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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 5, Number 2, February, 2004
Go online for bill info; grab the phone to contact a lawmaker
Want to keep track of bills important to labor in the current session of the General Assembly? Go to http://www.kyaflcio.org/legislativewatch.shtml. The Internet site is part of The Kentucky Labor Voice, the official electronic newsletter of the state AFL-CIO.
Want to tell a lawmaker what you think about a bill? You can call, toll free, and leave a message at 1-800-372-7181.
Right-to-work bill introduced in the House, sent to Gray’s committee
Rep. Joe Fischer’s right-to-work bill seems safely bottled up in the House Labor and Industry Committee, which is chaired by Rep. J.R. Gray, one of labor’s best friends in Frankfort.
"Right-to-work-for-less laws are no more than another attempt to weaken the power of unions to bargain on all issues with employers to benefit union members," said Gray, a Benton Democrat and former Machinists union official. "In right-to-work states, non-union employees enjoy the benefits, including representation, paid for by union members."
Gray added that it is his "intention that right-to-work for less will die in committee. I feel that everyone should have a right to work in a job with good benefits, high wages, excellent working conditions, and union representation, where everyone pays their fair share -- union dues -- of the bargaining costs."
Fischer is a Republican from Fort Thomas. The GOP hopes to replace Gray with one of its own. (See GOP story below)
"The Republicans have already fielded a candidate against J.R. for the November election," said Jeff Wiggins, council president. "They have their sights set on whittling down the Democrats’ House majority this fall and taking the House in 2004 or 2006. With a Republican governor and a Republican Senate, Kentucky would get a right-to-work law. You can count on it."
The Republicans and their business allies, notably the Associated Industries of Kentucky, have pushed for a right-to-work law for many years. Success had eluded them.
"With J.R. Gray heading up the Business and Industry Committee and the House solidly Democratic, I don’t see how a right-to-work bill could pass this session," said Gerald Watkins, a political science professor at West Kentucky Community and Technical College in Paducah.
Watkins also said that House Speaker Jody Richards, D-Bowling Green, is against a right-to-work law. "But if the Republicans gain control of the House, that’s a different story," he said.
Gov. Ernie Fletcher supported a national right-to-work bill when he was in Congress. "Any time you have the governor on your side on any issue, that helps, but we're facing the same opposition we did before," Larry Maggard, vice president of government relations for AIK, told the Louisville Courier-Journal.
Also, the state’s largest newspaper reported that it is not clear how much muscle Fletcher will flex for this year’s right-to-work campaign. "You only have so much political capital. Not only that, you've got to focus on what you want to get done, and that's not one of the priorities we've established for this session," Fletcher told the C-J.
"I don't think they [right-to-work supporters] have the votes to do it this year, especially in the House," the C-J quoted Bill Londrigan, state AFL-CIO president. "No matter what mandate they think they have from the election, we have support in the House and the Senate."
Even with a 22-16 edge in the Senate, Republicans couldn’t pass a right-to-work law last year, the Courier-Journal pointed out. A right-to-work measure emerged from a Senate committee, but was not brought to a floor vote.
Council mails questionnaire to office-seekers and office-holders
Political candidates must have at least a 70-percent pro-labor voting record and satisfactorily answer a series of written questions to earn an Area Council endorsement.
"I am tired of this council supporting people who are not going to support labor," said Jeff Wiggins, council president.
The council can endorse candidates for local offices and the state legislature within its jurisdiction. The state AFL-CIO endorses candidates for statewide offices and for the U.S. House and Senate, based on recommendations from area councils. A state endorsement requires a 70-percent pro-union voting record or better from an office holder, according to Wiggins.
"We are going to come up with a questionnaire and mail it out to the candidates before the February meeting," Wiggins said. "Candidates who want our endorsement will have to answer the questionnaire. If they are already in office, they must have a 70-percent labor voting record."
Young Award nominees sought; recipient to be named in March
The Area Council will accept nominations for the annual W.C. Young Award at its February meeting. The recipient will be named in March.
"The W.C. Young Award is the highest honor the council bestows," Wiggins said. "We think it is one of the most prestigious labor awards in Kentucky."
Last year’s recipient was Joe Norsworthy, a Marshall County native and labor secretary in the administration of Gov. Paul Patton.
Young, a national labor and civil rights leader from Paducah, received the first W.C. Young Award in 1994. The other award winners were Bill Sanders, 1995; B.J. Bond, 1996; Bill Hack,1997; George and Martha Wiggins, 1998; Harold Kindred, 1999; Ken Tyler, 2000; Larry Sanderson, 2001; and J.R. Gray, 2002. Delegates make nominations, and the council executive board names the W.C. Young Award recipient.
AFL-CIO makes NRA's enemies list; other unions are on the roster
By BERRY CRAIGWhat do the St. Louis Rams, Britney Spears, the PTA and the AFL-CIO have in common?
They're on the National Rifle Association's enemies list.
The 15-page blacklist names dozens of celebrities, journalists, religious groups, organizations, unions and companies the NRA says are "hostile to gun-ownership rights," the Associated Press reported. The list, which is on the NRA's website, recently made national news.
Many union members, especially in rural states like Kentucky, belong to the NRA. They might be surprised to see the AFL-CIO cited as a foe by the gun lobby. But the NRA is allied with a number of anti-labor groups. The NRA almost always supports anti-labor Republican candidates.
Other unions and union organizations on the NRA's list include the American Federation of Teachers, International Ladies Garment Workers Union, Jewish Labor Committee and the National Education Association.
"The Right...sees the gun control issue as a means to divert workers from voting according to their economic interests and that of their families," wrote Joanne Ricca of the Wisconsin State AFL-CIO. "The Right sees it as a particularly clever way to prevent workers from following the candidate endorsements of their union, which are made based on economic interests of the members."
Ricca authored "Politics in America: The Right Wing Attack on the American Labor Movement." The article, well-researched and documented with 35 footnotes, appears on the Dairy State labor federation's website, www.wisaflcio.org/political_action/rightwing.
Ricca quoted Neal Knox, former NRA vice president, who boasted that the gun issue "is the one thing that will spin the blue-collar union member away from his union." Ricca also wrote that before Grover Norquist joined the NRA board, he led anti-union "paycheck protection" ballot initiatives in a number of states. Norquist is a friend and confidant of President George W. Bush and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich. Ricca wrote that "during the so-called ‘paycheck protection/deception’ ballot campaign in California Grover Norquist declared: 'We're going to crush labor as a political entity' and ultimately 'break the unions.'"
Since Bush was elected, Ricca wrote, "administration officials attend a strategy session every Wednesday with representatives of some 100 conservative groups, chaired by ... Norquist. The Bush administration is using the meetings to 'tap into the conservative network to help with the grassroots lobbying for Bush's agenda.'" Ricca also said that Chuck Cunningham led the NRA's national get-out-the-vote campaign for Bush in 2000. "Cunningham was executive director of the anti-union New England Citizens for Right-to-Work," she wrote.
In addition, Ricca said that 10 years ago, former NRA President Charlton Heston helped the National Right-to-Work Committee lobby Congress to defeat a measure to prevent employers from breaking strikes by hiring permanent replacement workers.
"Heston has appealed to union members to 'put freedom first' and support NRA-endorsed candidates," Ricca wrote. "However, the right to strike is a most basic and essential freedom."
Ricca also said that besides personally appealing to members of Congress to defeat the striker replacement ban, "Heston...produced a video on behalf of the National Right-to-Work Committee, which called him their 'world famous ally.'" In 1996, Heston again aided the NRTWC, that time in a $260,000 ad campaign to convince Congress to pass a National Right-to-Work bill, Ricca wrote. (Gov. Ernie Fletcher supported the measure when he was in Congress.)
"It is a legitimate question to ask why someone who was union president of the Screen Actors Guild, and uses that role to establish credibility with union members, would aid the National Right-to-Work Committee, the most notorious anti-union employer organization," Ricca wrote. "What is Charlton Heston's real agenda?" Another question worth asking is what is the NRA's real agenda?
Union members and others who want to put their names on the NRA blacklist can go to www.nrablacklist.com/petition. The website is sponsored by stoptheNRA.com.
GOP fields six candidates for state legislature in Western Kentucky
The Republicans had fielded candidates for the state legislature in all but one district in far Western Kentucky.
The primary election is in May. The general election is in November.
Only Third District State Rep. Frank Rasche, D-Paducah, has no GOP opponent.
Elsewhere, Dennis Null, a Mayfield attorney, and Dr. Ken Winters, a retired Murray educator, will vie for the First District Senate seat being vacated by Bob Jackson, a Murray Democrat. Null ran for Congress in 1996.
First District State Rep. Charles Geveden of Wickliffe is the only Democrat with primary opposition. He will face Dan Voegeli of Fulton in May. Republican Stephen J. Rudy of La Center will challenge either Geveden or Voegeli in November.
In the Second District, State Rep. Fred Nesler, D-Mayfield, will square off against Republican Buddy Petty, also of Mayfield.
Fourth District State Rep. Mike Cherry, D-Princeton, will try to beat Republican Fred Stubblefield of Marion in the fall. In the Fifth District, State Rep. Buddy Buckingham, D-Murray, is seeking another term. His Republican opponent is Melvin Hendley, a former Murray mayor.
Sixth District state Rep. J.R. Gray, D-Benton, will run against Marvin Wilson of Eddyville. Gray, chairman of the House Labor and Industry Committee, is one of labor’s most faithful allies in Frankfort. He has enjoyed strong union backing.
