Sunday Labor Column: Happy Father’s Day From WNYLaborToday.com, An Update On Injured Soldier Nick Stone & IUPAT District Council 4 Business Manager Dan Boody Was “Impressed” With The National AFL-CIO’s First Ever Young Workers Summit
News, Notes & Observations collected
while covering the Western New York Labor
Community over the past several days:
First off - Happy
Father's Day from WNYLaborToday.com to all Dads across Western New York today!
And to the sons and daughters of all those Fathers who've passed,
remember those good and warm memories of your Dads, what they did for you, the
sacrifices they made to make your lives better, the encouragement and support
they lent and the smiles they wore on their faces. Thanks
Dad for providing me with the opportunity to reach my full potential, for
being the first in my family to go to college and to achieve both my personal
and professional goals. We miss you all today, but will remember you
forever.
Update on Nick Stone, the son of former Carpenters Union official
Chris Stone, who was badly injured
while serving our country in Afghanistan. From Nick's
brother, Chris, Jr., who recently posted this announcement on the
social network Facebook: "Many of you may not know,
but my brother, Nick, was injured on Friday, May 21st while serving with the
82nd Airborne Division of the U.S. Army in Afghanistan.
He lost his left leg. His right
leg was severely damaged. Nick has had three major surgeries so far. He's doing
very well and on the road to recovery.
But it will be a long road. He most
likely will not be back in Buffalo
for at least a year and even that time frame is tentative, depending on how he
does with rehab and physical therapy.
So, we're going to have a
party/benefit/fundraiser for him on Saturday, August 7th! We'll have draft beer (maybe an open well bar) and food. Ticket Price will be between $20 and $30 per person. Flyers/Tickets and price are in the works now. I'm putting
together a Donation Request Letter, for businesses that would like to be a part
of this event. Thanks to everyone for the continued support
through a very tough time for my family and I!"
WNYLaborToday.com
will provide our viewers/readers with additional information as it becomes
available regarding the specific time and location for the Stone fundraiser. But in the
meantime, and if you're a facebook member, go to Benefit/Fundraiser for my brother, Nick Stone for further
information and updates. By the way, WNYLaborToday.com asks our readers/viewers to
take a few moments to remember those in the military who are serving overseas
and to keep them in your hearts and prayers. Many are Dads too. As we suggested last week, take the time to
drop Nick Stone a quick note at the Walter
Reed Medical
Center, 6900 Georgia Avenue NW, Washington, D.C., 20307. I know he'll
appreciate it. IUPAT District 4 Business Manager Dan
Boody tells WNYLaborToday.com
that he was extremely pleased to attend the National AFL-CIO's first-ever Young
Workers Summit that attracted 400 Young
Unionists to Washington, D.C.
for a three-day event. "I'm glad I took the time to go. I wanted to
see what it was all about," said Boody, who is a bit over in age of the
majority of those who attended the event. "Eighty-percent of those who were there were
under the age of thirty-six," said the Painters District Council Union Leader -
who was impressed by the use of electronic polling at the Young Workers Summit,
which provided those in attendance an immediate opportunity to voice their
opinion of where the direction of the Labor Movement must go and how to involve
more and younger Union Members in the movement. "There was one poll that was taken on
communicating and I was surprised that texting outscored the use of e-mails,"
Boody said. What transpired in Washington over those
three days made a further impression on Boody for the need to create Young
Unionists movement right here in Western New York. "We definitely should do something here
through the Buffalo
and Niagara-Orleans Central Labor Councils. The groundwork has now been put into place,"
he said. A couple of months ago, Buffalo AFL-CIO
Council President Mike Hoffert
publicly discussed his desire to start a Young Unionists group, and there has
been further interest shown by the Niagara-Orleans Central Labor Council. Here's
hoping that overall effort materializes and more young Union Workers are
involved in the process and the Labor Movement across Western
New York in the months to come.
WNYLaborToday.com had the opportunity to sit
down with Kenneth Brynien, president of the 60,000-member New York State Public
Employees Federation (PEF), here in Buffalo
late last week. During a wide-ranging interview that took
place at PEF's Downtown Buffalo offices, Brynien talked about a number of issues
and topics, including his Union's push for New York State
and Governor Paterson to seriously
consider and move forward on a number of cost-cutting measures PEF has
recommended - including the inordinate amount of temporary workers hired by the
state. WNYLaborToday.com's will publish a print story
during the week on our interview with PEF President Brynien, as well as an
expanded Labor News Video Report.
I couldn't help but think about New York State Assemblyman
Mark Schroeder's misguided decision to support construction of an anti-Union Walmart Supercenter
on the border of South Buffalo and West Seneca,
especially after Schroeder met with several high-ranking Labor Leaders who
requested an explanation from him. By what WNYLaborToday.com reported last week, the
meeting involving Schroeder, Western New York AFL-CIO Area Labor Federation
(WNYALF) President Angelo Vellake, Buffalo AFL-CIO Council President Hoffert
and Richard Lipsitz, who serves as vice president of the WNYALF and is Labor
Movement Liaison for Teamsters Local 264, did not go well (See story headlined:
Buffalo
Assemblyman Mark Schroeder Draws Major Criticism From Organized Labor For His
Support To Build A Walmart In His District - Recent Meeting With Union Leaders
"Does Not Go Well," Has Some Calling His Support Of Walmart "Outrageous"). I was left scratching my head thinking why Schroeder,
who has a long and proud track record of Labor support, didn't take the time to
think about and realize that Vellake - who also heads the United Food &
Commercial Workers Union here in Western New York - would be against such a
project due to the fact that those 300 retail/grocery store employees that
would be employed by South Buffalo/Walmart would be represented by the UFCW - if Walmart even agreed to go Union,
which will occur when hell freezes over. Well, it doesn't matter much now as Schroeder
has caught the ire of Organized Labor. From what local Labor Leaders tell WNYLaborToday.com,
a meeting will be held in the not too distant future to discuss Schroeder's
public and supportive stance on anti-Union and anti-Worker Walmart. What might
happen? It's anyone guess, but a "no
endorsement" might be given to Schroeder, who is seeking re-election to the
State Assembly. There may also be Unions that decline to make
monetary donations to his campaign and fail to offer any volunteer assistance
by Union Members to help out during his campaign. If so, it will be one heck of message sent to
any elected official - and political party, for that matter - who's received
the support of Labor Unions and their members that they should never be taken
for granted. In the end, you might be seeing a "Mark-down"
on Assemblyman Schroeder when it comes to his Walmart decision.
And speaking of Walmart, if you have a moment, take the time
to read today's Letter to the Editor that WNYLaborToday.com received from Earl A. Frampton - retired Communications Director for the
Niagara-Orleans AFL-CIO Central Labor Council. Frampton hit the nail on the head in his column,
where he outlines the loss of jobs to foreign soil and the movement by Big
Business to slowly dismantle the Middle and Working Class. "Wake
Up America!
and stop the Great American Give Away
before it's too late!," says Frampton, who notes the U.S. has lost more than 3.5
million manufacturing jobs over the past five years, with more job loss expected
to come. What can we do about it? Frampton urges the American workforce to "take back our country and this
election year is a good place to start." "What we do at the ballot box affects our
breadbox, and everyone - from the youngest to the oldest - should say enough is enough and work hard this year at the
local, state and national level to elect candidates that will deal with
down-to-earth people issues and concerns," Frampton writes. Words of
Wisdom they are and hopefully Working People, both Union
and non, read them carefully and take it upon themselves to get involved by
casting their vote later this year.
