Union women and men lead off Murray March for Equality and Social Justice; Steelworker in the lineup of speakers
By BERRY CRAIG
AFT Local 1360
“Like Martin Luther King, I have a dream, too,” Steelworker Jeff Wiggins told the Murray "March for Equality and Social Justice.”
The Saturday procession, an estimated 800-strong, was one of a reported 673 worldwide sister marches to the Women's March on Washington. There were also marches in Louisville and Lexington.
Murray, population 18,100, is in the Jackson Purchase, Kentucky's westernmost region. Most other sister marches were in larger towns and in cities.
The Murray march concluded with speeches and music at the Calloway County courthouse.
Leading the parade were members of a trio of Paducah unions: LiUNA! Local 1214, USW Local 550 and Plumbers and Steamfitters Local 184.
Dressed in bright orange, Chuck Paisley and Gary Freeman of Local 1214 preceded everybody. They carried a similarly-hued LiUNA! banner.
“I have a dream that all working families should be above the poverty line," added Wiggins, president of the Paducah-based Western Kentucky AFL-CIO Area Council. "If you work 40 hours a week, you shouldn’t be in poverty.”
Wiggins, who is also president of USW Local 9447 in Calvert City, was one of a half dozen speakers who addressed the crowd. The marchers waved American flags and carried banners and signs, most of them hand-made.
They trooped down Main Street from the Murray State University campus to the courthouse.
Marchers began gathering in a light drizzle that didn't seem to dampen enthusiasm. Anyway, the gray clouds soon parted; the rain stopped, and the sun shone through in time for the 10:15 a.m. start. The temperature soared into the 60s, to boot.
“I’m here to support women’s rights and equal pay,” said Donna Steele, Local 550 president and an activist in the USW's national Women of Steel program.
Local 550’s Gary Wilson showed up “to support labor” and to protest a “right to work” law GOP Gov. Matt Bevin pushed and the Republican-majority state legislature recently passed.
“I’m standing up for equal rights for everyone,” said Greg Enlow of Local 550.
Javid Ricks, also of 550, nodded in agreement. “I’m for equality and for an honest day’s wage for an honest day’s work.”
The Steelworkers sported union shirts and some USW women and the girls they brought along donned pink USW sock hats. The marchers carried white, blue and yellow Local 550 and Women of Steel banners.
Laborers Paisley and Freeman came to show their opposition to RTW and to the legislature’s repeal of the prevailing wage on state-funded construction projects.
“Those bills aren’t good for anybody,” said Paisley, who is retired.
Freeman agreed. “What the governor and the legislature are doing is ruining working families.”
Derek Sanderson, Local 184 financial secretary-treasurer, came with his dad, veteran Kentucky labor leader Larry Sanderson, a retired UA international representative.
Larry Sanderson didn’t pull punches. “I’m out here because I’m upset with Gov. Bevin and the [Republican] leaders in the House and Senate who have attacked the working people of the state of Kentucky."
He called for the defeat of local GOP “state reps and state senators that have voted to destroy organized labor.”
He named names: state Sens. Danny Carroll and Stan Humphries and state Reps. Lynn Bechler, Richard Heath, Kenneth Imes and Stephen Rudy.
“We need to concentrate on beating these people because they are trying to destroy us.”
Others from Local 184 made the 50-mile trip to Murray. They included Chase Greer, Casey White and Tanner English. They and the other 184 members also marched in opposition to RTW and prevailing wage repeal.
Every Democratic legislator opposed RTW; all but one Democrat voted against PW repeal. Only a handful of Republicans opposed the measures.
Wiggins said Bevin is leading “a war on workers.” He said his name belongs on a “Wall of Shame” being created by Billy Thompson, USW District 8 director.
It’s a list of lawmakers who supported the RTW law and prevailing wage repeal. Wiggins said the six western Kentucky legislators Sanderson cited belong on it. “These people voted away the rights of union people.”
Thompson is also compiling a “Wall of Fame” showing the senators and representatives who opposed the bill. Wiggins said State Reps. Gerald Watkins, D-Paducah, and Will Coursey, D-Marshall County, will go on it. “They are our friends.”
Wiggins fired up the courtsquare throng, getting the people to chant “join a union!”
Said Wiggins: “If you want dignity on the job, join a union. If you want rights on the job, join a union. If you want better pay, join a union. If you want better benefits, join a union. If you want to be trained in skills and trades, join a union.”
He said men and women who do the same job should be paid equally. “You shouldn’t be harassed on the job for what you believe in,” Wiggins added.
He called RTW “freeloading. Imagine if I wanted to join your country club and I didn’t want to pay dues but I wanted to go play golf--I wanted to eat in your dining room--how far do you think I could go? If I wanted to join the chamber of commerce, which has been fighting us, and didn’t want to pay dues, do you think they’d let me in the door?”
“What makes you think that if you don’t pay dues to your union, you should still have the rights that we do?”
Wiggins pointed out that King was assassinated in Memphis where he had gone to stand in solidarity with striking AFSCME sanitation workers.
Wiggins wrapped up his remarks by leading the crowd in chorusing “Stand up, fight back!”
Wiggins said Larry Sanderson authored the slogan in 2014 on behalf of labor-endorsed candidates--including Watkins and Coursey--in local legislative races. Leo Gerard, USW international president, uses it, according to Wiggins.
Other speakers included Sarah Gutwirth and her husband, Peter Murphy. The two Murray State professors were the prime movers for the march.
“Union support is important for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is that the working class, and unions in particular, are under siege by the Republicans,” said Murphy, an English professor who was an AFT member when he taught at Empire State College in Buffalo, N.Y.
“Union support is the backbone of the coalition the Democratic party has relied on for years,” said Gutwirth, an art professor. "Unions represent the values of equality and the people’s right to earn a decent living and have health care.
“Unions stand up for the working people of this country.”
Too, Professors Brian Clardy and Maysoon Khatib addressed the crowd, as did the Rev. Renee Meyer, pastor at Murray First Presbyterian Church.