Anniversary North Carolina, Saw a 17 Year Battle End with Surprising Victory Parade for Organized Labor
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Vol. 69, No. 7 Thursday, July 30, 2009 MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 7TH UFCW double-whammy Patrick Cudahy fire LABORFEST 2009 obscures NC victory at Smithfield pork plant Milwaukee Area Labor Council he Fourth of July week- celebrates end launched national tri- Tumph and near tragedy for the United Food and TH Commercial Workers (UFCW). The Milwaukee community anticipated tragedy (and was 50 happily disappointed) while a thousand miles away the least unionized state in the union, ANNIVERSARY North Carolina, saw a 17 year battle end with surprising victory PARADE for organized labor. Both events, intriguingly, WIN A 2010 Downtown Milwaukee involved meat packing plants Between loading groceries at the emergency food pantry at DYNA FXDF! 11 a.m. owned by Smithfield Foods. Machinists Lodge 66, UFCW’s Ike Edwards posed with a boy (And both reflected the from a Patrick Cudahy family temporarily out of income. SUMMERFEST modern news practice - "If it Cudahy packing plant, though tary-treasurer, John Eiden and GROUNDS bleeds, it leads." The fire videos sparing the newer facilities. Grant Withers, also rallied fellow in Milwaukee drew national A catastrophe -- apparently unions and the community with a Noon - 5 p.m. media coverage while the quiet, started by a military flare care- hardship fund to help workers long lasting success in North lessly launched at a backyard and their families carry on even OPEN TO THE PUBLIC • FREE ADMISSION • LIVE MUSIC FOOD • DRINK • VINTAGE CARS • KIDS AREA Carolina, lacking vivid pictures, Fourth barbecue -- miraculously as the fires smoldered. Milwaukee Area Labor Council, AFL-CIO was barely noticed.) spared human life but tossed Management lived up to its This poster heralding Laborfest and the MALC 50th anniversary is On July 5 in Cudahy, the families out of homes, shut down vow to reopen, returning hun- available for distribution at labor halls, stores and other support- skies rolled with smoke as a businesses and threw some 1,400 dreds of workers to the plant ive outlets. Available in two sizes (11” by 15” and 8” by 11”) stubborn fire kept re-igniting for union workers out of work and before repair. Only temporary- unions and locals can pick copies up at Laborfest planning meet- days as it burned down the older out of pay. type employees may not be ings or call (414) 771-7070, email [email protected]. buildings of the vast Patrick Not only firemen and first rehired, but all the UFCW mem- responders sped into action, bers were told to stand by as the Some ‘friends’ failed city in state budget Local 1473's president and secre- UFCW continued Page 6 By Dominique Paul Noth fund transit, leaving Milwaukee Editor, Labor Press Comment in impossible choices on cutting ast December, in an exten- bus routes -- and actually throw- sive planning session with Or at least promise to. ing into question the plans to Llocal unions, new If you look only at the fund regional transit that Doyle Assembly Speaker and former efforts made in the Assembly said he wanted to protect. Also UAW negotiator Mike Sheridan version of the budget, you can rolled away by the Doyle veto promised to make up for the self- credit Sheridan with trying, even was Milwaukee Mayor Tom destruction of Milwaukee's elect- while he was fighting to mitigate Barrett's .15% sales tax for public ed members, who managed to the woes GM was leveling on his safety. ace themselves out of any leader- hometown. Gone as well was the ship role in the state legislature. If you look at what finally Assembly's attempt to cap the Sheridan of Janesville emerged after Senate changes school choice voucher program pledged to keep Milwaukee's and Doyle's vetoes, you can't at its current level - there may concerns front and center and help feeling that Milwaukee got a have been no demand to add protect its desperate economic stick in the eye to go with the pat thousands of student lambs to the needs. Gov. Doyle had made a on the back. Simultaneously. program's slaughter of city of It was a city helped by ideo- Milwaukee property tax payers, similar pledge, mindful that A delighted Sheila Cochran (left) receives a whopping check from logical change and hurt by spe- but the final budget did. County Executive Scott Walker AFGE Local 003 President Roberta Sharbutt. See Page 3. would be slicing into the poor cific reversals of expectation. Meanwhile, Doyle and and working class to score politi- Such seemed the view in mid- Barrett combined to form an cal points with Republican regu- July of Rep. Tamara Grigsby, advisory committee to lay the lars as he pursued his party's who wrote a controversial letter hammer to Milwaukee public nomination to oppose Doyle in to Milwaukee area colleagues schools in a concept that some 2010. chastising them for not standing took as interference with the vot- In other words, both together for their city. er-chosen executive board and Democrats had good reason to Removed by Doyle's veto others took as good intentions. fight for Milwaukee. was a .5% sales tax increase to But no extra money came along with the advice. Gone, too, was an idea that affected Milwaukee congestion and safety more than any other region of the state -- a way to raise revenue and the number of insured motorists as well. The Downtown janitors and their families launch a classic campaign Budget continued Page 7 for justice. Story on Page 5. Page 2 — AFL-CIO MILWAUKEE LABOR PRESS, Thursday, July 30, 2009 www.milwaukeelabor.org Serving the community LEFT: The homeless, the unem- In Memoriam ployed, the children and elderly perating Engineers Local to co-workers of a good friend. A of troubled families -- and the O317 represents approximate- highly skilled steam system just plain hungry -- lined up ly 500 members who work for mechanic, Bill was also a won- early at St. Benedict the Moor’s We Energies doing operations derful, generous man. Many June 28 for the summer barbe- and maintenance work in power describe him as a friendly person cue by the labor community. plants and the downtown who would give anyone the shirt Volunteer union families prayed Milwaukee steam system. The off his back. He was active in his and then served 450 guests -- jobs are often dangerous. community and a very important and also gave out canvas bags On Friday, June 19, mem- part of his church, where he to hold belongings. The food bers responded to flood condi- served on the church council and was bought at union stores and tions downtown. William "Bill" volunteered much of his time. prepared by union members. Kaiserling, a 30 year member of Bill had loving family and Local 317, was among the steam many friends who will mourn his workers who came to work in passing. He is survived by his Ladish adds the middle of the night to pump wife Jean and three adult chil- to layoff woes water from the steam tunnels and dren. s if fire at the Patrick address other problems. The entire Local 317 mem- ACudahy plant were not In the course of his work, bership will remember his good enough (see Page 1), manufac- Kaiserling suffered significant nature and strong work ethic. We turing issues laid off 70 produc- burns. Bill's work partner did a will strive to honor Bill's memo- tion workers at Ladish in great job of getting Bill to safety ry by watching out for our Cudahy, a company that dates and finding immediate treatment Brothers and Sisters on the job. back to 1905. for him. But Bill, hospitalized in The author, Mark Maierle, Blaming the erosion of critical condition, unfortunately is business manager for demand during this recession and passed away July 6. Operating Engineers (IUOE) insisting management had This was a devastating loss Local 317. exhausted every other cost-cut- ting measure, the company said 70 workers (out of workforce of 850 in Cudahy) would be affect- ed by layoffs of indefinite length, though the company is hopeful reduction won't be permanent. Ladish produces and mar- kets forged and cast metal com- ponents for the jet, aerospace, and industrial markets. A signifi- cant portion of sales involve US defense contracts. In 2006, while negotiating lengthy contracts with six unions at its Wisconsin facilities, Ladish inked an unusu- al six-year deal with the machin- ists (IAMAW Local 1862), spreading a 17% increase in wages over six years. These lon- ger-term contracts not only at Ladish but at Bucyrus and Joy Global provided stability and profit for management. Analysts expect the compa- nies to benefit from enduring skilled labor at predictable cost as the recession recedes. Trapshooting fter 13 weeks of shooting Ain the 2009 Milwaukee Area Labor Council league, here are results by team, reflecting wins, losses and ties: Class AA W-L-T 1. Pipers Plumbers Local 75.............10-2-1 2. 6 Volts to Lightning IBEW 494.......................... 7-3-3 3. Blind................................4-7-2 4. Wire & Fire CWA 4603.......................1-10-2 Class A 1.Wirenuts IBEW 494......................12-1-0 2. Pipe Dopes Plumbers Local 75........... 9-4-0 3. Team #2 CWA 4603.....................3-10-0 4.Sparkeys IBEW 494.......................2-11-0 LEAGUE HIGH GUNS John Kling 311 Ron Wahl 309 Jeff Jeske 305 Scott Kruck 305 Submitted by Ron Wahl, League Secretary www.milwaukeelabor.org AFL-CIO MILWAUKEE LABOR PRESS, Thursday, July 30, 2009 — Page 3 AFGE local provides serendipity for MALC he positive version of growing Midwest unit. At the VA model of cooperation with local "sticker shock" stunned here it's risen to some 750 mem- councils and federations such as the delegates to the T bers, including clerical, mainte- MALC.