Walls of 'Fame' and 'Shame' are up at USW District 8 HQ in Frankfort

By BERRY CRAIG

AFT Local 1360

The “Workers' Rights Wall of Fame” and “Workers' Rights Wall of Shame” are up at USW District 8 headquarters in Frankfort.

It’s a big banner that has the names of Kentucky lawmakers who voted for and against a trio of union-busting bills earlier this month.

District 8 Director Billy Thompson came up with the idea.

The “Wall of Shame” lists senators and representatives—nearly all of them Republicans--who approved a “right to work” law, a measure to repeal the prevailing wage, and "paycheck deception" legislation to make it harder for some unions to collect dues through payroll deduction.  

Every Democratic legislator voted against the bills, except one House member who voted “yea” on House Bill 3, which axed the prevailing wage on state-funded construction projects. The three measures topped GOP Gov. Matt Bevin's anti-union agenda; he quickly signed them.

The wall is already making the email and social media rounds. It’s reached all the way from the state capital to Calvert City in deep western Kentucky, where Jeff Wiggins, USW Local 9447 president, is helping spread the word via email.   

"People in Frankfort should be held responsible for what they did," said Wiggins, who is also president of the Paducah-based Western Kentucky AFL-CIO Area Council. "Shame on them for taking big business's advice over the working families in the state."

Wiggins, a member of the Kentucky State AFL-CIO Executive Board, too, praised lawmakers on the "Wall of Fame" for "standing up for working families. They couldn't be bought off by special interests."