By BERRY CRAIG
AFT Local 1360
“Remember in November,” Kyle Henderson’s bumper stickers remind Bluegrass State motorists.
“‘How soon they forget’ – that’s been my experience with people and politics,” said Henderson, Paducah-based Plumbers and Steamfitters Local 184 business manager. “I want to keep everybody motivated.”
To that end, the veteran labor leader hired Unlimited Graphics, a union print shop in nearby La Center, to crank out 1,000 of the stickers for him to give away.
“They lasted about a week,” he said. “I’ve ordered another 1,000.”
Henderson was among thousands of Kentuckians, including teachers, other public employees and union members, who converged on the Capitol to protest Republican pension, tax and budget bills.
Henderson’s speech at the biggest rally made the national TV news.
He’s not alone in worrying that the fire in Frankfort might fizzle by Nov. 6, election day.
“…The rallying cries must spread beyond the Capitol grounds, and advocacy must continue, especially now that the legislative session is complete,” warned Democratic Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes in an email to party activists.
Grimes urged the faithful to get busy registering people to vote. “Energy does not win elections, people do,” she added for emphasis.
Henderson agrees. “At first, I started using ‘Remember in November’ and ‘New Majority’ hashtags on social media,” he said. “Then I thought, ‘Why not put that on a bumper sticker?’”
He ran the idea past the Kentucky Pipetrades Association, which agreed to fund the stickers.
Paducah is about as far west as the Bluegrass State goes. But Jeff Wiggins of Reidland, a Paducah suburb, took some of the stickers to Frankfort, where he works as secretary-treasurer of the Kentucky State AFL-CIO.
“They’re popular in Frankfort, too,” Wiggins said.
Meanwhile, Henderson is making plans for “Remember November” hard hat decals and maybe yard signs.
Union members are not alone in snapping up the stickers, he said. “Teachers want them, and I gave one to a beautician.”
The stickers come in red-and-white and blue-and-white. “Red is the color of the KEA [Kentucky Education Association] logo,” he said.
More information about the stickers is available by phoning Local 184 at (270) 444-6545.