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The Western Kentucky Worker | |
Official newsletter of the Western Kentucky Area Council, AFL-CIO
Prepared by Berry Craig, KEA-NEA and AFT- Kentucky
Volume 6, Number 9, October, 2005
Labor Day parade 'one of the longest...processions ever'
Some media reports to the contrary, the Paducah Labor Day parade was one of the longest holiday processions ever, according to Frances Willey.
“The Paducah Sun said the parade wasn't as big as it usually is, but I don't agree,” said Willey, parade grand marshal and secretary-treasurer of the Western Kentucky Labor Day Committee. “We had 65 entries in the parade, and the crowd was pretty solid all along the parade route.”
The Labor Day Committee, an all-volunteer, non-profit group, puts on the city's annual Labor Day program. It is a weekend of festivities that include food sellers, a flea market and free entertainment.
Pop and country music star Dan Seals was the featured artist at Carson Park . “He sang non-stop for about an hour, and everybody seemed to enjoy it,” Willey said. “There was a good crowd, too.”
Willey rode in a horse drawn carriage in the parade accompanied by her great-grandsons Colby Griggs, 11, and Connor Griggs, 5. “They threw candy and loved it,” Willey said. “A lot of kids hollered ‘Colby!' and ‘Connor!' Tom [Erwin, the carriage owner and driver] said, ‘ Frances , I think they are getting more attention than you are.' That was fine with me.”
Willey thanked everybody who helped with the program. “I'm not going to call names because I'm afraid I will leave somebody out,” she said. “It takes all of us working together to make this program what it is. We've got a great bunch of workers.” Willey also said she appreciated “all of the people who came out to Carson Park over the weekend and came for the parade on Labor Day.”
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Wiggins cool to AFL-CIO 'Solidarity Charter Program'
The Council took no action on a national AFL-CIO "Solidarity Charter Program" that would allow non-affiliated unions back into area councils.
"I am not pleased with this at all," said Jeff Wiggins, council president. The Teamsters, SEIU, UFCW and Carpenters withdrew from the AFL-CIO. Under the national AFL-CIO proposal, the four unions could send delegates to area councils. "They would be able to speak but not have voting rights," Wiggins said.
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Gray says rumors are wrong, his hat is in the ring
J.R. Gray says he is "the number one target" for "those who advocate right-to-work and the gutting of prevailing wage laws."
Gray, a Benton Democrat and former Machinists union official, chairs the House Labor and Industry Committee. "Nobody in Frankfort has a better labor voting record than J.R. Gray," said Jeff Wiggins, council president. "We've got to keep him there."
Gray said right-to-work is a real danger. "I get mail about it virtually every day," he said.
Likewise, Gray said, opponents of the state's prevailing wage law "are out there preaching about how much more it is costing us to build these schoolhouses. They totally lose sight of the fact that people who get that prevailing wage are the very people [whose taxes] support the school system."
He said non-union workers often end up costing more. Gray cited the Murray State University football stadium. Non-union workers did such a poor job that union workers were hired to redo the shoddy work, according to Gray.
Gray said House Speaker Jody Richards, D-Bowling Green, and the rest of the House Democratic leadership routinely send anti-labor legislation to his committee. "They fully expect me to sit on right-to-work bills and bills that would gut prevailing wage laws," Gray said.
"The Republicans know that as long as I'm there, anti-labor bills won't even come up for a vote, much less get voted out of my committee. That's why they will spend a lot of money to beat me next year."
Gray defeated Marvin Wilson, a Lyon County Republican, last November. Wilson is expected to challenge Gray next year.
"My last election was close," Gray said. "But close counts only in horse shoes. If you get one more vote than the other guy, you're a winner."
President George W. Bush's landslide victory in Kentucky helped Wilson , Gray said. "Also, Gov. Ernie Fletcher hadn't had enough time to show his true colors. Based on all that, I consider my reelection a mandate."
Gray said somebody - he suspected Wilson - started rumors that he isn't running again. "I'm ready to take on all comers," the veteran lawmaker said.
Delegate George Wiggins suggested that Gray run again by promising to "clean up the mess in Frankfort ." "I might have to take the fifth," Gray joked.
Gov. Fletcher invoked his Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination when he testified before the Frankfort Grand Jury investigating whether members of his administration broke the law by hiring State Merit System workers based on their Republican politics, not their qualifications.
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Ex-U.S. Rep. Hubbard is heading back into politics
Add former Congressman Carroll Hubbard's name to the list of candidates for the Second District state senate seat next year.
Hubbard told delegates at the September council meeting that a Paducah Sun article said he "might get back into politics." He added, "That is a fact."
Hubbard, a Mayfield Democrat, served in Congress from 1974 until 1992, when he lost the Democratic primary to Tom Barlow of Paducah .
"In the aftermath of his loss, he was convicted of misusing campaign funds and his congressional staff," the Sun said. "He spent two years and 20 days in a federal prison, five months in a halfway house, one month on home incarceration and three years on probation."
Hubbard, who now lives in Paducah , where he practices law, didn't mention his conviction or prison term at the council meeting.
Hubbard did say labor rallied to him in 1967, when he was elected to the state senate. "You helped me...when I was first elected as a United States congressman in 1974," he added. "I appreciate all labor has done for me."
Bob Leeper of Paducah holds the seat Hubbard wants. First elected as a Democrat, Leeper switched to the Republicans, then became an independent. Leeper is expected to seek another term as an independent or a Republican.
"Switching back to the Republicans would greatly hurt Leeper's credibility," said Gerald Watkins, a political science professor at West Kentucky Community and Technical College .
The Second District includes Ballard, Marshall and McCracken counties.Return to Western Kentucky AFL-CIO Area Council Home Page
Bill Londrigan opened labor rally at Calvert City IAM Lodge
Bill Londrigan, state AFL-CIO president, welcomed union members, politicians and union friends to a recent rally at the IAM District 154 Lodge hall in Calvert City.
The rally was held in conjunction with the annual Labor-Management Conference at nearby Kentucky Dam Village State Park . "We started this last year and had another good turnout," said Jeff Wiggins, area council president.
Speakers included Attorney Gen. Greg Stumbo, House Speaker Jody Richards, D-Bowling Green; and state Reps. Rocky Adkins, D-Sandy Hook; Perry Clark, D-Louisville; J.R. Gray, D-Benton; Charlie Hoffman, D-Georgetown; Dennis Horlander, D-Louisville; Fred Nesler, D-Mayfield; and Brent Yonts, D-Greenville.
Court of Appeals Judge Rick Johnson, a candidate for the state Supreme Court, also spoke.
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Big billboard is sign of the times near tire plant
By BERRY CRAIG
AFT-Kentucky/KEA-NEA
U.S. highway 45 fronts the big Mayfield Continental-General Tire plant, which is all but closed.
Terry Beane figured the busy four-lane was a good spot for a billboard reminding people that German-owned Continental Tire-North America laid off all but 225 plant workers and sent Mayfield production to low-wage countries such as Brazil, Malaysia and the Czech Republic.
"CONTINENTAL TIRE: Running over American Families, Exporting our Jobs, Abandoning our Community," says the sign atop a tall pole near the factory.
Beane is president of Steelworkers Local 665, the union at the 45-year-old factory. Greed led Continental to virtually shut down the plant, according to Beane.
"We want everybody to know that Continental doesn't care anything about Mayfield," Beane said. "That was obvious in talking with them."
Beane said Continental has said nothing official to the union about the billboard. "But I think it bothers them more than they're letting on."
Continental-General Tire was one of the largest employers in the Jackson Purchase. Two years ago, about 1,200 Local 665 members made car and truck tires at the plant.
Continental said it had to idle the Mayfield facility because it was old, outmoded and had the highest production costs of any of its North American factories. Beane said Local 665 tried to help Continental keep the plant going.
He said the union offered to extend its labor agreement. Local 665 also agreed to workforce restructuring if the company pledged to make an equal investment in the plant and the community, according to the union president.
Beane said he and Wayne Chambers, Local 665 vice president, met many times with Continental's German executives and with CTNA's North American brass. "They weren't interested in our proposals," Beane said.
"They told us they were going to build tires as cheaply as they could. They didn't care how much that would hurt this community. Of course, if this were a cheap labor country, Continental would be building tires all over the place around here."
Beane said Local 665 worked with the Steelworkers' international headquarters in Pittsburgh to get the sign for Mayfield, population about 10,000. "We approved it, and they funded it," he said.
The billboard is hard to miss. It shows a huge Continental tire rolling over Steelworker families.
"The company has been going to the local news media and writing letters to our members trying to turn the community against us and us against each other," Beane said. "They haven't succeeded. But we thought the billboard was a good way to show the community and our members what kind of a company Continental is."
Beane said some Local 665 members took the union's message to the annual Labor Day parade in Paducah . The Steelworkers marched with "CONTINENTAL The company with no conscience" signs.
"The response was very positive," Beane said. "People in the crowd clapped and wished us good luck. That made us feel good."
Meanwhile, Beane said Local 665 is still seeking an agreement with Continental over severance pay and insurance for jobless workers as well as for benefits for workers still on the payroll. "We think the sign is another way to show our members we are still fighting for them," he said.
General Tire and Rubber Co., an American firm, opened the Mayfield plant in 1960. Continental bought General's Tire Division in 1987.
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Got news? Email it to Berry Craig at bcraig8960@charter.net or Jeff Wiggins at JLWiggins2@Juno.com.