Wayne Chambers of USW Local 665 will receive the 2008 W.C. Young Award

Wayne Chambers, the last vice president of Steelworkers Local 665 at the Mayfield Continental-General Tire Plant, is the 2008 W.C. Young Award recipient.

He will receive the award, the highest honor the council bestows, at the annual W.C. Young Dinner on April 26. “Nobody worked harder for that local than Wayne ,” said Jeff Wiggins, council president. “He kept working even after the plant closed. Nobody is more deserving of the award than Wayne .”

Chambers, who lives near Mayfield, was a unanimous choice for the award which is named for the late W.C. Young, a national labor and civil rights leader from Paducah .

Young died in 1996 at age 74. He received the first Young Award in 1994. Last year's winner was Bob Reynolds,' retired president and directing general chairman of IAM District 19. The dinner is set for 6 p.m. at MLC's Restaurant in Paducah . Tickets are $13 each. Anyone planning to attend the dinner is asked contact Benny Adair, council vice president and program organizer, at 395-7195. “We need to let the restaurant know how many people to expect,” he said.

The dinner will follow the annual Workers' Memorial Day program at the Council Hall. It will start at 2 p.m., Wiggins said.
“We hope to have a good crowd for both of these events,” he added. “We come together every April 26 to remember our brothers and sisters who lost their lives on the job. Last year, for the first time, we had our W.C. Young dinner on the same day.

“I think that's appropriate. We mourn the dead and recognize a fighter for the living – a union brother or sister who made an outstanding contribution to the labor movement.”

Chambers worked at Continental-General for many years before the plant closed. He is also a longtime council delegate and serves as a council representative on the state AFL-CIO COPE Committee.

“Among the many things Wayne did for his local was help get the ‘Rock of Labor' on the courthouse lawn in Mayfield,” Wiggins said. The 3,000 pound boulder memorializes Local 665.

Return to Western Kentucky AFL-CIO Area Council Home Page

Council endorses Abraham for Paducah Commission

The state AFL-CIO COPE Committee followed all but one council recommendation for elections this year.

“We endorsed Bruce Lunsford for the senate,” said Jeff Wiggins, council president. He is also a member of the state COPE Committee because he represents the council on the state Executive Committee.

At its March meeting, the council had voted unanimously to recommend for endorsement Greg Fischer of Louisville , Lunsford's main opponent in a crowded May Democratic primary field. “Usually, the state COPE Committee goes along with what councils recommend,” said Wiggins. “But it was thought that Lunsford has the best chance to beat Mitch McConnell in the fall.

“We agreed that beating McConnell is a top priority. He is one of the most anti-labor members of the senate.”

Wiggins, a Steelworker, said his union supported endorsing Lunsford, also from Louisville . “So I voted for him,” he explained. But he added that one of the two council representatives on the state COPE Committee -- Howard “Bubba” Dawes -- voted to endorse Fischer, reflecting the council's wishes. Wayne Chambers, the council's other representative, was absent.

“I sometimes have to wear two hats,” Wiggins explained. “I vote as a Steelworker on the COPE Committee.”

Wiggins said all E-board members automatically sit on the COPE Committee.

At the same time, the state COPE committee endorsed all of the other candidates the council recommended for endorsement. They include:

-- Mike Lawrence, West Paducah , Democrat, First House District

-- Rep. Fred Nesler, Mayfield, Democrat, Second District

-- Rep. Mike Cherry, Princeton , Democrat, Fourth District

-- Rep. Melvin Henley, Murray, Democrat

-- Rep. Will Coursey, Elva, Democrat, Sixth District

The COPE Committee took no action in the Third and Eighth Districts in which Reps. Frank Rasche of Paducah and John Tilley of Hopkinsville have no primary or general election opposition. Both are Democrats.

Lawrence has no primary opposition. He will challenge Rep. Steven Rudy, a Republican also from West Paducah , in November. He and Fischer spoke at the March council meeting.

In addition, the COPE Committee followed the council's lead and voted “no recommendation” in the First District Senate race. “We have two friends in that one, and individual unions and individual union members are free to support the candidate they like,” Wiggins said.

By “friends,” he meant Democrats Carroll Hubbard, a former congressman, and Rick Johnson,

an ex-state court of appeals judge. They are vying to challenge the Republican incumbent, State Sen. Ken Winters, in November. “Winters is not our friend,” Wiggins said. “He is about as anti-union as state senators come. “Regardless of whom we support in the primary, we'll come together and work hard for Rick or Carroll in the fall.”

Wiggins added that councils are free to make their own endorsements in local races. The council has endorsed Robert Coleman for Mayor and Gerald Watkins and Richard Abraham for the city commission. Coleman, a longtime commissioner, is challenging Mayor Bill Paxton. Watkins is running for a second term. Abraham has served on the council. He ran unsuccessfully for another term two years ago.

“We've got to get rid of Paxton and get Robert and Gerald some help at city hall,” Wiggins said. “Paxton is head of maybe the most anti-union administration in the history of the city of Paducah .”

Local labor hopes to add Lawrence to pro-labor lawmakers in Frankfort . “I have to run against Steve, his dad, his grandfather and Mitch McConnell but I am confident of victory,” Lawrence said.

Lawrence added, “I am not running because Steven Rudy is a Republican. I am running because we need representation in Frankfort . Frankfort needs to understand there is life this side of the Green River and that there are people down here who need help.

Fischer told the council he needed labor's help. “My first good-paying job was working as a union roofer in 1977,” said the business owner and entrepreneur.

Fischer said his first priority as a senator would be to stop what he calls “the attack on the pocketbooks of working Americans. Thousands and thousands of good jobs are going out of the country.

“The middle class is disappearing. We can't just say this is capitalism and that's the way it works and it's just tough luck. We need to have a national dialogue on this and with the right leadership we can.”

Fischer said if he is elected he will “become very involved in job creation.” He said he has created thousands of jobs in his many business ventures.

Fischer is one of eight Democrats on the ballot in the May primary. He said he is the only one who can beat McConnell.

“I am being attacked right now by a certain senator from New York – a Washington , D.C. , insider who feels like one of my opponents -- a fellow named Bruce Lunsford – is the salvation of Kentucky and Bruce is going to take us to the Promised Land by getting elected to the United States Senate.”

Fischer meant Charles Schumer, head of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. Schumer let it be known in Kentucky that Lunsford was his candidate, Wiggins said.

Fischer said he offers “a clear contrast” to Lunsford, who ran unsuccessfully for governor last year. “I have a clean business record. I don't have any political baggage. I didn't run Ernie Fletcher's transition team. I have no corporate bankruptcies.”

Lunsford angered some Kentucky Democrats in 2003 when he ran for governor, dropped out of the primary and afterwards supported Fletcher, a Republican. Lunsford also contributed money to Fletcher's campaign.

He ran for governor again in 2007 and redeemed himself with some Democratic doubters by not forcing Steve Beshear into a primary runoff against him. He also backed Beshear for governor.

But at the March council meeting, Fischer focused most of his fire on McConnell. He acknowledged that the incumbent has plenty of money to spend on the 2008 campaign.

“Where does he get his money?” Fischer asked. “From the pharmaceutical and big oil companies and all these different special interests – his money is dirty money.”

He said McConnell practices the politics of divisiveness and self-absorption. “He'll take a social wedge issue, and he'll say, ‘You all over here are different from you all over here, so you need to hate them because they're different. America does its best work when we work together regardless of our differences.”

Fischer charged that McConnell is so self-absorbed that “he will do anything to get elected. When he casts a vote, it's not for what's good for the people of McCracken County or Jefferson County or Campbell County . It's ‘How much money I get if I place my vote a certain way.'”

He added, “People say ‘Mitch McConnell has all this power -- how can we live without him?'

But while he's been in office, we've gone from 30th or 35 th to 45 th or 48 th in almost every quality of life indicator from children's health to college-educated women, the environment – you name it. So I don't see where his power has helped the people of Kentucky .”

On labor issues, Fischer said he opposes “right-to-work-for-less” and supports the Employee Free Choice Act. He said he is skeptical of NAFTA, adding he favors “fair trade.”

In addition, he promised to help reform America 's health care system if he gets elected. “We spend over two trillion dollars a year on health care in this country – more than the entire gross national product of China – yet we can't provide every American with quality health care.

“Pharmaceuticals and the insurance companies or whoever has basically bought these guys [lawmakers like McConnell] off again…. We need a radical transformation. The first thing I would do to make a point – it would never pass – would be to introduce a bill that would say every senator and congressman would have the average health care plan of the average American. Fifteen percent of Americans are uninsured. I would pick out 15 percent of [lawmakers] and say ‘You don't have health insurance.'”

Fischer also criticized the Iraq war. “How many members of Congress and how many senators have sons or daughters fighting in Iraq ? Don't you think if their sons and daughters were going over there, they'd think a little bit harder and longer about sending us into a war that we got into under false pretenses?”

“I am very supportive of our troops. The safety of our troops is my number one concern. But, folks, it looks like we're refereeing a civil war over there right now.”

Wiggins said Lunsford was invited to speak to the council. He did not attend.

Return to Western Kentucky AFL-CIO Area Council Home Page

Council President Jeff Wiggins swears in Cindy Ashley as a new delegate at the March council meeting. Ashley is unit vice president of Steelworkers Local 727 at Westlake PVC in Calvert City . “One of the best things about my job is welcoming new delegates to the council,” Wiggins said. “It is always good to have new blood in any organization.”

Beating McConnell is job one

By JEFF WIGGINS

We can all be proud of the job we did in electing Steve Beshear governor last year. He knows – we all know – how much labor helped him.

But as hard as we worked in '07, we are going to have to work twice as hard this year if we want to beat Mitch McConnell. Beating him is our top priority.
He is one of the most anti-union members of the United States Senate. He has fought us tooth and nail for as long as he has been in Washington .

We have a real chance to retire him this year.

Eight Democrats are running in the primary. McConnell has a token opponent in the Republican primary. Only two Democrats have a chance to win their primary: Greg Fischer and Bruce Lunsford.

The council voted to recommend Fischer for endorsement. The state AFL-CIO endorsed Lunsford. I voted to endorse Lunsford.

Both Fischer and Lunsford are right on our issues. But we think Lunsford has the better chance to win.

If Fischer wins, we will get behind him. We have to work hard for whomever the Democratic nominee happens to be. McConnell will be tough to beat. He has tons of money to spend on smearing his Democratic opponent. But he is vulnerable this time. His popularity rating in the state is below 50 percent.

Return to Western Kentucky AFL-CIO Area Council Home Page