 |
The Western Kentucky Worker |
|
Adair, Seay nominated for W.C. Young Award
Veteran union leaders Benny Adair and Gary Seay have been nominated for the 2010 W.C. Young Award, the highest honor the Area Council bestows.
“Benny and Gary are excellent candidates,” said Jeff Wiggins, council president. “W.C. would be proud of either of them as recipients of our award which we named in his honor. But we will be accepting more nominations at the March meeting.”
The council executive board will meet after the regular meeting and vote for the recipient by secret ballot. “I hope we have a good turnout for the meeting, Wiggins said. Again, delegates are welcome to nominate anybody else.”
Young, who died in 1996, at age 77 was a longtime labor and civil rights leader from Paducah . He received the first W.C. Young Award in 1994.
Adair, who lives near Benton , is the council vice president. He is directing business representative of Machinists District Lodge 154 in Calvert City and president of the Kentucky State Council of Machinists.
Seay, who is retired and lives near Reidland, was business agent for IBEW Local 816 for many years. He was also a council delegate and president of the Kentucky State Building and Construction Trades Council.
Last year's recipient was Frances Willey, treasurer of the Western Kentucky Labor Day Committee Inc. The Young Award is presented at an annual dinner held in April. Adair is emcee of the festivities.
Return to Western Kentucky AFL-CIO Area Council Home Page
Council delegates unanimously endorsed two members of the family of labor at the March meeting.
Glenda Adair got the nod for circuit court clerk in Marshall County .
The council also backed Wayne Chambers, right, in his bid for the Third District Graves County commissioner's seat.
Both will run in the May 18 Democratic primary.
“It's always good when you can get behind candidates from our own ranks,” said Jeff Wiggins, council president. “We wish Glenda and Wayne well in their races.”
Adair is the wife of Benny Adair, council vice president and directing business representative for Machinists District Lodge 154 in Calvert City and president of the Kentucky State Council of Machinists.
A former teacher, Adair recently worked for the Kentucky Department of Revenue as an auditor. She and her spouse are Marshall County natives.
Chambers, a council trustee, was the last vice president of Steelworkers Local 665 at the old Continental-General Tire plant. A Mayfield native, he lives in Graves County .
Return to Western Kentucky AFL-CIO Area Council Home Page
Flag ceremony is March 27 outside the council hall
The public is invited to a special U.S. flag raising ceremony March 27 at the council flag pole in celebration of the first anniversary of a bill approved by the General Assembly that requires that “American flags purchased by public institutions in the United States and the Commonwealth of Kentucky must be made in the United States of America.”
The ceremony is set for 2 p.m. Invited guests include the flag presenter, U.S. Rep. Ben Chandler, D-Lexington. “He is giving us a flag that flew over the U.S. Capitol,” said Benny Adair, a Machinist and council vice president. “We hope he will attend.”
Adair also hopes R. Thomas Buffenbarger, the Machinists' international president, will be able come and be the featured speaker.
“We are also inviting all of our local officials, state legislators and Congressman Whitfield,” said Adair, directing business representative of IAM District Lodge 154 in Calvert City and president of the state Council of Machinists. “We think this is a worthy cause that ought to be shared with the people.”
The flag will be hoisted on a pole at the workers memorial monument on the council hall lawn. Special music will be provided by Cody Duncan, son of Brandon Duncan, the council financial secretary-treasurer, and Berry Craig IV, son of Berry Craig, the council recording secretary.
Cody Duncan is a sophomore at Heath High School where he plays the drum in the marching band. Berry Craig IV is a junior trumpet player in the Mayfield High School band.
Also, an American Legion color guard from Calvert City is expected to be present, Adair added.
The flag measure, Senate Bill 33, was signed by Gov. Steve Beshear on March 6, 2009. The state Council of Machinists and other union groups, including the Kentucky State AFL-CIO and the area council, urged its passage to stop the importation of foreign made flags.
“If it's an American flag or a Kentucky state flag it should be made by Americans,” said Jeff Wiggins, a Steelworker and the council president.
State Rep. Will Coursey, D-Sharpe, recently presented a state flag to the council. “It flew over the Capitol building,” Wiggins said. It is preserved in a special glass case inside the council hall. (The flag Chandler will bring will be preserved in a similar glass case.)
The flag bill was based on a resolution Adair wrote and the state Machinists' council endorsed on Aug. 1, 2007. The area council followed suit on Aug. 2. The state federation approved the resolution at its biennial convention in the fall of 2007.
In part, the resolution called on state lawmakers to draft and approve a bill mandating that “only Flags made in the USA fly over the Kentucky State Capitol and offices of the State Government.” The resolution also urged that “this resolution be put forth to the National AFL-CIO for introduction to the United States House of Representatives to do the same over our Nation's Capitol and Government Offices.”
Adair said he hopes the national AFL-CIO will approve the resolution. “We're also trying to get a member of Congress to support the resolution as a bill,” he added.
Return to Western Kentucky AFL-CIO Area Council Home Page
Western Kentucky Area Council AFL-CIO
Samuel O. Henderson Building
1202 South 4th street
P.O. Box 2621
Paducah , Ky. 42002-2661
Phone (270)443-2914
Fax (270) 443-2914
www.wkyafl-cio.org
Dear Union Brothers and Sisters:
We're tired of the negative publicity unions get in the local media. You know what we mean. We usually get coverage of unions in the paper or on TV only when there is a strike. The media almost always seems to imply that strikes are the fault of “greedy unions.”
We all know unions and union members do a lot for our communities, from coaching little league baseball to donating some of our hard-earned money to charitable organizations. We know we give thousands of dollars every year to worthy causes in our area. It's time the public knows, too. Will you help us spread the word?
We'd appreciate it if you'd take a little time to go over your books and determine how much money you gave to charity last year. We'd like to total up what each union in our area gave, put it in the form of a news release and give it to the media.
You can send the information to the email addresses listed below.
Thanks,
Jeff Wiggins, President
Western Kentucky Area Council, AFL-CIO
wkyaflcio@bellsouth.net
bcraig8960@newwavecomm.net
Sent: Friday, February 26, 2010 3:26 PM
To: Int. Exec. Board U.S. ; Nashville ; Five Gateway
Subject: FW: GOP's reply to the unemployed-literally "tough
sh#t" and I am missing a good basketball game-out of touch!
Jim Bunning, a Republican from Kentucky , is single-handedly blocking Senate action needed to prevent an estimated 1.2 million American workers from prematurely losing their unemployment benefits next
month.
As Democratic senators asked again and again for unanimous consent for a vote on a 30-day extension Thursday night, Bunning refused to go
along. And when Sen. Jeff Merkley D-Ore.) begged him to drop his objection, Politico reports, Bunning replied:
"Tough shit."
Bunning says he doesn't oppose extending benefits -- he just doesn't
want the money that's required added to the deficit. He proposes paying for the 30-day extension with stimulus funds. The Senate's GOP leadership did not support him in his objections.
And at one point during the debate, which dragged on till nearly midnight, Bunning complained of missing a basketball game.
"I have missed the Kentucky-South Carolina game that started at 9:00," he said, "and it's the only redeeming chance we had to beat South Carolina since they're the only team that has beat Kentucky this year.
The unemployment rate in Kentucky is 10.7 percent.
Holland will be special guest at March meeting Joe Holland, a Southern regional representative for the national AFL-CIO, will be at the March council meeting to discuss the AFL-CIO's “Turn Around America Good Jobs Now!” program. “It's always great when Joe pays us a visit,” said Jeff Wiggins, council president. “His presentations are always interesting and spark lots of good questions.” Wiggins said the “Turn Around America” program is designed to publicize the need for good jobs in the country. “Union jobs built the middle class in our area and across the country.” Wiggins said. “Real economic development isn't more fast-food restaurants and convenience stores. Real economic development is more industry. “We'll never turn this country around when about the only people hiring are McDonald's and Wal-Mart. It's like the old state AFL-CIO novelty license plates said, ‘Union wages buy more.'” |
New York Times editorial of Feb. 26
Clueless in Kentucky
Kentucky has lost about 60,000 jobs since the end of 2008. In December, its unemployment rate stood at 10.7 percent, the highest since 1983. So what exactly is going on in the minds of Kentucky 's two Republican senators, Mitch McConnell and Jim Bunning?
This week, Mr. Bunning single-handedly shot down a one-month extension of unemployment benefits, along with a federal subsidy for the unemployed to maintain health coverage. Two weeks earlier, Mr. McConnell, the minority leader, objected to a one-week extension to give senators time to draft a longer-term package.
It should be a no-brainer to extend unemployment insurance when around 1 out of every 10 workers is unemployed. Standard unemployment benefits end at 26 weeks, yet 6.3 million workers have been out of work for more than 27 weeks. Congress has provided a series of extensions, and without another one, 400,000 people will lose their benefits in a matter of weeks.
Senator Bunning once cared about the unemployed. When the benefit was due to expire in November, he joined a unanimous vote to extend it until the end of February. “ Kentucky has been hit hard by the current economic downturn,” he said at the time. It still is, but Mr. Bunning refused to consider the extension unless it was paid for with funds from the fiscal stimulus plan. For years, Mr. Bunning didn't seem to have a problem with blowing up the deficit for the Iraq war and tax cuts. Now he's a deficit hawk when it comes to average Americans.
Maybe he's preoccupied. At one point during a debate on the issue Thursday night, he complained about missing the Kentucky-South Carolina basketball game.
Democrats must now defeat Republican attempts to lace the benefits extension with things like protecting the rich from the estate tax. To avoid a repeat of this nonsense every few weeks, unemployment benefits should be extended until the end of the year. Perhaps by Monday somebody can educate Senators Bunning and McConnell about Kentucky 's unemployment rate.
Return to Western Kentucky AFL-CIO Area Council Home Page
Want to talk union on TV? Berry Craig is looking for guests for “The Union Label” his talk show on Cable Channel 2. He can be reached by phone at 543-3270 or by email at bcraig8960@newwavecomm.net |
Return to Western Kentucky AFL-CIO Area Council Home Page
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. Checks should be made out to the Western Kentucky Labor Day Committee Inc. and sent to Frances Willey, 622 Charleston Ave., Lone Oak, Ky. 42001. Books may be ordered by contacting Craig by email at bcraig8960@newwavecomm.net . |
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 |