By BERRY CRAIG
AFT Local 1360
Marshall Pullen was "The Counselor" to his union brothers and sisters in Paducah USW Local 550 at the old gaseous diffusion plant.
"After Marshall became a committeeman in the then OCAW Local 550 union leadership, he studied and became knowledgeable of the National Labor Relations Act, and its benefit to workers' rights," remembered Jim Key, Local 550 vice president.
Union members nicknamed Pullen "The Counselor" after he filed several charges with the NLRB against the plant management. "Marshall Pullen was a defender of workers' rights, and despised injustice against anyone," added Key, who also represents the Paducah-based Western Kentucky AFL-CIO Area Council on the Kentucky State AFL-CIO Executive Board.
Pullen, who lived in West Paducah, died last month at age 68. Survivors include Iva Rouse Pullen, his wife of 46 years, a daughter, Michelle Pullen of Louisville, and a granddaughter.
Pullen worked at the "atomic plant" near Paducah for 41 years, starting in 1973. "I signed my first union membership card with Marshall signing me into the union as a steward," said Local 550 President Donna Steele.
J.W. Cleary, a Local 550 retiree, said Pullen helped negotiate contracts that resulted in substantial pay and benefit hikes for the union. "He truly made a difference for hourly workers and also management because the more money hourly workers make, the more money management makes," added Cleary, longtime president of the Paducah-McCracken County NAACP branch.
Pullen, an African American, grew up when segregation and race discrimination were still the law and the social order in Paducah. He was "a follower and a believer of the words of Dr. Martin Luther King that all men are created equal," Key said.
Pullen was buried in Maplelawn Park Cemetery after services at his church, Harrison Street Missionary Baptist. Officiating was the Rev. Benny Heady, a retiree member of Paducah Plumbers and Steamfitters Local 184.
Key said Pullen would sometimes "preach" to his union brothers and sisters, sermon-style. "You didn't have to wonder where he stood on an issue."
Added Key: "Marshall was a lifelong 'counselor,' or defender of worker's rights, and never one to quit, or back down when it came to making a wrong a right. His legacy will always include his fight, determination, and a voice for the common worker."