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The Western Kentucky Worker |
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Walker accepts Lewis Hicks Award at December meeting
Howard Walker didn't read a speech when he collected the first ever Kentucky State AFL-CIO Lewis Hicks Award.
“I've never written a speech in my life,” said Walker, a former McCracken County sheriff and retired state organizer for the United Association of Plumbers and Pipefitters. “If you're sincere, you go off the cuff.”
Walker, who is battling cancer, was named the Hicks Award winner at the recent state AFL-CIO convention in Lexington . McCracken Sheriff Jon Hayden presented Walker the award at the December council meeting.
“I feel truly honored to receive this award,” Walker said. “I have always tried to help working men and women make a good living and be able to retire with dignity.”
The award is for outstanding service, not only to the labor movement but also to the recipient's community. A Steelworker, Hicks was a veteran labor leader and mayor of La Center. He died three years ago.
“Rich Trumka, the new president of the AFL-CIO, wants us to get involved in our unions and in our communities,” said Jeff Wiggins, council president. “Howard represents what President Trumka means.”
Wiggins added, “Howard has worked for his union local, the union movement and for all the citizens of Paducah and McCracken County .”
Walker , whose home union is Paducah-based Plumbers and Steamfitters Local 184, was McCracken County sheriff for a dozen years. “I don't know any sheriff who was more popular than Howard,” Wiggins said.
Walker stayed true to his union roots in the sheriff's office, Wiggins added. “At one time, we organized the deputies as part of the Laborers Union,” Walker said. “I also fought for a merit system for the deputies.”
Walker was a state organizer for 10 years. “I never did hold office in Local 184,” he said. “I always felt there were other ways to serve.”
“Howard and Lewis were great servants,” Wiggins said.
Hicks was a charter member of Paper, Allied-Industrial, Chemical and Energy Workers Local 5-680, now part of the Steelworkers, at the NewPage paper mill in Wickliffe. He was president, vice president, recording secretary, trustee and chief steward of his union, which became USW Local 680.
In addition, Hicks was the Paducah-based Area Council's COPE director and a trustee. He also served on the state AFL-CIO Executive Board.
In 1906, he earned the W.C. Young Award, the highest honor the council bestows.
Return to Western Kentucky AFL-CIO Area Council Home Page
Wiggins: Smith is anti-right-to-work and pro-prevailing wage
Will labor get behind Rex Smith's bid to unseat state Sen. Bob Leeper?
“Leeper hasn't been our friend since he switched from Democrat to Republican and then became an independent,” said Jeff Wiggins, council president. “We've got some issues with Smith that need to be cleared up.
“But I understand he is with us on right-to-work and prevailing wage.
Like all candidates, he's welcome to come before the council and talk with us.”
Smith, a Democrat, is a former state representative who owns Jim Smith Construction. Smith filed for the Democratic primary in November.
Leeper is expected to file. But independents have until April 1to declare their candidacies.
Leeper represents the Second Senatorial district. It includes Marshall, McCracken and Ballard counties.
“I understand Julian Carroll encouraged Smith to run,” Wiggins said.
Carroll, a McCracken County native, is a state senator and former governor.
“Julian Carroll has always had a strong labor voting record,” Wiggins said.
In other local races, Sixth District State Rep. Will Coursey, D-Sharpe, right, has a Republican challenger, Monti R. Collins of Benton . They are expected to face each other in November, as neither is likely to attract May primary opposition.
The sixth district includes Marshall and Lyon counties and a portion of McCracken County .
“Will has been with us from the start,” Wiggins said. “There is no doubt he will have our support.”
Wiggins said labor's friends in Frankfort also include Second District State Rep. Fred Nesler of Mayfield, left. “Rumor has it that he will have a Republican opponent,” Wiggins said.
Nesler represents Graves County and part of McCracken County .
So far, no Democrat has filed to run against U.S. Rep. Ed Whitfield, a multi-term Republican incumbent. “Whitfield is one of the most anti-union members of the House of Representatives,” Wiggins said. “We've got to get him out, but that's not going to happen until we get redistricting in the state legislature. We're going to have those Republican counties – that ‘scorpion's tail' in the eastern part of the district -- as long as David Williams and the Republicans control the senate. Leeper caucuses with the Republicans and almost always votes with them. He's got to go, too.”
Return to Western Kentucky AFL-CIO Area Council Home Page
‘WE NEED THE EMPLOYEE FREE CHOICE ACT – NOW!!'
By BILL LONDRIGAN
President, Kentucky State AFL-CIO
Let me begin this column by offering my sincere thanks and that of the members of our Executive Board for the participation, support and encouragement of those that were able to attend our recent 28 th Biennial Convention in Lexington . The convention featured a large number of notable speakers, from newly elected AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasure Liz Shuler to the ever popular UMWA President Cecil Roberts to the newly elected USW Secretary-Treasurer Stan Johnson. Joining these and other notable labor leaders on the program were political leaders and candidates from U.S. Congress to the State House.
Informative presentations on political action, economic recovery and the state budget were delivered by our allies. Several of our community partners whose efforts focus on preventing child abuse to providing support and housing to senior citizens also addressed the delegates detailing their relationships with organized labor and the work they do at the grassroots level every day. Delegates were entertained by several speakers and had the opportunity to attend a private screening of Michael Moore's newest movie: “Capitalism: A Love Story.”
Our goals for the convention were threefold: make it informative, entertaining and energizing. In my final remarks to the convention I stated that we had achieved these goals and more and felt that our convention delegates, those that have previously attended and those attending for the first time, had met other union members from across the state and left the convention with a greater sense of unity and common purpose and energized and committed to the tasks ahead.
In my remarks I also highlighted several critically important efforts which the Kentucky State AFL-CIO is committed to pursue: Renewed commitment to the implementation of the goals and priorities of AFL-CIO Amendment Two, calling for increased diversity at every level of the labor movement; Recognition of the importance of the need to attract younger members into the labor movement concurrent with the necessity of educating and inculcating trade unionism in younger workers; Holding our political leaders more accountable for their votes and positions thereby adding value to our political endorsements;
Re-engaging in a strategic planning process to establish a road map for achieving our goals; Helping Central Labor Councils become more effective and exploring the establishment of Area Labor Federations where appropriate in order to revitalize and grow our grassroots efforts across the Commonwealth.
This 28 th Biennial Convention marked the tenth anniversary of the reorganization of the Kentucky State AFL-CIO, at which time a new constitution was approved and a new slate of officers elected. I have been honored to serve as president for the past ten years and consider the support and encouragement of our delegates, members, representatives and friends the greatest tribute.
With this being the tenth anniversary of our reorganization I wanted to put our place in history into context, particularly for those who were not present prior to or during our reorganization in 1999, by including the following in my remarks to the convention:
“Brothers and sisters, we have been through some hard times. We have faced internal and external difficulties virtually unparalleled in history. We came through one of the most difficult periods any State Federation has ever had to face. We reorganized and rebuild our state federation and, in so doing, restored the respect and power of the Kentucky labor movement.
“We streamlined our operation and jettisoned anything that was a financial drag on our efforts. While doing so we faced greater challenges with the unexpected and unwarranted disaffiliations of some of our largest affiliates. In spite of these challenges we have kept our eyes on the prize and with the guidance and support of our Executive Board, our affiliated local unions and our members we have weathered the challenges presented by these disaffiliations and have emerged stronger, leaner and ready to continue the fight.
“The external circumstances that we have faced during the past decade have been nothing less than an all out assault on the American labor movement. We repelled the onslaught of anti-unionism spearheaded by the Bush Administration, whose unbridled disdain for organized labor was manifest in virtually every decision made during those horrible eight years. We faced down an anti-labor Department of Labor and we fought an anti-labor governor named Ernie Fletcher.
“When we began this battle ten years ago, we in organized labor warned of the catastrophe that would face our nation if George W. Bush were elected president. We were right then and now as our nation faces the horrible consequences of the Bush policies that favored the wealthy and corporate elite over the working men and women of our nation.
“All the while Bush, Cheney and the rest of his gang were lying to the American people organized labor was speaking the truth. We spoke the truth about what a disaster for working American continuing our so-called free-trade agenda would be. We spoke the truth about how our health care system was in shambles and needed to be fixed. We spoke the truth about how our retirement system was becoming less and less secure. We spoke the truth when we said that without good jobs and good wages and benefits there will be no middle class. We spoke the truth when we said that privatizing social security would be a disaster for the social security system. We spoke the truth when we said that workers in this country are being denied the fair opportunity to organize and bargain collectively. And, we continue to speak the truth when we say that we
want real, true, effective affordable health care for every citizen of this nation and – WE WANT IT NOW. We continue to speak the truth when we say that the rights of workers in our nation are being routinely and systematically violated and that – WE NEED THE EMPLOYEE FREE CHOICE ACT – NOW!!
“Yes, brothers and sisters we spoke the truth and when it was time – we acted. When it was time, thousands of union members and their families came to Frankfort to Stand Up and Fight Back against Ernie Fletcher's efforts to pass right-to-work-for-less and repeal prevailing wage. And, when it was election time working men and women showed up at the polls through the hard work and dedication of you and voted Ernie out of office after serving only one term. Our political program has become a model for other states. We have worked our program of member contact in each election cycle and have been able to elect a growing number of friends to the state house and congress.”
Now, as the debate over health care in our nation has dragged on and on and the change that is needed is not going to be fully realized, I must say that we in organized labor were right again when we tried but failed to get rid of Mitch McConnell as he has proven to be the obstructionists-in-chief and the architect and enforcer of the Senate Republican plan to stop everything that President Obama was elected to change. While offering no alternative of their own, Senate Republicans have tried to do everything in their power to obstruct everything that comes before the senate that will help working America and put the brakes on corporate control. They have used with impunity the arcane senate rules which allow for the thwarting the will of the majority by the minority through the filibuster. As columnist Paul Krugman points out: “ The political scientist Barbara Sinclair has done the math. In the 1960s, she finds, “extended-debate-related problems” — threatened or actual filibusters — affected only 8 percent of major legislation. By the 1980s, that had risen to 27 percent. But after Democrats retook control of Congress in 2006 and Republicans found themselves in the minority, it soared to 70 percent.” (December 20, 2009)
It should be crystal clear to all by now, McConnell and his colleagues are intent on stopping ALL progressive legislative through minority dictatorship. This not only applies to health insurance reform but financial regulation reform, trade reform and of course to the Employee Free Choice Act. If you think that the health care debate was brutal, wait until you see what Mitch & Co. have in store for the Employee Free Choice Act!
So, again we were right about Mitch and his agenda and those who work for a living and voted for Mitch have voted against their own interests. But, don't take my word for it, read what columnist Steven Pearlstein called McConnell (The Wrong Mitch, December 13, 2009):
“The bad Mitch, as most Americans know by now, is the charmless and shameless hypocrite who offers up a steady stream of stale ideology and snarky talking points but almost never a constructive idea. McConnell has decided that
the only way for Republicans to win is for President Obama to lose, and he will use lies, threats and all manner of parliamentary subterfuge to obstruct the President's programs.”
By standing by the principles of equality, unity, fairness, justice and workers' rights during the past decade your AFL-CIO has been on the right side of every important issue facing our nation. We will continue to be on the right side because it is our allegiance to our principles of placing the interests of working men and women above those of the wealthy and corporate elite that makes our labor movement the true voice for the people of our nation.
EDITOR'S NOTE: Several members of the council attended the convention. They included Council President Jeff Wiggins, Vice President Benny Adair, Financial Secretary-Treasurer Brandon Duncan, Trustees Wayne Chambers and Howard “Bubba” Dawes and delegates Martha Wiggins and Frances Willey.
Return to Western Kentucky AFL-CIO Area Council Home Page
The Legislative Committee of the state AFL-CIO Executive Board endorsed several measures that will be considered in the 2010 General Assembly, which convenes soon. The measures including bills that would guarantee public employee collective bargaining rights, improve workers compensation, limit required overtime and lift a moratorium on nuclear plant construction in Kentucky .
“Ending the moratorium would mean many new jobs for western Kentucky ,” said Jeff Wiggins, left, council president and member of the legislative committee. “It would mean jobs for the building trades and plant jobs.” The bill to cancel the moratorium is sponsored by Rep. Mike Cherry, D-Princeton, at the behest of the Steelworkers, Wiggins' union.
Return to Western Kentucky AFL-CIO Area Council Home Page
Paducah 's 35 th annual Labor Day program is more than nine months away.
“But we need help,” Frances Willey said. “We want to make this the biggest and best program ever.”
Willey is treasurer of the Western Kentucky Labor Day Committee, the private, non-profit group that puts on the city's Labor Day program. “We're all getting older,” said Willey, also a council delegate. “It's getting harder on us. We need new people to help us.”
The committee will meet in January at the council hall. The date hasn't been set. More information is available from Willey at 554-1627.
She said the program will return to its customary three day-format. Festivities will begin Saturday at Carson Park and will conclude on Labor Day, which will include the traditional parade downtown followed by the picnic, political speaking and free entertainment at the park.
“The parade is always a big success,” she said. “[Parade organizer] Bubba Dawes always does a good job. Again, our goal is good entertainment. If you don't have good entertainment you don't get a good crowd at the park.”
The committee depends on donations from individuals, unions and businesses. Willey said the sale of Berry Craig's book, True Tales of Old-Time Kentucky Politics: Bombast, Bourbon and Burgoo netted the committee $1,081.31. Craig teaches history at West Kentucky Community and Technical College and is the council's recording secretary and newsletter editor.
The book is still available as a fund-raiser for the committee.
USW International President Leo W. Gerard appeared on MSNBC's Ed Schultz Show last night to discuss health insurance reform , expressing the frustration he and many working families are feeling about the direction of the debate, particularly in the Senate, where a handful of lawmakers are trying to block meaningful reform. Click on the image or click here to watch the clip.
"I can tell you this point blank: if we don't get a meaningful health care bill that reduces costs and has everybody in and doesn't have an excise tax, have a pay or play for employers, have a public option or Medicare buy-in, we're not going to campaign for any Democrat who voted against this, and we're going to try to defeat them," Gerard said.
The leader of the union that represents 1.2 million active and retired members said the union's activists would continue to push for the House version of health insurance reform, which excludes a devastating excise tax on workers' benefits and includes a public option that would ensure coverage for millions of Americans.
"We need to fight for what's right for the country and by fighting for what's right for the country, we'll do what's right for people," Gerard said. "I'm angry as hell."
Click here to visit the USW health insurance reform tool kit for more information about this important issue, including how you can contact your members of Congress and the Senate to urge them to support our principles for real reform.
More About the Excise Tax
The Senate bill slaps an enormous 40 percent excise tax starting in 2014 on plans valued at more than $8,500 for individual coverage and $23,000 for family coverage (with some adjustments). They say it will only impact the so-called "Cadillac Plans". Some Steelworker plans would fall into this category -- hard-fought benefits that were negotiated, often at the expense of wage increases or other improvements.
The excise tax will be passed onto employees in the form of lower benefits or higher premiums.
The Senate bill would phase in the tax for workers in high-cost states, in industries with older workers and in more dangerous jobs. But we worry it could still discriminate against these workers, despite the bump in the threshold to $9,850 for an individual and $26,000 for a family that Senator Reid added for these groups. These workers are disproportionately penalized because they have to pay more for the same basic health care we all expect out of a decent plan. Please click here to find and contact your Senators and Representatives about this important issue.
From the Daily Kos Internet blogsite:
Ky-Sen: Rand Paul takes strong lead in GOP primary
by kos
Tue Dec 22, 2009 at 01:36:04 PM PST
PPP. 12/18-21. Likely voters. MoE 4.5% (No trend lines)
Republican primary
Paul (R) 44
Grayson (R) 25
That's Rand Paul, Ron's son. And the Paulites are responding with vigor, flooding his campaign with cash. Running against an incumbent politician is good business these days, even when (like Paul) you announce your campaign in New York City and clearly state that you have little interest in representing Kentucky interests. For Bluegrass State Republicans, that's apparently not a problem.
Grayson is not exactly a moderate, but in Kentucky teabagging circles he's become one. He's a former Democrat who voted for Bill Clinton in 1992, and is blamed by fans of ultra-conservative Jim Bunning for helping push the senile senator into earlier retirement.
A Research 2000 poll of Kentucky for Daily Kos back in early September (so a bit dated) had Democrats running stronger against Paul, and that's not likely to change. While Grayson has proven statewide viability with two elections as Kentucky Secretary of State under his belt, including a 2004 victory that broke a three-decade Democratic stranglehold on his state's top offices. The dude has obvious statewide appeal, compared to Rand -- the unaccomplished teabagging son of a fringe backbencher congressman from Texas .
Democrats have strong contenders for this seat as well -- Attorney General Jack Conway and Lt. Gov. Dan Mongiardo -- so this was already shaping up to be a battle of titans ( Conway leads 37-33 in the Democratic primary, according to this PPP poll). It's likely the pollsters will release general election numbers soon enough, but we can probably bet that Grayson performs better in the general against those Democrats than the fringier Paul will. If teabaggers want to help by taking out their most electable general election guy, so much the better. We'll need all the assistance we can get in 2010.
by Mike Hall
AFL-CIO
Do you hear chains rattling? That's the ghost of Christmas Past tracking down the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The Chamber is the 2009 winner of the annual contest by Jobs with Justice ( JwJ) to spotlight the greediest, most cold-hearted organization or person that personifies the spirit of Ebenezer Scrooge.
Voters singled out the Chamber for its narrow, radical agenda advocating for anti-worker, profit-focused solutions to the broken health care, labor and environmental systems.
Jobs with Justice Executive Director Sarita Gupta says the Chamber was up against some pretty Scrooge-worthy opponents.
[But] the similarities between Scrooge and the Chamber of Commerce were hard to beat. The ghost of years past would show that the policies they've promoted, including deregulation and maximizing profits at the expense of workers, are directly connected to the destruction of America 's middle class.
The Chamber has spent millions of dollars lobbying against legislation that would benefit workers and families—the Employee Free Choice Act, health insurance reform, paid sick days and environmental regulations. Its extreme positions have led some companies and local chapters of the Chamber to disaffiliate from the national group. Says Gupta:
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has developed into a front group for a few narrow interests, not a membership association that represents the voice of mainstream American businesses.
Other Scrooge candidates included:
- Bank of America, nominated for its role in the sub-prime lending crisis and failure to extend credit to small businesses.
- Hyatt Hotels for their Scrooge-like firing of 100 housekeepers in Boston and other anti-worker actions.
- Publix Supermarkets for resisting the call to be part of the solution to human rights violations in Florida fields by continuing to buy tomatoes from growers prosecuted for modern-day slavery.
- Student loan lenders Sallie Mae and Citibank for their expensive, variable rate loans for students.
- An impressive write-in campaign also was waged for United Airlines because the company slashed workers' wages and pensions while continuing to award lavish bonuses to top executives.
The Chamber of Commerce joins an infamous group. Last year's winner was the entire lot of Wall Street executives whose unchecked corporate greed led to our nation's economic disaster.
Signed Copies of Berry Craig's book, True Tales of Old-Time Kentucky Politics: Bombast, Bourbon and Burgoo are still available from the Western Kentucky Labor Day Committee Inc., which puts on Paducah's annual Labor Day program.
The books are $19.99 and all proceeds go to the Labor Day Committee.
Books are available by mail – at no extra charge for postage.
Got news or photos you want to share with your union brothers and sisters?
Want to speak your mind on an issue?
Send what you have to Berry Craig, newsletter editor, at bcraig8960@newwavecomm.net
