| Union Industries Show coming to Milwaukee | |
| The 2000 AFL-CIO Union-Industries Show -- the largest MADE IN THE USA exhibition of union workers' skills and services, and millions of dollars worth of union-made, American-made products -- will be held at Milwaukee's Midwest Express Center, May 5 - 8. | |
| Union members and their contractors take special pride knowing that this year's Show will be staged at the 100% union built and operated Midwest Express Center. The new Center is a living monument to the value and skill of the workforce in Milwaukee - The Genuine American City, a real Union City. | |
| Held in a different city each year, this will be the fourth time in the Show's 62-year history that it will be staged in Milwaukee. The Show was first held in 1938 and was forced to skip some of the World War II years; but, restarting in 1948 in Milwaukee, the Show has run each and every years since and is proud to start the new Millennium in the city that gave the Show its new beginning. Other Show visits to Milwaukee were in 1975 and 1985. | |
| A showcase of the quality and variety of union-made, American-made goods and services, this year's exhibition will cover floor space the equivalent of over four football fields. Admission is free. | |
| Showgoers who have ever wondered about what goes through a fire fighter's mind as he or she enters a burning building, or what is involved in producing the special effects for a science-fiction movie, or what it's like to be an astronaut, a welder, or a bricklayer, will be able to get their questions answered. The Show is considered by many to be the largest job fair in the country. For young people, in particular, the Show is a great place to get a first-hand look at the wide range of good jobs that are available for those who prepare for them. | |
| The Show will feature well over 300 unions and companies with union-represented employees, some from the Milwaukee Region, including Harley Davidson, Miller and Kohler. | |
| Scores of showgoers will take home with them tens of thousands of dollars worth of union-made goods that are on display – big-ticket items, small-ticket items, and those in between, from cereal products and ice cream to household appliances and motor vehicles. | |
| The AFL-CIO Union Label and Service Trades Department, which produces the Show, plus the family of the Wisconsin State AFL-CIO, the Milwaukee County Labor Council, other central labor councils, local unions, and employers large and small, are all helping with this year's Show and are issuing special invitations to young people to attend. | |
| The entire AFL-CIO membership is extremely excited at the opportunity to host the 2000 AFL-CIO Union-industries Show. | |
| "It's an educational and entertaining experience for the whole family," said Charles E. Mercer, president of the AFL-CIO Union Label and Service Trades Department. "The exhibits, demonstrations and prizes offer something for everybody." | |
| Show hours are Noon - 8 P.M. on opening day, Friday, May 5; and 11 A.M. - 7 P.M., on Saturday, Sunday and Monday, May 6 - 8. | |
| So-called "Fair Act" pulled for lack of support | |
| Members of the anti-union Associated Builders and Contractors attending the organization’s national legislative conference in Washington, received some bad news last month when House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill) announced that a vote on the so-called "Fair Act" would have to be postponed for lack of support. | |
| The bill, which would cripple the effectiveness of the two government agencies responsible for enforcing worker protection laws – the National Labor Relations Administration (NLRA) and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), was a legislative priority for ABC this session. | |
| In a recent edition of the Bureau of National Affairs (BNA) Construction Labor Reporter, ABC President W. Thomas Musser blamed the defeat on unions, while Hastert noted that the building trades lobbying effort successfully solidified bi-partisan opposition to the bill. | |
| The building trades, including the Laborers, in letters to lawmakers and congressional staff, and in face-to-face meetings have argued that H.R. 1987, the so-called "Fair Access to Indemnity and Reimbursement Act," is anything but fair because it narrowly and arbitrarily targets those agencies – NLRA and OSHA – charged with enforcing key worker protection laws. | |
| Essentially, the bill removes two critical conditions under the Equal Access to Justice Act (EAJA) that must be met in order for a qualified party to recover fees and costs if they prevail in an administrative or judicial proceeding. | |
| The fact that the scope of this legislation is targeted on the two agencies most responsible for labor laws and worksite safety and health is an indication to many that the intent of the bill is to deter workers and labor organizations from filing claims with these agencies. | |
| Proponents claim their bill is targeted to "small" businesses, and that it extends the same relief to labor organizations. But, the fact is the bill would include almost 98% of all businesses, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics figures, while only 7% of complaints issued by NLRA are against Unions and all civil cases brought by the Secretary of Labor are against employers. | |
| Given the fact that EAJA already provides for fee awards if a complaint is filed that is not "substantially justified" opponents believe H.R. 1987 is intended to discourage these agencies from exercising their statutory responsibilities. | |
| According to a Republican staffer quoted in BNA, "The Speaker and the Majority Leader [Rep. Dick Armey (R-Texas)] have both indicated that we will be back with the ‘Fair Act’…" but no timeline was given. | |
| Meanwhile, the Clinton Administration, Vice-President Al Gore, and Labor Secretary Alexis M. Herman have all expressed their opposition to the Bill. | |
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| Bill would restore Wage Lien priority for workers | ||||
| A Bill to restore priority to wage liens filed by workers against employers for unpaid wages and other compensation has been introduced in the state Senate. SB 320 is intended to reverse legislative action of two years ago that gave priority to banks and other lending institutions. | ||||
| For years, Wisconsin law gave workers priority in the filing of liens against businesses that fail to pay their employees the wages owed them. | ||||
| All of that changed, when a last minute provision sponsored by Assembly Republicans and backed by the state’s banking community made its way into the 1998 mini-budget. The law change was engineered in response to a Wisconsin Court of Appeals Decision that reaffirmed the priority of liens for unpaid wages and other compensation. | ||||
| In explaining its ruling the Court of Appeals said, "The absolute or sacred nature of the wage claim lien flows from a simple proposition: if workers are not paid their wages, they and their families will suffer." | ||||
| While the decision was good news for Wisconsin workers, it was not good news for banks and other lending institutions whose business property liens generally pre-dated wage liens. | ||||
| Since the law change, scores of Wisconsin workers have lost tens of thousands of dollars in pay and other compensation to multi-billion dollar corporations whose property interests now take precedent over wage earners. | ||||
| In remarks before the Senate Labor Committee, representatives of the Wisconsin Bankers Association, Community Bankers, and Land Title Companies expressed "sympathy" to unpaid workers who had fallen victim to this law in the past two years. Using the opportunity to explain the greater good that is served by investors who simply should not be expected to assume certain "risks," each warned the committee of the detrimental impact restoring wage lien priority might have on investment, economic development and jobs in the state. | ||||
| Speaking on behalf of the state AFL-CIO, Joanne Ricca noted that these were the same arguments that the Appeals Court rejected in its 1998 ruling when it upheld the priority of wage liens for workers. | ||||
| Quoting from the decision, Ricca said, "After all, a lien for wages is a lien for money that should have been paid in the first instance – money that, in the ordinary course of business, would not have been available to pay any claims of a secured party." | ||||
| Carl Rosen, District 11 United Electrical workers President provided a somewhat more human perspective. Rosen’s union represented about 40 workers at Steeltech in Milwaukee who were left owed $95,000 in unpaid wages and thousands more in unpaid vacation benefits after the company suspended operations last year. | ||||
| According to Rosen and other published reports, workers at Steeltech were coaxed into working without pay under the assurances of company executives that a financial reorganization was leading to new business opportunities for the investment strapped firm. | ||||
| City of Milwaukee officials backed up company claims, further reassuring workers that better times were just around the bend. | ||||
| "The first couple of weeks went by and management said it would be another week or two," Rosen said. "The company even continued to run weekly payroll checks – it just didn’t distribute them because there wasn’t any money in the account." | ||||
| SB 320 was referred out of Committee and taken up by the full Senate. | ||||
| Recent Business closings where Wisconsin’s wage lien law has been used | ||||
| U.S. Leather, Inc. | Milwaukee | |||
| Steeltech | Milwaukee | |||
| Stadium Sports | Madison | |||
| AR Accessories Group | West Bend | |||
| LSJ Sportswear | Deerfield | |||
| Source: Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development | ||||
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| Foes of "Project Labor" pacts overlook advantages |
| by Mike Ryan, Business Manager |
| If I knew nothing about the construction industry and even less about Project Labor Agreements (PLAs), I might have reacted differently to a radio ad I recently heard supporting a move by the Assembly Republican Caucus to prohibit the use of PLAs on public construction projects. The ad, sponsored by the Associated Builders and Contractors, claims that PLAs are a wasteful use of taxpayers’ money and that they "discriminate" against non-union workers and employers. The ad urges listeners to call their legislators to support the prohibition which garnered a mere 29 votes in caucus. |
| The ad conveniently fails to mention some facts that might have lead listeners to a somewhat different conclusion. First and foremost, the courts (including the Supreme Court in the unanimous "Boston Harbor" decision) have consistently held that public owners can enter into PLAs only when there is an economic not regulatory reason to do so. In other words, a PLA may be entered into for business reasons – not political ones. |
| That begs the question – if PLAs are so wasteful, why would any unit of government ever negotiate one in the first place? The answer is clear – for the same reasons they are negotiated in the private sector. |
| The fact is total project cost can actually be reduced as a direct result of productivity and other efficiencies created or tapped by the PLA. For example, PLAs typically contain joint labor-management problem solving committees designed to improve quality, reduce cost and improve on-time completion by dealing with scheduling, staffing, quality, safety and health and productivity problems during the duration of the project. |
| PLAs also offer a mechanism for hiring qualified journey-persons and apprentices – a network of area/state-wide union hiring halls and referral systems – essentially eliminating the risk of project delays due to labor shortages. |
| That is a point well worth noting. There is a skill shortage in the construction industry. PLAs support training and apprenticeship programs that sustain skill levels industry-wide. Even the Business Roundtable recognizes the impact this skills shortage will have future economic development and recommends that owners look beyond bids and consider using only those contractors who participate in sustaining skill levels through industry funded training programs, when making building decisions. PLAs provide a mechanism for public owners to do just that. |
| Finally, PLAs don’t "discriminate" against anyone. Any contractor – union or non-union – can choose to bid the project. The contractor that wins the work merely has to comply with the terms and conditions of the contract. Businesses make these decisions everyday. When the project is complete, the contract – in this case, the PLA – typically expires. |
| The fact is PLAs work in the private sector -- they are a product of the "free-market" and have become an industry standard. Their utility as a competitive tool for the public owner is best reflected by the fact that Republican Governors in New York, New Jersey and Illinois have each authorized the use of PLAs on state projects. |
| Public owners ought to have the same competitive tools available to them as the private sector. When PLAs make sound economic sense, a public owner should have the ability to enter into these agreements. Taxpayers deserve nothing less. |
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| DOT begins work zone
safety campaign Slow Down! That’s the message in a new work zone safety campaign sponsored by the Department of Transportation, and a broad industry coalition of groups including Wisconsin LECET, contractors, representative of state utilities, county highway departments and law enforcement. "Work zones are dangerous for workers and drivers," Secretary Thompson said. "We’re hoping that by communicating the challenges inherent in driving through a work zone, we’ll raise public awareness to a problem." With one of every four Laborers in the state employed for all or part of the season on road related work, participation in the campaign was important to Wisconsin’s LECET program. Mike Ryan, Business Manager of the Wisconsin Laborers’ District Council, said LECET’s involvement in the campaign was important and necessary. Noting that construction laborers experience higher on-the-job injury and death rates than other crafts, Ryan said road workers are especially at risk. "Road workers not only have to deal with hazards on the site, they often have to deal with angry motorists speeding through their work site, Ryan said. I hope this campaign makes the driving public more aware of the danger they pose to these workers." Since 1987, 149 people have been killed and more than 15,000 have been injured in work zone crashes. Of that number, ten of those killed were workers and more than 100 of those injured were workers. The new work zone safety campaign was designed in collaboration with Wisconsin’s utilities to highlight that utility workers working along highway right of way are now included under the law that doubles fines for violations in work zones. The radio and television announcements for the 1999 Work Zone Safety Campaign ran from May 20 through May 29, and will run again for ten days prior to the Labor Day weekend. |
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| Heavy and Highway contract
signed Last month the Laborers’ District Council ratified a new five-year statewide Heavy and Highway agreement that includes total package increases of over six dollars over the life of the contract. In addition, the agreement specifies a sixth year increase of $1.25 for the purpose of certifying prevailing wage rates with the Department of Workforce Development. Special thanks for this agreement must go to the members of the negotiating committee – Charlie Fecteau, Business Manager of Laborers’ Local #113 in Milwaukee; Tom Fisher, District Council; Tom Klein, Business Manager of Laborers’ Local #1086 in Fond du Lac; Kevin Lee, Business Manager of Laborers’ Local #140 in La Crosse; and Business Manager Steve Reimer of Laborers’ Local #237 in Kenosha. Representing very different areas of the state, each member of the committee never lost sight of the common goal of winning decent increases across the state without significant language changes. They should be applauded for their effort. By all measure this contract represents the best agreement ever reached with our signatory road contractors. With union market share of the road construction industry hovering around 90 percent or more, our negotiating committee was well positioned to leverage a fair agreement. But union market share alone does not begin to explain why these negotiations proved so successful. This agreement comes after years of Wisconsin Laborers making a concerted effort to improve our stature in the industry as well as our relationship with our signatory contractors. During that time we have worked closely with our contractors, implementing programs designed to improve work opportunities in the industry. Our legislative and political program allowed us to fight shoulder to shoulder with our contractors and their associations for much needed boosts in state infrastructure investment. Through the work of LECET and the skill improvement opportunities offered at the Training Center, we have demonstrated our commitment to the long term health of the industry. Together we are building labor/management programs that truly level the playing field so that signatory contractors remain competitive as they continue to provide decent wages and benefits to members. While it is true there will always be issues that keep us apart, this agreement drives home the importance and value of working with employers as partners, rather than adversaries, when the opportunity arises. |
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| Health and welfare funds adopt uniform reporting procedures |
| By Michael R. Ryan, Business Manager |
| When Laborers work for brief or extended periods of time outside their Local Health and Welfare Funds' jurisdiction, their employer is required to pay benefits to the Health and Welfare Fund of the area in which the work is performed. |
| This does not mean a Laborer lost benefits while working outside the local Fund's area. There is reciprocity between all Laborers Funds, even if the work is performed outside the state. |
| However, for a variety of reasons, there had been occasions when participants did not receiving proper credit in their local fund for hours worked in another funds area. Over the years, the frequency of those incidences has been increasing. |
| To alleviate the problem, District Council Delegates last Fall requested Laborer fund administrators in the state to review the problem and adopt procedures to better ensure that plan participants receive prompt and accurate credit for hours worked outside their local fund’s jurisdiction. |
| After reviewing the matter, fund administrators agreed to a uniform reporting procedure that gives plan participant greater control over the reporting process. |
| Laborers intending to work outside the jurisdiction of their home local should now follow these easy steps to make sure hours worked are properly reported to their Home Health and Welfare fund. |
| Prior to working outside the Local’s jurisdiction, visit the office of your home fund and pick up a transfer form. |
| Complete the transfer form and mail it directly to the Away Fund. This assures you of the quickest possible transfer of contributions back to your Home Fund. |
| Or, |
| If you did not obtain a transfer form from your Home Fund prior to working outside your Home Fund’s jurisdiction, telephone your Home Fund as soon as possible to request that a transfer form be mailed to you. |
| Promptly complete the transfer form and mail it to the Away Fund as soon as possible. |
| The transfer form should not be mailed to your Home Fund, nor should it be mailed to your Local Union. Mailing the completed transfer form to either your Home Fund or to your Local Union will only delay your transfer request. |
| If you are traveling and wish to have contributions sent to your Home Fund, you are reminded that once you have obtained the appropriate transfer form, it is your responsibility to file the completed transfer form with the Away Fund as soon as possible after leaving the jurisdiction of your Home local. |
| Participants are urged to always follow the above procedures and to avoid delays in having benefit hours reported and credited properly. |
| It is the responsibility of each Laborer to make sure his or her benefits are being properly paid to their local Fund. Following these uniform reporting procedures will help every laborer meet that responsibility. |
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| DOT releases draft State Highway Plan |
| With one of every four Laborers in the state employed by road industry contractors, it is easy to see how the state Transportation budget impacts construction workers. Recently, the state Department of Transportation released its draft of a proposed State Highway Plan. The Plan provides a blueprint for meeting this state’s transportation needs well into the next century. |
| The state highway plan sets a balanced approach to transportation. It assumes that other modes of transportation, such as passenger rail service, bus and transit service, freight rail, and bicycle facilities, meet critical needs in our communities and should be expanded. |
| At the same time it recognizes the importance of the state trunk highway system in addressing current and future needs. The state highway system is aging and the SHP includes necessary pavement and bridge performance targets. |
| This is particularly true in southeast Wisconsin where the SHP addresses critical needs in southeastern Wisconsin’s freeway system. |
| The SHP also recognizes the need to fully coordinate transportation needs with community interests and land use planning. The plan includes provisions for working more closely with local planners to better anticipate and contain unwanted sprawl that might otherwise result from system upgrades and improvements. |
| Overall, the State Highway Plan is a sound one. However, the plan does raise some concerns. |
| The Plan falls short of the commitment needed to adequately fund the state’s rehabilitation program. Outside of southeast Wisconsin, the plan actually reduces our current level of commitment. Similarly, the Plan underfunds the Major Improvement Program by 25%. Over the life of the plan the draft proposal identifies an over $4 billion gap in revenues needed to fund the program. This huge shortfall assumes state funding will remain constant and federal funding will continue at present levels. These are simply not safe assumptions to make. |
| The plan also seems to define-away congestion in some routes by simply lowering acceptable threshold criteria. Redefining congestion does not mean the problem disappears – it only means that these areas of congestion will not receive proper consideration and review. |
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| Anti-"Salting"
bill introduced Congress targets union organizing |
| A bill that would give employers the right to discriminate against union organizers seeking employment with non-union firms, was introduced in early February by Republican Sen. Tim Hutchinson of Arkansas. |
| The bill, nicely titled "The Truth in Employment Act" is the same bill that Hutchinson sponsored last year which failed to come up for a vote on the Senate floor. The bill is also identical to the bill that passed the House last session by a narrow 2 vote margin. That vote was strategically taken as many opponents of the measure were out of the country on official state visits in Africa. |
| The bill targets the union organizing technique of "salting" where paid or volunteer organizers seek employment with non-union firms as a means to organize the work force. |
| Once hired, salts develop personal relationships with co-workers and share with them, from first hand experience, the benefits of joining the Union. |
| While there are no guarantees that a salt can successfully initiate an organizing effort, if one develops, the salt is well positioned to respond immediately to any attempt by management to discredit the Union or intimidate other workers. |
| Regardless of whether or not an organizing drive develops, salts are in position to address other important issues. Typically, organizers are knowledgeable about jobsite safety and employment standards and are prepared to file complaints against employers with appropriate agencies should the employer be in violation of safety regulations or employment laws. |
| The United States Supreme Court has ruled that "salts" are employees under the National Labor relations Act and that employers cannot discriminate against union members in their hiring and firing practices. If passed, the bill effectively nullifies that decision. |
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| Laborers participate in "New Millennium" forum |
In October, District Council Business Manager Mike Ryan was invited by the Wisconsin Department of Transportation to participate in a panel discussion — Transitioning into the New Millennium – a discussion on issues and trends in the construction industry. The panel was a part of the Departments annual DBE Awards banquet. |
Ryan talked about the primary challenges facing the industry from the perspective of construction laborers, including an aging workforce, a shortage of skilled workers, worker health and safety on the job and the generally "ill perceived" nature of the industry. |
Ryan also explained some of the programs Wisconsin Laborers have developed to deal with serious trends in the industry, including the implementation of various training, apprenticeship and recruitment programs. |
Ryan reminded the audience that while the Laborers are serious about dealing with trends that threaten the stability of the industry, programs alone are not the answer. |
"Retention of workers in the construction industry is not helped by the seasonal, non-permanent, and transient nature of employment, or the unsafe working conditions," Ryan said. "Nor is retention helped by the fact that average wages in construction have fallen by about 25 percent since 1973." |
Ryan also noted that as of 1995 nearly 60 percent of all construction employers did not offer their workers any private health insurance, while nearly 70 percent did not offer any pension benefit. |
"Without question, cooperation, creativity and commitment are all essential ingredients for dealing with these issues and trends as we enter the new millennium," Ryan said. "But so too, is a back to basics strategy that incorporates the training workers need to get the job done and the wages and benefits they deserve for doing the job right." |
| Following the morning program, the Wisconsin Laborers’ District Council, the Wisconsin Laborers’ Training Center and other partnering organizations, received an award from the Federal Department of Transportation in recognition of their roll in the Transportation Alliance for New Solutions – a program that is transitioning women and minority workers into the road construction industry. |
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| Private prison construction skirts prevailing wage law |
| State and federal prevailing wage laws have been around a long time — nearly seventy years to be exact. Granted, there aren’t many building trade workers around who remember what construction was like back then. But, if you want to get a sense for what life in the trades would be like without these laws, ask the Eau Claire building trades who have been dealing with the effects of an Oklahoma based company sweeping into the state to build a private prison facility in Stanley. |
Typically, prison construction is done by the state, which means all contractors competing for the work must bid the work based on wages that prevail in the area. But, the prison in Stanley is different – it’s being built privately, on the speculation the state will use it. And, its being built by contractors who bid work based on wages that are less than the prevailing wages established in the area. |
According to Tom Grunseth, Business Manager of Laborers’ Local #317 in Eau Claire, laborers on the job are said to be getting $9 an hour, significantly less than the prevailing rate of $16.55. And even that prevailing rate is considerably less than the $21.34 total package rate building laborers were earning prior to June 1 of this year when a wage determination for the project would have been issued. |
"If this was a state project every worker would be earning prevailing wages, Grunseth said. "Instead we get a company from Oklahoma taking advantage of people who need the work and undermining our area standards in the process." |
Grunseth was referring to the Oklahoma based Dominion Management and Leasing of Edmond, Oklahoma, which has been active in speculative private prison construction and brokering buy-back or lease-back agreements from state or private firms to operate the facility once built. |
"We have developed more medium-sized prisons than anyone in the country," boasted Jim Hunter of Dominion in a Chippewa Herald article last June. "Our specialty is speculative development. It seems fairly bold, but we have been very successful." |
Successful may be an understatement. Dominion is just one of a growing number of firms that comprise what a current article in the Atlantic Monthly calls a multi-billion dollar "prison-industrial complex." |
"What was once a niche business for a hand-full of companies has become a multibillion-dollar industry with its own trade-shows and conventions, its own web sites, mail order catalogues, and direct marketing campaigns," writes Eric Schlosser in the December Atlantic Monthly. |
In the article, Dominion is cited as a "well established bed broker" that can make as much as $2.50 to $5.50 a day per prisoner for arranging and/or selling beds. On a facility the size of the 1200 bed Stanley prison, that’s over $2.4 million a year. |
Like any good speculator, Dominion has chosen Wisconsin because of its market potential. The state Department of Corrections as recently as August of this year reported more than 14,000 prisoners in state sponsored facilities. At the same time, the inmate capacity of these facilities stood at 10,237. |
According to Department of Corrections spokesperson William Clausius the inmate population is expected to continue to rise. Quoted recently in the Chippewa Herald, Clausius estimated that "In terms of new beds, we would have to build a new prison every year just to keep up." |
Grunseth agrees that citizens deserve to feel safe in their communities and that prison construction is necessary to obtain that goal. His concern, however, is the dramatic and negative impact that low-wage private prison construction will have on future wage rates in the area. |
Prevailing wage rates in a county are based on private sector work. Given the size and duration of the project, and the low wages paid on the project, the $40 to $50 million Stanley Prison will more than likely lower wage rates issued for Chippewa County over the next two years. |
The Stanley Prison is the first privately built prison in Wisconsin. While Dominion has not yet reached a buy-back or lease agreement with the state, and it is unclear what, if anything, Dominion will be able to do with the facility should a deal with the state fall through, the precedent for a private build-it-and-they-will-come prison construction strategy has been established. |
Should a buy-back or lease-back deal with the state go forward, some argue an even greater precedent will be established – paying construction workers less than area standard wage rates on a project that for all practical purposes should have been a public works project. |
"Private prison construction allows rich corporations and speculators to profit off our desire to be safe," said Grunseth. "They profit even more when they get away with paying workers less than area standard wages. I know it happens every day – but that doesn’t make it right." |
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By unanimous vote of the General Executive Board at a special meeting at Headquarters last month, Vice President and Assistant to the General President Carl E. Booker was elected to serve as LIUNA’s General Secretary-Treasurer. |
The Action was the result of Secretary-Treasurer R.P. "Bud" Vinall’s earlier retirement. |
A recognized authority on worker training, education and benefits, Booker was Superintendent of Training for the Indiana Laborers’ Training Trust Fund before coming to Washington, D.C. to serve as Director of the Jurisdictional Department. |
Appointed Assistant to the General President in 1993, elected as Vice President by the General Executive Board in 1995, and re-elected to the post at the Laborers’ International Convention, Booker has overseen many of the day-to-day functions of Headquarters and coordinated daily with LIUNA’s regional offices. |
Booker is a member of Local #795, New Albany, Indiana. |
To fill the Vice President’s term made vacant by Booker’s election, the Board also unanimously elected Southeast Regional Manager James Hale as an International Vice President. |
Hale began his career with LIUNA as a construction laborer and member of Local 386 in Nashville, Tennessee. He was elected to various offices at the local and later became Business Manager of the Tennessee Laborers’ District Council. He was appointed Manager of the Southeast Region in 1996. |
| General President Arthur A. Coia has also appointed LIUNA Chief of Staff Terrence M. O’Sullivan of Local #1353, Charleston, West Virginia, to serve as the new Assistant to the General President. |
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| Secret corporate money corrupts political process |
| November 14, 1998, Capital Times guest editorial by Michael Ryan, President and Business Manager of the Wisconsin Laborers' District Council |
| A long time ago the people of this state decided to do something about the corrupting influences in politics by outlawing corporate contributions to candidates. They knew from experience that corporations were unique institutions that could accumulate tremendous war chests to "influence" elections as well as the behavior of officials once in office. |
| That’s why we have laws outlawing corporate campaign contributions. |
| That’s why we have laws regulating political action committees. |
| That’s why we have laws limiting the source of PAC dollars to individuals – not corporations. |
| That’s why we have laws enforcing the disclosure of the source of campaign contributions. |
| And, that’s why the Wisconsin Manufactures and Commerce is so pleased by Judge Bill Faust’s recent failure to halt WMC’s so-called "issue advocacy" ads from airing in the 27th and 15th Senate Districts. |
| Once again corporate cash flows unregulated into our political process. |
| WMC claims it’s ads are "issue" ads that don’t expressly advocate for or against a candidate, and therefore, are exempt from the state’s campaign finance laws. |
| That’s much like saying some of Governor Thompson’s campaign ads are not really political ads because they don’t "expressly" say "vote for Thompson." |
| WMC also claims that barring these ads from airing is censorship – a violation of their right to free speech. The fact is WMC has a state registered PAC – Concerned Business and Industry. This PAC is established under the law to conduct, among other things, the very kind of "free speech" activity they say they would otherwise be denied. |
| Clearly, WMC’s fight over its rights to the airwaves is not about "issues" and it is certainly not about "free speech." Their fight is about turning back the clock to the good old days when corporations – not individuals – controlled most of the political participation and debate in this state and nation. |
| To WMC let me just say – "Been there -- done that." |
| Nearly a hundred years ago, Robert LaFollette, a Republican, fought to end the corrupting influence of corporate power and money over the political process. His efforts were successful in this state and, thankfully, took hold in many other states as well. |
| One intent of Wisconsin’s current campaign finance law is clear – secret corporate money must not be used to influence our political process. |
| The intent of WMC’s "issue" ads is just as clear – use secret corporate money to influence the state’s political process. |
| This contradiction must not be allowed to continue. In this sesquicentennial year, we owe it to ourselves and to the LaFollette legacy to recognize the fact that the integrity of our political process depends on the principle of government by and for people, not by and for profit. None of us can afford, in principle or in fact, a return to the corrupt corporately funded political system LaFollette so rightly opposed. |
| Unfortunately, if WMC is allowed to continue to skirt state election law with these blatantly political, yet undisclosed "issue" ads, that’s precisely the kind of system we’ll get |
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Labor election effort credited for increased turnout |
Despite predictions of record low turnout, Wisconsin voters came out in near record numbers for an off-year election, thanks in large part to union members who came out to vote in large numbers November 4. |
While roughly 15 percent of the nations workforce is organized, national exit polling revealed that nearly one in four voters identified themselves as a Union member. |
In Wisconsin that figure climbed to nearly one in three voters. |
Organized labors return to issues based and member focussed campaigning appears to be working in Wisconsin and across the nation. |
Rather than simply telling members who to vote for, the strategy has been to inform members about important issues that impact their work, their lives and their ability to provide for themselves and their families. |
Wisconsin Laborers participated in this activity, doing mailings and making personal contacts with members on issues ranging from prevailing wage to protecting social security. |
Labor’s effort and impact was particularly crucial in a number of key areas in the state, with Laborers contributing to the effort. |
This was especially true in Milwaukee, where the Milwaukee Area Labor Coalition was credited with increasing turnout by 12,000 votes more than the previous off-year election, and where Laborers’ Local #113 again produced the most number of volunteers for various campaign activities. |