CLEVELAND, Ohio – A planned picket of the Cuyahoga County Democratic Party annual dinner by unions could put headliner Kamala Harris’ planned appearance in jeopardy.

The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees is targeting County Executive Armond Budish and County Councilwoman Shontel Brown – also the county party chairwoman – with a protest of the April 28 dinner at the Hilton Downtown Cleveland. A spokeswoman for Harris, a California senator who is running for president, said Harris would not cross a union protest line.

“Kamala Harris is a longstanding friend of labor and if there is a dispute that leads to a picket line, she will not cross it,” said Kate Waters, a Harris spokeswoman.

The scuffle between the union and the party centers on Brown and Budish’s vote to transfer the three county jails’ health services to MetroHealth.

The deal, which the County Council passed April 9, did not guarantee that nurses currently working at the three county jails would keep their jobs when the positions are transferred to MetroHealth. Nor did it preserve those jobs’ union status.

The nurses currently working in the jail would be allowed to reapply for their positions with MetroHealth without union representation.

That did not sit well with AFSCME, which represents some of the nurses at the jail.

“To keep these nurses on the job, we have tried to work with the County Council, the county executive and the chairwoman of the Cuyahoga County Democratic Party,” said AFSCME Ohio Council 8 President John Lyall. “We have asked them not to fire these nurses, and we have asked Democrats to support labor because these nurses and labor have supported them.”

Joe Weidner, an AFSCME spokesman, said they were expecting support from others in the labor community, with as many as 100 people protesting the dinner.

Council supported the move as both a cost-saving measure and because they believe an outside firm would better manage health care at the facility. They made the decision following criticism about the quality of care in the jails, including eight inmate deaths in 2018.

The dispute is the latest example of intraparty fighting in the county party at easily the highest profile event of the year.

Harris has not officially dropped out as the featured speaker. But as one of the top contenders for the Democratic presidential nomination, crossing a union picket line would likely be borderline political suicide in the primary.

A resolution to the row between the union and the party seems unlikely. Amending the deal within that timeframe is next to impossible. MetroHealth already has the deal with zero incentive to change the terms.

Harris skipping the dinner would be a monumental blow to the county party. Harris is a serious contender and the Cuyahoga Democrats – still trying to rebuild following corruption scandals 10 years ago – landing her first presidential visit to the state did not go unnoticed in political circles.

Budish and Brown did not answer calls seeking comment about the protest.

Regardless of whether Harris attends the county party dinner, she will still visit Cleveland. The campaign told cleveland.com it has additional events planned for Northeast Ohio.