SMWIA Member Gets Missouri Labor Post; N.Y. State AFL-CIO Endorses Candidate with Union Background

by Mike Hall, Mar 3, 2009

Carla Buschjost

Carla Buschjost, a member of Sheet Metal Workers (SMWIA) Local 36, in St. Louis, is the new director of the Division of Labor Standards in the Missouri Department of Labor and Industrial Relations (DOLIR). Meanwhile in New York, Scott Murphy, a candidate in the special election for the 20th Congressional District seat, won the backing of the New York State AFL-CIO this weekend. Murphy is the son of a postal worker and a teacher.

Appointed late last month, Buschjost will oversee the division’s worker safety sections as well as the state’s child labor and prevailing wage laws. Says Buschjost:

I am passionate about stronger enforcement of laws that create stronger and safer workplaces.

Her most recent duties at Local 36 included monitoring compliance with the state’s prevailing wage laws on public construction projects. Prevailing wage laws ensure contractors on state projects don’t exploit workers by paying low wages to win state contracts. DOLIR Director Larry Rebman says:

Carla’s background and experience make her the ideal candidate to oversee the essential duties of the Division of Labor Standards.

In New York, voters on March 31 will select a successor to former Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) who was appointed to former Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s (D-N.Y.) Senate seat after she became U.S. Secretary of State.

State AFL-CIO President Denis Hughes says that Murphy

…has cultivated a strong relationship with local unions in his district and has shown a keen awareness and understanding of the issues, needs and concerns of working men and women.

The endorsement means Murphy will benefit from the state federation’s grassroots operations that include such member-to-member initiatives as phone banks, door-to-door visits and worksite fliers.

Murphy says if he gets to Washington, he will

fight to create jobs, provide middle-class tax relief and offer new ways to meet our most pressing challenges so we can turn our economy around.

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