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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 7, Number 5, May 2006
Candidates visit council offering thanks, seeking support
A parade of candidates -- some endorsed and recommended and others not -- came seeking union votes at the April council meeting.
All promised to support labor if they are elected or reelected.
“I am a friend of labor,” said Carroll Hubbard of Paducah , the former congressman who is running for the state senate. “Labor has been a good friend to me.”
Hubbard, a Democrat, has no opposition in the May 16 primary. He said he was grateful the Kentucky State AFL-CIO endorsed his candidacy.
“I strongly oppose right to work laws,” he said. “I strongly support prevailing wage laws, and I strongly support raising the minimum wage.”
Hubbard lived in Mayfield when he served in the state senate and in the U.S. House of Representatives from the First District.
Tom Barlow, a Paducah Democrat, beat Hubbard in the Democratic primary in 1992, then lost his seat to Republican Ed Whitfield two years later. Barlow wants another term.
“I believe in unions,” Barlow said. The candidate added that organized labor built America 's large middle class.
Eric Streit, a political newcomer from Paducah , opposes Barlow in the May Democratic primary. The state AFL-CIO made no recommendation in the race.
Streit wasn't at the April council meeting. But Diane Yancey, a Paducah union activist and Streit campaign staffer, said her candidate “comes from a strong union family, and he will fight for us in Congress.”
Both candidates for McCracken County judge-executive in the May Democratic primary promised to stand up for unions at the courthouse. The council voted no recommendation in that contest.
“There's not a lot new I can say about myself,” said Danny Orazine, the incumbent. “You all know me.”
Orazine belonged to IAM Local 1720. He also served as a county commissioner.
His challenger is Van Newberry, a former county engineer. No candidate filed for the GOP primary.
Orazine and the fiscal court didn't follow the city commission in endorsing Gov. Ernie Fletcher's call for a right-to-work law. He said Fletcher, a Republican, personally asked him to get the fiscal court to back such a measure.
“I looked the governor in the eye and told him I can't do that for several reasons.” Orazine said. “I just couldn't do it.”
Newberry, a member of AFSCME Local 9170 in southern Illinois , reiterated his opposition to a right-to-work law and support for the prevailing wage. He said he welcomed the endorsement of AFSCME Local 2821 and Paducah IAFF Local 168.
Other candidates thanked delegates for endorsing them. They included Richard Abraham, who is running for another term on the city commission. Abraham said Mayor Bill Paxton and City Commissioners Buzz Smith and George Sirk were wrong to endorse Gov. Ernie Fletcher's proposal for a right-to-work law.
“Yes, you pay [union workers] good wages,” Abraham said. Yes, they are organized and are not afraid to speak up. But look what you get. You get skilled workers whose products will stand for many years.”
McCracken County Clerk Jeff Jerrell; Jon Hayden, a candidate for McCracken County sheriff; and county commission candidates Jerry Beyer and John Via visited the council in April. They said they appreciated union backing.
Tom Houser, who is running against Jerrell, appealed for union help. Likewise, Democrat Dan Voegli of Fulton asked for labor aid in his race for the state House of Representatives. The state AFL-CIO endorsed Steven Rudy of West Paducah , the Republican incumbent.
Marianne Halicks, a candidate for district judge, came courting union favor. But the council endorsed incumbent District Judge Bard Brien in her race.
Return to Western Kentucky AFL-CIO Area Council Home Page
‘Stand up, Fight Back' is more than the Labor Day parade theme
“Stand Up, Fight Back” is the theme for this year's Labor Day Parade.
“It's the same theme used for the rally in Frankfort in opposition to a right-to-work law and in support of the prevailing wage,” said Jeff Wiggins, council president.
Wiggins said the theme is especially important locally. “The city commission voted for a resolution in support of Gov. Fletcher's right-to-work law. It's time to stand up and fight back against that.”
Mayor Bill Paxton and Commissioners George Sirk and Buzz Smith voted for the resolution. Commissioner Robert Coleman voted against the proposal.
Coleman, a longtime union member, was to be presented the 2006 W.C. Young Award April 27 at Washington Street Baptist Church . The award, the highest honor the area council bestows, is named for the late W.C. Young, a national labor and civil rights activist from Paducah .
Coleman said Young, his cousin, got him into the union movement more than a half century ago. “Robert Coleman is our only friend on the city commission,” Wiggins said. “We've got to reelect him and get some help from our endorsed candidates -- Richard Abraham and Gerald Watkins.”
Meanwhile, several candidates -- local and state -- are expected to join the Labor Day parade, the featured attraction of the annual Labor Day weekend program.
The festivities are sponsored by the Western Kentucky Labor Day Committee Inc., an all volunteer organization.
This year's program will be Sept. 2-4. It will include a Sept. 2 and Sept. 3 “Battle of the Bands”
“We're lining up 40 garage bands from across this end of the state,” said Wiggins, who is also vice president of the Labor Day Committee. “Each of them will have their own sound system. They'll also have booths where they can sell their CDs and other products.”
Wiggins said the Battle of the Bands will feature family entertainment. “There will be no cursing and off-color language allowed,” he added.
Another new attraction this year will be a swap meet that will be open all three days. “People can pay a $20 fee and bring the items left over after their yard sales and anything else they want to get rid of,” Wiggins said.
Wiggins said the program will include the traditional flea market.
Following the downtown parade, the traditional Labor Day picnic and political speaking will begin at Carson Park . “This is an important election year, and we are expecting a good turnout of candidates,” Wiggins said.
The Labor Day Committee meets the fourth Tuesday of every month at 7 p.m. at the council hall.
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Council donates $100 toward Henderson workers memorial
In other business at the April meeting, the council voted to donate $100 toward a Workers Memorial in Henderson, welcomed a new delegate and heard an appeal for support for Steelworkers Local 879.
The Henderson memorial, sponsored by the Henderson-based Tri-County Council of Labor, was expected to be dedicated April 29. The stone was to be erected in the city park.
The Western Kentucky Area Council also plans to put its own workers memorial near the council hall. Several designs are being considered.
Nathan Torian, a member of IFFA Local 168 in Paducah , was sworn in as a delegate.
The Firefighters union plans to sponsor a candidate forum in September or October at the Cherry Civic Center . All local candidates will be invited to speak.
Jeff Wiggins, council president, said members of Steelworkers Local 879 have been locked out at Vanderbilt Chemical Co. in Murray .
“The company has hired replacement worker scabs, and the union needs our help,” Wiggins said. “Anything we can do to help our brothers and sisters will be greatly appreciated.”
Donations may be sent to Dwain Bell, Local 879 president, at 633 Colonial Road , Murray , Ky. 42071 . His phone number is (270) 293-9840. “What the company did to Local 879 can happen to any of our locals,” Wiggins said. “Now's the time to show solidarity with Local 879. We can move mountains when we stand together.”
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Unions keep spirit of Workers Memorial Day every day
By BERRY CRAIG
AFT-Kentucky/KEA-NEA
A century ago, thousands of immigrant coal miners worked long hours at low pay in jobs that threatened their lives and limbs.
George F. Baer didn't care. “They don't suffer,” he said. “They don't even speak English.”
Baer was a railroad tycoon. But he became president of the Anthracite Coal Trust in 1902 when miners, immigrant and native-born, struck for better hours, pay and wages and for a chance to join the United Mine Workers of America.
Baer rates only a line or two in most history books. Even so, he is worth remembering. Because of employers like him, unions must “mourn for the dead, fight for the living,” the unofficial slogan of Workers Memorial Day, which has been observed every April 28 since 1989.
"Unions mourn the dead and fight for the living every day," said Jeff Wiggins, council president and a member of Steelworkers Local 9447-5."Our council hall is a worker's memorial. It is named for a brother, Samuel D. Henderson, who was killed on the job."
In Baer's time, unions were scarce. Workplace safety regulations were few, inadequate and mostly ignored by employers. As a result, many men, women and children labored long hours at low pay in often deadly jobs.
In the 1900s, railroads, mines and mills were slaughterhouses. Thousands of workers were killed, maimed or made seriously ill every year. One apologist for industrialists like Baer said the country didn't need worker safety and health laws because such laws only protected “those of the lowest development.”
Not many occupations were more dangerous than mining. The anthracite miners of 1902 said the UMWA would make their jobs better and safer. Baer was indignant. “The rights and interests of the laboring man will be protected and cared for -- not by the labor agitators, but by the Christian men to whom God in His infinite wisdom has given the control of the property interests of the country," he replied.
“Amens” rose from pulpits and pews in big churches where wealthy men like Baer worshipped. Well-paid preachers sermonized that rich people were rich because they were godly.
Anti-union politicians -- Republicans and Democrats --happily did the bidding of big business in the 1900s. In state houses and in Congress, they made sure meaningful worker safety and health laws stayed off the books. Union-busting was traditionally bipartisan, too.
President Rutherford B. Hayes, a Republican, sent federal troops to crush the Great Railroad Strike of 1877. Democratic President Grover Cleveland furnished U.S. soldiers to smash the Pullman Strike in 1894. Likewise, anti-union Democratic and Republican governors dispatched state troops to break strikes.
Meanwhile, the media played lapdog and cheerleader for American business and industry. Newspapers routinely lauded the likes of Baer as “Captains of Industry” and smeared unions as "radical" and “un-American.”
Thus, the George F. Baers, aided by anti-labor politicians, preachers and press lords, ensured that a strong union movement would be a long time coming -- the Occupational Safety and Health Administration even longer. But come they did, through what has been called labor's long "heritage of struggle."
"Decades of struggle by workers and their unions have resulted in significant improvements in working conditions," the national AFL-CIO says. "But the toll of workplace injuries, illnesses and deaths remains enormous. Each year more than 56,000 workers die from job injuries and illnesses and another 6 million are injured."
Nobody fought harder for unions in the Baer era than the storied Socialist and UMWA organizer, Mary Harris "Mother" Jones. “Mourn for the dead, fight for the living!” were her words.
Though Mother Jones was dubbed "the Miners' Angel," she actually said "fight like hell for the living!" "Unions will always practice what Mother Jones preached," said Wiggins, who is also on the Kentucky State AFL-CIO Executive Board.
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Got news? Email it to Berry Craig at bcraig8960@charter.net or Jeff Wiggins at JLWiggins2@Juno.com.