I'm mistaken the story, but didn't Fred push a union rep?
The way I read it is that Fred Wilson is the president of local 776. I don't know anything about him but in my opinion a real union man especially an elected official would have done everything in his power to protect his members. And that goes for a push shove or a punch. He should have told ABF it was a chest bump or some other silly gesture of friendship. Nobody would have believed it but it would have given ABF an excuse to avoid that discharge.