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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 Local 6038
Volume 8, Number 10, November, 2007
Get some exercise and help Steve Beshear Saturday in Paducah
The last Labor-to-Labor Walk in Paducah for gubernatorial candidate Steve Beshear and five other labor-endorsed Democrats will be Saturday.
"We'll need at least 100 people," said Jeff Wiggins, Council president and Labor 2007 Zone 1 coordinator.
Volunteers are asked to report to the Area Council hall, 1202 S. 4 th St., at 9 a.m. The walk will end at noon. "We'll feed you breakfast and lunch," Wiggins said. "Bring the whole family."
The council hall was headquarters for two other Labor-to-Labor walks in the city. "We had one in September and one in October," Wiggins said. "We had a great turnout for both of them."
Wiggins said the Labor 2007 program in Kentucky is designed to build momentum for next year's presidential and congressional races. "We've got to put a labor-friendly candidate in the White House in 2008 like we've got to put a lor-friendly candidate in the governor's mansion in a few days," he said. Hopefully, what we accomplish in Kentucky will help inspire the rest of the country."
A veteran state lawmaker, a sheriff, a county judge-executive and a city commissioner helped inspire union members who volunteered for the October Labor-to-Labor Walk.
"We appreciated them coming," Wiggins said. "They all gave great speeches."
State Rep. J.R. Gray, a Benton Democrat; McCracken County Judge-Executive Van Newberry; Sheriff Jon Hayden; and Paducah City Commissioner Gerald Watkins addressed the volunteers.
Gray, a former Machinists union official who is considered to be one of labor's strongest supporters in Frankfort, joined the walk. "Judge Newberry, Sheriff Hayden and Commissioner Watkins had other commitments and left after their speeches, but we were glad they all came to support us," Wiggins said.
Gray and about 40 volunteers fanned out across the city. They knocked on dozens of doors, urging union members to vote for the labor candidates. Besides Beshear and his running mate, State Sen. Dan Mongiardo, they are Crit Luallen, Jack Conway, Todd Hollenbach and Bruce Hendrickson.
Luallen is state auditor. Conway is running for attorney general. Hollenbach wants to be state treasurer and Hendrickson, secretary of state.
Polls still show the Beshear-Mongiardo ticket far ahead of Gov. Ernie Fletcher, the Republican incumbent, and his running mate, Robbie Rudolph.
Other Labor 2007 activities in the area were to include a Labor-to-Labor Walk and a visit by Cecil Roberts, president of the United Mine Workers of America, both in Calvert City. The events were to be headquartered at Machinists District Lodge 154. Roberts and other volunteers were to distribute handbills at Calvert City plants as part of a statewide "It's Our Time: Bluegrass Express" 10-day worksite tour across Kentucky with Bill Londrigan, state AFL-CIO president.
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Buffenbarger to Kentucky: Send America a message on Nov. 6
CALVERT CITY, Ky. -- Kentucky can send the country a message by electing Steve Beshear governor, says the president of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers.
"Your state is in the spotlight this year," R. Thomas Buffenbarger told the fall meeting of the Kentucky State Council of Machinists at Calvert City. "If we bring him in as governor, just maybe it will inspire the rest of America in 2008."
Beshear is the state AFL-CIO-endorsed Democrat. Polls show him leading Gov. Ernie Fletcher, a Republican, by a wide margin.
"We have an opportunity to add back to the blue column the governorship of this state and that's where it belongs," said Buffenbarger, who has led the IAM for 10 years.
He said his union is doing all it can for Beshear, a former lieutenant governor and attorney general. "MNPL [Machinists Non-Partisan Political League], our PAC [political action committee], is committed to…electing a Democratic governor in this state," Buffenbarger added. "We are so committed to it at the Grand Lodge of the IAM that we're sending Grand Lodge staff…from other states and from headquarters to assist all of you in the election this year."
Unions consider Beshear's opponent one of the most anti-labor governors in Bluegrass State history. They cite Fletcher's efforts to get the 2006 General Assembly to approve a right-to-work law and to repeal the state prevailing wage law on public construction projects. Fletcher was unable to accomplish either goal.
Beshear opposes right-to-work and supports the prevailing wage. He has promised to restore the post of secretary of labor and fill it with a union member.
The Kentucky State AFL-CIO, which includes the Machinists, endorsed Beshear shortly after he won the Democratic primary in May. Fletcher "has no respect for the right of people to have collective bargaining," said Bill Londrigan, state AFL-CIO president.
Buffenbarger agrees. He urged the Machinists who gathered at Calvert City to vote for Beshear on Nov. 6 and "send the message…that enough is enough."
Buffenbarger warned that it takes more to elect pro-labor candidates that listening to union officials make speeches. "You're got to start talking about this election to the folks you work with, you live next to, your family members, and get them involved," he said.
Buffenbarger, 56, is the son of an IAM member, according to his biography posted on the union's Internet website. He assumed his first union leadership post at age 20 when he was elected steward of his apprenticeship group in Local Lodge 912 at the General Electric jet engine plant at Evendale, Ohio, near Cincinnati.
Seven years later, he was elected business representative for IAM District 34 in Cincinnati. In 1980 he was appointed an IAM special representative for the Great Lakes Territory. Three years later he became administrative assistant to the general vice president for the multi-state region, the IAM website also says.
In 1986, Buffenbarger moved to IAM headquarters in Upper Marlboro, Md., to work in the Organizing Department. Two years later, he was named executive assistant to the international president. He served in that position under International Presidents William Winpisinger and George Kourpias.
In 1991-1997, Buffenbarger was IAM general vice President at headquarters, serving as chief of staff of all headquarters operations. He was elected international president in 1997.
"I've got a good feeling we are going to see a big change in this state this year," he said. "We have seen the promises the Republicans have made all these years fall by the wayside. The Republican Party can no longer claim it is the party of God and demonize Democrats. We have seen what they are about."
The Machinists met at the IAM District Lodge 154 hall. Benny Adair is the directing business representative of the district lodge. He is also vice president of the Paducah-based Western Kentucky Area Council, AFL-CIO.
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