Tough Trek for 7-Ton Mother Jones and Friends
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Three flat tires couldn’t keep Machinists (IAM) Benny Adair and Hardy Williams from completing their monumental task—and Adair swears, “With all the trouble we had, not a single cussword was said.”
Adair and Williams volunteered their time, a truck and a trailer to transport the seven-ton state Workers Memorial stone 250 miles from the old Kentucky State AFL-CIO headquarters in Frankfort to its new home at the Paducah-based Western Kentucky Area Council, AFL-CIO, because “we wanted to save the council some money.” Adair is council vice president and Williams is a delegate.
The 10-foot gray granite shaft is etched with a portrait of labor pioneer Mary Harris “Mother” Jones and honors workers killed on the job.
When the state AFL-CIO headquarters was sold, the council asked for the monument, and state labor leaders approved the transfer. When it was time to move the monument last year, Adair says:
It took about four hours for us to drive to Frankfort to get the monument. The return trip took about twice as long.
The tire troubles started near Elizabethtown on the four-lane Bluegrass Parkway when Adair spotted a pothole.
Kay Tillow: Civil Rights, Union Organizing Mark Decades of Activism
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Kay Tillow, a veteran union activist from Louisville, can inspire us all as we start the New Year. “Set a stout heart to a steep hillside” is an old Scottish proverb that reminds me of Tillow, who’s executive director of the Nurses Professional Organization. She and the NPO have spent 21 years battling to organize nurses who work for Louisville-based Norton Healthcare, Kentucky’s largest health care system. Says Tillow:
“The [National Labor Relations Board] has ruled in our favor time and again. But management has continued to threaten and intimidate nurses who want the union and we’ve never gotten recognition.”
Even so, Tillow refuses to give up. “This is a human rights issue to me.”
Bill Londrigan, Kentucky State AFL-CIO president, is one of Tillow’s biggest fans.
Kay has worked tirelessly on behalf of nurses who have had to fight one of the most anti-union health care corporations in the nation. She’s a warrior for workers.
Workers Don’t Fit into Rand Paul’s World
Kentucky State AFL-CIO President Bill Londrigan doesn’t pull punches when he talks about the Bluegrass State’s Tea Party-backed Republican U.S. Senate candidate. Speaking to a sun-baked crowd at Paducah’s 35th annual Labor Day picnic Monday, he warned:
A vote for Rand Paul is a vote for the continuation of the economic nightmare now facing workers across Kentucky. Vote like your job depends on it—because it does.
The state AFL-CIO unanimously endorsed Democrat Jack Conway over Paul, whose anti-union views earned him a $2,500 donation from the National Right to Work Committee.
Conway is the state’s attorney general. An ophthalmologist, Paul is the son of Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas). Dr. Paul is bad medicine for Kentucky’s working families, according to Londrigan.
He supports privatizing Social Security and increasing the retirement age for Social Security eligibility. He supports so-called free trade agreements like NAFTA, which are responsible for shipping millions of good-paying American jobs overseas.
Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders Meets with Kentucky Union Leaders
Nate Byer, AFL-CIO communications director in Kentucky, sends us this report.
As part of his congressional August recess, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) was in Kentucky yesterday to witness firsthand how residents of the Bluegrass State have risen to the challenging economic realities that face the region. During his first-ever trip to the Commonwealth, Sanders, who was joined by Rep. Jim Yarmuth (D-KY), stopped in at the UAW Local 862 union hall to hold an informal roundtable with union leaders and interested members.
Kentucky AFL-CIO President Bill Londigran briefed Sanders on how the state’s implementation of federal stimulus funds and where union leaders see the greatest potential for job growth in the state. Yarmuth contributed valuable insight into the political challenges friends of labor face across the state and made it clear that he believes the progressive community will be geared up for the upcoming November elections. Says Londrigran. Read the rest of this entry »
Time for Unity in Kentucky U.S. Senate Race
Kentucky Lt. Gov. Dan Mongiardo (D) didn’t quite pull a “Happy” Chandler when he told the Lexington Herald-Leader he is “not taking a position” in the U.S. Senate race between fellow Democrat Jack Conway and Tea Party-backed Republican Rand Paul.
Albert B. “Happy” Chandler, a former U.S. senator and two-time Bluegrass State governor, lost the 1967 Democratic gubernatorial primary to Henry Ward. Happy was so miffed that he supported Republican Louie B. Nunn in the general election. Nunn won.
In May, Mongiardo lost a close primary battle to Conway, the state attorney general. Both have good labor records. So before the primary, the Kentucky State AFL-CIO didn’t endorse either candidate, leaving individual unions to support whomever they pleased.
We’re Still Mourning the Dead and Fighting for the Living
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A century ago, many immigrant coal miners worked long hours at low pay in jobs that threatened their lives and limbs.
George F. Baer didn’t care. As he said:
“They don’t suffer. Why, they can’t even speak English.”
Baer was the chief spokesman for the Anthracite coal trust in 1902, when Pennsylvania hard coal miners, immigrant and native-born went on strike. The miners sought a pay hike, shorter hours, safer working conditions and recognition of their union, the Mine Workers. The strike was settled after President Theodore Roosevelt intervened.
The coal trust was made up of a group of railroad and mining companies that controlled nearly all of the Anthracite mines. Baer was president of the Reading Railroad.
He rates only a few lines in most history books. Even so, Baer is worth remembering.
The Tea Party Isn’t Union Friendly
Here’s what a commenter posted recently at the AFL-CIO Now blog:
I am a progressive democrat, former member of three unions and my run was heavily funded by unions. I was beaten by a right-wing Republican because rank-and-file union members voted for my opponent.
And:
Until union members stop drooling over Glenn Beck and his ilk, unions will continue to be rendered impotent.
What was it the immortal Pogo said? “We have met the enemy and he is us.”
Trumka: AFL-CIO Strongly Committed to Diversity
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| At the AFL-CIO Diversity Conference today, AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Richard Trumka pledged the AFL-CIO will recommit to embracing diversity at every level. |
The union movement is becoming more diverse and the new leadership of the AFL-CIO is committed to working harder to reach out to young workers, people of color, women and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender workers, AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Richard Trumka said today at the AFL-CIO National Summit on Diversity. Trumka told the more than 500 participants the federation’s commitment to diversity is on its way to becoming a reality:
I’m here to tell you that we must change. That is why we’re seeking out and encouraging young people, people of color, people of all backgrounds and beliefs and sexual orientation. These are the labor leaders of tomorrow.
