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Show off your union pride

Berry Craig
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By BERRY CRAIG

AFT Local 1360

Most of us who are longtime union members, especially retirees like me, probably don’t have our first union cards.

Mine’s long gone.

But James Steven DeWeese still has his after a quarter century, posting on Facebook on April 23, “25 years ago today I walked into UPS and joined Teamsters Local 89.”

DeWeese, from Bardstown, is a Louisville-based Local 89 UPS ground agent. He is also running for the legislature, hoping for a rematch with State Rep. C. Chad McCoy, R-Bardstown, in the 50th District. First, DeWeese must get past Kory Miller in the May 22 Democratic primary.

The Kentucky State AFL-CIO unanimously endorsed DeWeese in 2016, and again this year.

“When my union card came in the mail, I knew I was holding something special and I am still carrying it today,” DeWeese said on Facebook. “Being a member of Teamsters Local 89 has allowed me to earn a good living, affordable insurance and enjoy a middle class lifestyle.”

He advised, “For those who have never been in a Union, belonging to a Union means having a voice at your job, having a contract securing your wages, benefits, working conditions and what you can or cannot be disciplined for. Along with many lifelong friends, thank you, fellow Teamsters, for your solidarity and for always having my back, just as I have yours!”

Everybody who packs -- or ever packed -- a union card knows what DeWeese means. But it’s a message union vets ought to be shouting from the rooftops, especially in these soul-trying times.

Last year, McCoy and nearly every Republican lawmaker in Frankfort steamrolled a “right to work” bill through the legislature. GOP Gov. Matt Bevin eagerly signed it.

Unions are challenging the law in court.

Meanwhile, under RTW, workers at a unionized jobsite can enjoy union-won wages and benefits without joining the union and paying dues or paying the union a fair-share fee to represent them at the bargaining table.

Obviously, the idea of RTW is to encourage freeloading, thereby weakening large unions, destroying small unions and discouraging non-union workers from organizing.

Like the old union song goes, most of us would "stick with the union till the day I die." But in the wake of RTW, messages like DeWeese's are what waverers need to hear. 

It's pretty simple. If people see they're better off in the union than out, they'll stay. 

So kudos to Brother DeWeese. We'd like to see other senior trade unionists do as he did—show tried-and-true solidarity with the union. Social media is a great place to do that. But so are talking to your fellow workers on breaks at work, socializing with friends and families after work and even engaging in casual conversations at the grocery store or gas station.

In other words, evangelize about the union. "Cast your bread upon the water," the Good Book says. It doesn't always get soggy and sink. 

We’d like to hear what the union means to you and your families. Let us know, and we’ll post it online. Send us a photo of you, too. Our email address is bcraig8960@gmail.com

We may have fewer friends in Frankfort, but we can have more by helping send to the legislature our endorsed candidates, starting with a half-dozen from our union family. Like DeWeese, they're all unanimously state AFL-CIO endorsed:

House candidates

-- James Steven DeWeese.

-- Al Cunningham, Benton, Painters, Democrat, District 6

-- Eldon John Renaud, Bowling Green, UAW, Democrat, District 20

-- Richard Becker, Louisville, SEIU-NCFO, Democrat, District 35

-- Charles "Buddy" Wheatley, Covington, labor attorney, Democrat, District 65

Senate Candidate

-- Dave Suetholz, Eminence, labor attorney, Democrat, District 20