Jan 11, 2017
Last week workers in Kentucky were betrayed by their elected state officials in Frankfort when the Kentucky State House and Senate passed so-called “Right-to-Work” and “Paycheck Protection” bills, and repealed the Prevailing Wage. Teamsters Local 89 stands firmly opposed to these laws and our state Government’s attempts to harm workers and organized labor in Kentucky.
These bills were filed as “emergency” legislation to make them go into effect immediately rather than at the end of the session as laws normally do. This shows how disconnected Frankfort lawmakers are with the realities the rest of us must deal with daily. While our state is facing pension and budget problems, and even drug epidemics, they chose to make their assault on workers’ rights their “emergency” priority.
Frankfort’s newfound disdain for workers was evident all throughout the week, starting last Wednesday when these laws were first heard in their respective committees. Hundreds of union members and supporters flocked to the state capitol that day. As “Right-to-Work” and the repeal of Prevailing Wage were being heard, Kentucky workers were locked out of the hearings while wealthy men and women from organizations such as American’s For Prosperity, an extremely anti-worker group funded by out-of-state money, were allowed inside. As chants of “Let Us In!” and “Suits in there, boots out here!” reverberated through the hallways of the Capital Annex, Governor Bevin further showed his disdain for the workers of this state by being escorted through the crowd to testify in favor of these anti-worker laws. During his testimony, he referred to the angry and passionate protests of his own working citizens as “noise” that should be ignored by Frankfort lawmakers. Afterwards, the Governor came back into the hallway, guarded by State Troopers, to argue with union workers and flaunt his ability to harm them. This casual disregard for the wellbeing and opinions of the working people of Kentucky by our Governor set the tone for the entire week, which continued to see union workers blocked from testifying in hearings, ignored by their elected officials, and in some cases, being removed from the proceedings for daring to show outrage at this casual disregard for the working class. Even on Saturday, when over a 1,000 union members and supporters occupied the Capitol Building and participated in one of the largest, loudest protests in Frankfort’s history, our elected state officials shut the doors of their chambers so they could pass these laws while ignoring the voices of their own citizens.
Governor Bevin and his allies have spoken often about these bills being about “choice” and lowering costs on construction projects. However, when directly confronted about these claims, no one, including the Governor, could adequately explain their positions.
The notion that “Right-to-Work” is about giving workers a choice on whether to be in a union or not is a laughably easy one to debunk. In Kentucky, 11% of jobs are union while 89% are non-union. When a worker goes out looking for a job, no one forces that worker to apply at a unionized shop, and no one forces that worker to only select from the 11% union and not the much larger 89% non-union. If a worker chooses to apply for and accept a union job, they are doing so because they chose to. If they weighed union and non-union jobs against one another, and they ultimately chose to work at a unionized job then they did so because it offered greater wages, superior benefits, and unparalleled protection. These are things only possible because of the union contract at that job, and if they choose to accept those benefits as opposed to a non-union job which offers significantly less, then they are choosing to belong to the organization that made those things possible.
For a law to come into existence that says a worker should be able to take all the things that the union offers yet refuse to join and pay their fair share of the costs of such benefits is preposterous. It is akin to workplace welfare, a system in which someone becomes a “free rider” or a “free loader” who selfishly takes all the hard-fought benefits that other union members pay their dues for. To do this is despicable, and shows a lack of caring and solidarity with those you work alongside.
With the repeal of Prevailing Wage, the Governor and his anti-worker allies speak of lowering costs for construction projects. What they don’t mention is where these “lower costs” will come from. Prevailing Wage ensures that workers receive a fair rate of pay for the very difficult jobs they do in the construction field, but even then, wages only account for 20% of a construction projects costs. If the Governor is correct that this will lower construction costs, those savings will only come by taking it directly from the pockets of hard-working Kentuckians. If construction projects suddenly cost 10% less across the state, that means workers will have taken a 50% pay cut. That means less money to feed, cloth, and house their families. That means less money to pay taxes on and less money for them to put into the economy. How is shrinking a worker’s paycheck and making it harder for them to provide for their families going to help Kentucky? The answer is simple; it’s not. All this repeal will accomplish is to cause workers to make less money, and companies to make more.
The Governor and his wealthy anti-worker allies can say all they like to try and justify what they have done, but the truth is evident to anyone who pays attention. Nothing about these laws are pro-worker. They are an assault on Kentucky’s working people and the unions that represent them. They are attempts, as they have been in every other state that has passed such legislation, to weaken unions and damage collective bargaining agreements. The end goal is clear; destroy unions to ensure corporations can obtain higher profits by taking away from their workers.
It could not be any clearer that these laws are a direct assault on unions, and only unions. If “Right-to-Work” was truly only about the “freedom” to stop paying dues to an organization, then why is it that only unions are included in the legislation? As State Senator Morgan McGarvey of Louisville so brilliantly pointed out, many other organizations require membership dues/fees in exchange for the benefits they provide. The Kentucky Chamber of Commerce, Kentucky Farm Bureau, Bar Associations, even Country Clubs all require businesses and individuals to pay dues to receive their services. Why then, are these organizations not included in such a law? Why should they be allowed to require payment for their services if unions are not? How is it that the Government can be allowed to tell unions, or any other organization, that they must legally provide their services for free to anyone who chooses not to join? How long could a business, such as the Courier-Journal, survive if a law was passed that would allow individuals to receive their paper without being required to pay for it? When this deceptively named legislation is looked at in the correct light it is easy to see it is designed with the specific intent to destroy unions. It is inherently un-American to take for free that which is obtained through the hard work, money, and resources of others, and it is WRONG.
To our members, rest assured that Teamsters Local 89 will never be defeated. As has been said many times in the last week, politicians did not create the American Labor Movement, and politicians will not destroy it. The Teamsters union has existed for over a century. We existed three decades before unions were legally recognized in the United States of America, and we will continue to exist long after Governor Bevin and his anti-worker friends are gone and forgotten. Our Local Union is widely known as one of the strongest, most militant in the Commonwealth. The passage of these laws will not change that, and in fact, they will only make us fight that much harder.
We will continue to organize with renewed vigor. We will educate our membership about the evils of these laws, and why it is vital that they stand in solidarity with their co-workers and their union. We will face these challenges head on, and we will NOT be defeated. We will never stop fighting for the betterment of our membership, and we will never surrender in the War on Workers. We will RISE to the challenge these extremely anti-worker laws represent, and we WILL PREVAIL!
Teamsters across the great state of Kentucky, all union members regardless of organization, we urge you to STAND UP and be counted! Rise to the occasion and show Frankfort, and all the corporations celebrating the passage of these laws, that you will proudly stand with your union! Show them that we cannot be defeated by the stroke of a politician’s pen! We have fought hard to make the American Dream a reality for our members for over a hundred years, and we will not be silenced! The American Labor Movement will NOT be stopped! Not now, not EVER!
We are the Teamsters. We will stand with our membership, and with our brothers and sisters across the labor movement regardless of organization or affiliation. We will FIGHT BACK, we will REMEMBER this attack against working people in Kentucky, and in this War on Workers, WE WILL WIN!
