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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 8, Number 3, March 2007
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| Larry Jaggers swears in new council officers, from left, Hardy Williams, Wayne Chambers and George Wiggins. (Photo by Berry Craig IV) |
State fed COPE Committee will mull primary election
The state AFL-CIO COPE Committee is to meet March 3 to decide if the labor federation will endorse a candidate in the May primary.
“In the interim it is the consensus of the Executive Board [that] the State Federation and its affiliates are to remain neutral in the Primary Election,” state AFL-CIO President Bill Londrigan said in a Jan. 22 letter to Jeff Wiggins, council president.
Wiggins, an executive board member, hopes labor won't endorse anybody in the primary. But Larry Jaggers, who also sits on the board as the federation's secretary-treasurer, thinks labor should rally behind a candidate.
“There's a lot of sentiment for labor staying out of the primary,” he said at the February council meeting. “I personally don't agree.”
Londrigan added that “many affiliates have expressed their concerns to me about the impact of a divided and divisive Gubernatorial Primary might have on our ability to win in the fall. These concerns were predicated upon the fact that virtually every major announced [D]emocrat candidate for Governor and Lt. Governor have previously been endorsed by organized labor for one or more offices they have sought. Making an endorsement in a crowded primary would certainly divide our loyalties among our friends – not a good thing to do when there is no clear cut winner.”
Jaggers didn't say which, if any, candidate he supported. “I didn't come down here to try to talk you all into my point of view,” he added. “The main objective is to get rid of Ernie Fletcher…”
Jaggers said organized labor has “never taken a back seat. We've always done the hard things, made the tough decisions, and we need to…[make an endorsement]….I do think there is getting to be a little more sentiment about maybe trying to pick a candidate and getting an endorsement.”
In his letter, Londrigan also said “no goal is more important to organized labor this year than replacing Governor Ernie Fletcher with a worker-friendly governor in November. The Kentucky State AFL-CIO Executive Board recently reaffirmed its commitment to this goal and organized labor must do what is necessary to achieve it.”
Democrats running for governor include a pair of ex-lieutenant governors, Steve Beshear and Steve Henry; perennial candidate Gatewood Galbraith, business owner Bruce Lunsford, State Treasurer Jonathan Miller, House Speaker Jody Richards and political unknown Otis “Bullman” Hensley.
Fletcher has two challengers – Anne Northrup, who lost her seat in Congress last November, and Billy Harper. Unions consider all three anti-union.
Wiggins said he would “fight like hell against an endorsement of Bruce Lunsford,” who backed Fletcher for governor four years ago.
Lunsford is slated with Attorney Gen. Greg Stumbo, who wants to be lieutenant governor. Unions considered Stumbo an ally when he was in the legislature.
“I know [Lunsford's]…running mate is a friend of labor,” Wiggins said. “But [Bruce Lunsford]…is no friend of mine and has never been a friend of mine.”
Jaggers agreed that “there are some folks out there who are terribly upset about him being in the race and are wanting to pass resolutions saying there is no way they would ever endorse him.” But the federation secretary-treasurer cautioned, “You could get caught in a Catch 22. He could win the primary.”
Delegate George Wiggins is against backing anybody for the primary. “We've got too many friends that are running for governor, and if you endorse one of them, and he doesn't get it, then you're in trouble -- you're in bad trouble.”
Jaggers again said he “didn't come down here to try to sway you one way or the other. But my opinion of that is that if you endorse the person you feel like has done the most for you and has been the best for you and he loses and the one who wins gets mad at you, then he wasn't your friend to start with.”
In his letter, Londrigan also said “while folks like to get in early and back a winner and candidates will undoubtedly request support and offer inducements and remind you of all they have done for organized labor, the Executive Board
feels it is in the best interest of organized labor and our goal of defeating Fletcher, Harper or Northrup to caution against making early commitments that will divide labor when we will need to marshal all of our resources to defeat our opponents in November.”Return to Western Kentucky AFL-CIO Area Council Home Page
Bob Reynolds is the 2007 W.C. Young Award recipient
Bob Reynolds, a retired national labor leader from Paducah , will receive this year's W.C. Young Award.
“Bob is a great choice,” said Jeff Wiggins, council president. “He started out at the railroad shops here and worked his way up the ladder to the leadership of the Machinists Union. It's time he is recognized.”
The council Executive Board unanimously chose Reynolds. The other nominee was Mike Miller of Benton, the Marshall County judge-executive.
“Mike is a good friend to labor and he was an excellent nominee,” Wiggins said. “But Bob has dedicated most of his life to the cause of organized labor.”
The Young Award is the highest honor the council bestows. It is named for the late W.C. Young, a national labor and civil rights leader from Paducah .
Reynolds will be saluted at the annual W.C. Young Award dinner in April.
Last year's recipient was City Commissioner Robert Coleman, who spent more than 50 years in the union movement.Return to Western Kentucky AFL-CIO Area Council Home Page
Area Council delegates vote to amend council charter
Delegates have agreed to amend the council charter to permit up to three members of one union to serve on the panel.
The charter had read, “…no more than two members of the same local or national or international union may serve as officers of the executive board of the council.”
The new language reads “no more than three members…” The board recommended the change because of the merger of the PACE and United Rubber Workers unions with the Steelworkers and because of declining participation from some other unions.
Jeff Wiggins, council president, said he would notify the national AFL-CIO of the change in the charter.
Return to Western Kentucky AFL-CIO Area Council Home Page
Special guest swears in new Area Council officers
Council President Jeff Wiggins expected to swear in himself and the other officers at the February council meeting.
He asked Larry Jaggers, state AFL-CIO secretary-treasurer, to administer the oath of office. “We were glad Larry came to see us, and I decided to put him to work,” Wiggins said.
All incumbents were nominated without opposition. To make their election official, Recording Secretary Hardy Williams cast a single vote for each nominee, including himself.
Wiggins will continue as president and Benny Adair as vice president. Also returning for another term are Donna Steele, financial secretary-treasurer; Berry Craig, sergeant-at-arms; and Trustees Bonnie Edwards, Wayne Chambers, David Childress and George Wiggins.
Howard “Bubba” Dawes was nominated to succeed the late Lewis Hicks as COPE director. Nathan Torian was nominated to replace Hicks as a council trustee. Dawes and Torian also had no opposition.
Return to Western Kentucky AFL-CIO Area Council Home Page
Williams leaves Jackson/Sanders board presidency
The Council Executive Board named Berry Craig to replace Hardy Williams on the Jackson House/Sanders House Board of Directors.
Williams, who served as board president, had to resign when his wife accepted a management job at the retirement centers sponsored and built by union labor. “I am honored to be named to the board,” said Craig, a member of AFT-Kentucky. “I share the view of Hardy and the other board members that our top priority is serving the residents of these two fine facilities. The residents must always come first.”
Williams joined the board in 1998. “I think we are running these buildings as well as they can be run,” he said. “ We've got a good group of employees. I think everything is in good hands.”
Williams offered to continue to help board members. “I may not be able to tell you what you want to know, but I can tell where you can find what you want to know,” Williams said.
Council delegate J.W. Cleary, a board member, commended Williams' long tenure on the board. He asked Wiggins, who also serves on the board, to send Williams an official letter of thanks from the council. Wiggins agreed.
“All of us appreciate the job Hardy did,” Wiggins said.
Charles Allred will serve as interim president until a new president can be elected, Wiggins said. The board consists of representatives from the Area Council, the West Kentucky Building and Construction Trades Council and the Kentucky State AFL-CIO. Members from the council are Benny Adair, Bonnie Edwards and now Craig. Allred, Larry Robinson and Michael Vaughn represent the building trades and Wiggins, Donna Steele and Bill Londrigan represent the state AFL-CIO. Londrigan is the state AFL-CIO president. The Sanders House board has three at large members. They are Connie Coleman, Cleary and Joe Viterisi, a former Paducah mayor.
Return to Western Kentucky AFL-CIO Area Council Home Page
All union members welcome at Machinists' spring meet
You don't have to be a Machinist to attend the Kentucky State Council of Machinists' spring meeting April 13-15 at IAM Local Lodge 681 in Louisville .
"Any union members who are interested are welcome to come,” said Benny Adair, Area Council vice president and directing business representative for IAM District Lodge 154 in Calvert City . He expects several candidates for governor will speak at the meeting. Local Lodge 681 is headquartered at 824 S. 2nd St. Additional information is available from Adair at (270) 395-7195.
Return to Western Kentucky AFL-CIO Area Council Home Page
Got news? Email it to Berry Craig at bcraig8960@newwavecomm.net or Jeff Wiggins at JLWiggins2@Juno.com.