Conference stresses need to take back America for working families

By Ross Winklbauer

On February 3, 4 and 5, 2003, President Greg Gorecki and I attended the Industrial Union Council Legislative Conference in Washington D.C. We were part of a delegation of over 3700 union members from around the country. There were members from the Mine Workers, Machinists, UAW, Teamsters, PACE and many other unions. The goal was to meet with our State Representatives in Congress and to talk to them regarding three very important issues to working people. The issues addressed were health care, trade, and the Labor Law.

Before we went to the Capitol, we heard from several speakers including John Sweeney, President AFL-CIO, Richard Trumka, Secretary/Treasurer AFL-CIO, Congressman George Miller and Senator Byron Dorgan.

Congressman George Miller stated we need to take back America for working families and if our elected representatives want to be leaders then we need them to lead.

Senator Byron Dorgan stated fair trade and jobs, it’s that simple. He asked if it was “fair trade” to import 680,000 cars from Korea, but we send only 2,800 to Korea. He also said that for every $5.00 China exports to the United States we only send China $1.00 worth of products. Is this fair trade?

The speakers went on to say that Congress must act now to address the manufacturing crisis. As a first step, Congress must work with the AFL-CIO Industrial Union Council to enact a comprehensive policy reform agenda to include:

(1) Good Jobs – To improve America’s trade balance and strengthen manufacturing industries, we need:

	Fair trade policies that protect workers’ rights and environmental standards;
	Tax laws that end incentives for corporations to move production overseas;
	Immediate intervention to address the problem of the overvalued dollar, which puts U.S.-based producers at an impossible competitive disadvantage; and
	“High road” industrial development strategies that preserve and create good manufacturing jobs, with high wages, full benefits, safe working conditions and respect in the workplace.

(2) Healthy communities – To ensure healthy communities and families, we need measures that bring adequate public money into the health care system, ease cost and competitive pressures and preserve employer-sponsored health care plans. These include:

	A Medicare prescription benefit and coverage for most drug costs;
	Protections against loss of retiree benefits; and
	Subsidies to encourage employers to continue health care benefits.

(3) A voice for working families – Reforming and enforcing the nation’s labor laws are essential to addressing the manufacturing crisis, as well as for promoting good jobs for all American workers. We need:

	Stronger labor laws to prevent employer interference and suppression of workers’ freedom to choose for themselves whether to reform or join a union and bargain collectively;
	A quicker and fairer process for determining union representation; and
	Guarantees of meaningful collective bargaining rights and legal protections for all workers.

After all the speakers were finished, all 3700 delegates loaded the busses and went to the Capitol. Greg and I first attempted to meet with Congressman Jim Sensenbrenner from the fifth district. Even though I called before we went to Washington and asked to meet with the Congressman, we were told that Congressman Sensenbrenner and his aids couldn’t meet with us and we were asked to leave his office. We had better luck with our next meeting. We were able to meet with my representative Congressman Tom Petri of the sixth district. There were seventeen of us that explained to the Congressman the problems of the working people of Wisconsin. We asked him to join with the other congressman from Wisconsin to pass legislation that would help our cause. He was very polite and said he would review our requests. Congressman Petri is a member of the Republican Party so if you live in his district you might want to give him a call and try to encourage him to stop supporting only the rich and support the working people of Wisconsin also.

From there Greg and I met with Congressman Jerry Kleczka, a democrat from the fourth district. Congressman Kleczka has been a strong supporter of labor for a long time and told us he would be more than willing to fight for the rights of working families. He placed Local 7-232 on his mailing list and told us he’d like to send us information to help keep us clued in as to what is happening in Washington. Periodically we will share Kleczka’s reports in the newspaper and on the Local 7232 website. http://www.pace7232.org/reporter/March2003/kleczka.htm