Union members help swell the crowd at Capitol rally
By BERRY CRAIG
AFT Local 1360
Jeff Wiggins paraphrased the motto of the old Knights of Labor.
"One attack on one of us is an attack on all of us,” said Wiggins, Kentucky State AFL-CIO secretary-treasurer.
He was among several union members who helped swell the big crowd that converged on the Capitol steps in Frankfort on Monday to protest SB 1, the Republican measure that guts public pensions. The state AFL-CIO was a co-sponsor of the rally hosted by Kentucky United We Stand.
SB 1 supporters say slashing benefits is necessary to help fund the cash-strapped pension system. Opponents say that the legislation amounts to a broken promise and that it will make careers in public service, including teaching, considerably less attractive.
Unions warn that the assault on pensions is yet another battle in the GOP war on workers.
Though the GOP enjoys a 27-11 edge in the Senate and holds 63 of 100 House seats, the fate of the bill is uncertain. Opposition to what the Republicans call pension "reform" is strong statewide.
Wiggins and state AFL-CIO President Bill Londrigan joined an impromptu parade around the statehouse before the rally, whose them was “Fund Us or Face Us.”
“An injury to one is the concern of all,” warned the K of L, an early union organization.
Trade unionists in the throng—estimated at 1,000—shared Wiggins’ Knight-like version of “solidarity,” that old union byword.
“I’m here to support my teachers and my state workers,” said Joe Phelps of Louisville, a retired AFSCME Council 962 staff representative. “I stand with all workers. If it affects one, it affects us all.”
Richard Becker, a Louisville-based organizer with SEIU-NCFO agreed. “I stand with teachers and other public employees against attacks on their pensions by this Republican governor and the Republican majority in the legislature.” The state AFL-CIO-endorsed Becker is running for the state House of Representatives in the May 22 Democratic primary.
“We want to make sure they [GOP Gov. Matt Bevin and House and Senate Republicans] do the right thing,” said Matt Christiana of Teamsters Local 783 in the Falls City. A Louisville EMS technician, he wore his blue and gray uniform draped with an old-fashioned sandwich sign that warned in bold red letters, “Hands Off Our pensions! We Earned Them!”
Ronnie Watson, USW District 8 Rapid Response coordinator, was in a meeting in Louisville when he heard about the rally. “I came over to help the teachers,” said Watkins, whose headquarters is in Cascade, Va. “We need to make sure they [Bevin and the Republicans] do the right thing.”
Sue Foster, president of AFSCME Local 4011, was also in the Louisville contingent. Her local represents 4,000 classified employees in Jefferson County public schools.
“It’s unfortunate that we have to be here today,” she said.
Foster said the GOP pension plan was devised with no Democratic input. “When foolish men and women chose to meet behind closed doors, nothing good comes of it.”
She denounced the Republicans’ “lack of respect for democracy” and “their intent to steal from the people of the state.” But Foster vowed, “We’re here and we’ll be here every day until this is resolved.”
Bill Finn also made the short trip from Louisville, where he works as head of the Kentucky State Building and Construction Trades Council.
“This is one more attack on workers,” he said. “The first one was against organized labor last year and now they are coming after the teachers.”
Finn said Bevin and the Republicans seem to think “the answer to everything in Kentucky is to cut the wages and benefits of working people—and the last thing they want to do is get rid of tax breaks and for the wealthy and level the playing field.”
Chris Volz, president of Louisville LIUNA Local 576, said “this is the same battle we fought a year ago. They keep on attacking working people; that’s all this administration knows how to do.”
Bentley Patrick and Adam Cole Bush of Lexington Plumbers and Pipefitters Local 452 joined the sign-waving crowd in cheering and clapping for the speakers. “I support all working people from teachers to construction workers,” Bush said.
Patrick nodded. “We have to stand up for teachers. They educate our children and our children are our future. We need to make sure they have a good retirement or we’re not going to get qualified teachers.”
Other union co-sponsors of the rally included the Fraternal Order of Police, Greater Louisville Central Labor Council, Teamsters 783, Jefferson County Teachers Association, Jefferson County Association of Educational Support Personnel/AFSCME 4011, AFSCME Council 962, SEIU and Kentucky Professional Fire Fighters.