(CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY) - It Was Friday, December 13th and Chautauqua County Labor Leader David Wilkinson Was Sitting In His Plow Truck, Trying to Begin to Push Out the Massive Amount of Snow That Had Fallen and Buried His Long Driveway at His Home in the Jamestownb Area.  But the Newly-Named President of the Jamestown AFL-CIO Central Labor Council and Current International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 106 Business Manager Was Finding It Extremely Hard To Do So In Light of the Fact His Cell Phone Kept Continually Ringing With Calls From a Variety of State-Elected Officials, Including Representatives from Governor Andrew Cuomo’s Office.

“I’m Sitting In My Plow Truck, Up to My Ass in Snow – Taking Phone Call After Phone Call.  I Was Thinking to Myself: ‘I’m Not Used to This.  I Live in the Woods,” a Joking Wilkinson – Who Had Helped Lead the Charge Through the Chautauqua County Labor Coalition’s 2013 Campaign to Save the NRG Power Plant in Dunkirk - Told WNYLaborToday.com.

Fast Forward Two Days Later to Sunday, December 15th^.Wilkinson Now Finds Himself in a Packed Room at the Clarion Hotel in Dunkirk Sitting Next to Governor Cuomo Himself, Who’d Traveled to Western New York to Publicly Announce a $150 Million Plan to Repower the NRG Power Plant Under a 10-Year Agreement, Which In the End Meant Jobs at the Facility Were Saved, Others Created and the Local Property Tax Base Stabilized – Which Quite Possibility Also Saved the City’s Immediate Future And What Could Arguably Have Been the Largest Labor-Led Victory in the History of Chautauqua County.

 “As I Sat There, Next to the Governor, I Was Thinking to Myself: ‘How Impactful Labor Was In All of This.’  Isn’t That Something?,” Wilkinson Told Your Regional, On-Line Labor Newspaper.  

Yes, Dave – It Was and Is.

Coming Off a Less Than Stellar Election in November That Left Many in the Western New York Labor Movement Disappointed, Such Positive News of the NRG Plant in Dunkirk Not Closing Was Indeed The – If Not One Of – the Major Highlights Locally in 2013 For Organized Labor. 

And Taking Into Consideration What Labor Did – Most Notably Led by the Chautauqua County Labor Coalition (Which Marries the Strengthen of the Dunkirk and Jamestown AFL-CIO Labor Councils) – And Accomplished in a Heavily Republican/Rural County is Truly Amazing.

Getting Union Members Out to Participate in a Public Forum that was Held in the Summer (Media Reports Had More Than 2,000 in Attendance), Another Several Hundred Who Took Part in a Rally That Was Held in Frigid Temps Just a Week Earlier on the Dunkirk Harbor Front Before the Governor’s News Conference, Reaching Out and Expanding the Coalition to Include Business Groups (The Chamber of Commerce) and Community Activists, an Explosion of Signatures on an On-Line Petition (“That Broke All Records,” Wilkinson says) and Taking Full Advantage of What the Social Network Facebook Offered - All Worked Together to Bring About a Happy Ending.

“The Rally We Had (In Early December) Made a Huge Impact and We Shattered Attendance Records with Our Rally in the Summer,” Wilkinson said.  “As I Sat There Next to the Governor I Was Thinking to Myself: ‘How Impactful Labor Was In All of This.’

Wilkinson Minced No Words When He Was Interviewed by Your Regional, On-Line Labor Newspaper Right After the Dunkirk Rally and Spoke - At the Time - About the Role Governor Cuomo Could Play If He Decided In Favor Of Repowering the NRG Power Plant in Dunkirk. 

“The Governor Has His Thumb on ‘Everything.’  There’s ‘No Doubt’ About That.  All He Would Have to Do is Go to the (New York State) Public Service Commission and Tell Them He ‘Wants’ That Plant Repowered in Dunkirk.  It Would Be the ‘End of the Story’ and You Can’t Convince Me Otherwise,” Wilkinson Told WNYLaborToday.com.

“I Told Those at the (Dunkirk) Rally that We Will Lose Hundreds of Good-Paying Jobs and Property and Sales Taxes.  From Labor’s Standpoint, It’s Up to the Governor,” Wilkinson (Pictured Below On The Left Next to Governor Cuomo/WNYLaborToday.com File Photo) said.  “In Second Grade I Learned that Chautauqua County Is In Western New York, But the Governor Apparently Doesn’t Know That Because He 'Didn’t Receive' a 'Public Education.'  You Just Can’t Keep Pushing Us Down and Expecting Us to Get Back Up.”

It Appears Governor Cuomo Was Listening.

“The Governor Asked Me Specifically About the Chautauqua County Labor Coalition,” Wilkinson said When He Spoke Directly With Cuomo at the Clarion Hotel Just Before the News Conference Was to Start.  “He Asked Me If I Had Started It.  I Said I Helped.”

In Fact, Several Sources Later Told WNYLaborToday.com the Governor’s Office Went to “Great Lengths” to Make Sure Organized Labor Was “Okay” With Everything They Were Putting Together For the NRG Plant – Hence the Many Cell Phone Calls Wilkinson Received While Trying to Plow Out His Driveway a Couple of Days Earlier.

Speaking of Those Conversations, It Had Been Extremely Hard for Wilkinson Not to Talk About What He Knew What Was Going On During the Previous Couple of Days Leading Up To the Governor’s News Conference, Telling WNYLaborToday.com: “There Were Things I Knew That I Couldn’t Tell People.  Stuff I Couldn’t Share.  But This Announcement Put Labor in the Forefront in Dunkirk and Chatauqua County.  ‘We Are’ the ‘Lead’ Organization When It Comes to Getting People Out and Getting Things Moving.”

And It Certainly Bodes Well for Organized Labor as It Heads Into 2014.

Showing that a Labor Organization Operating in a Heavily Republican/Rural Community Could Take the Bull By the Horns, Mobilize Its Members, Truly Involve and Work With the Business Community, and Fully Take Advantage of What a Growing Social Network Offers to Inform, Educate and Motivate All – Again – Was Truly Amazing.

It Also Shows What Labor Can Accomplish When All Work Together.

With That Said - Wilkinson, the Chautauqua County Labor Coalition, and the Dunkirk and Jamestown AFL-CIO Labor Councils Now Have an Amazing Opportunity to Further What Has Already Been Accomplished by Reaching Out to Business Leaders and the Chamber of Commerce in Dunkirk and Jamestown and Look to Create a Labor-Management Coalition That Can Work Together on Other Positive and Beneficial Economic Development Initiatives in 2014 and Beyond.

Due to What Was Accomplished in Regards to the NRG Plant in Dunkirk, the Time Is Now to Move Forward and Build a Better Chautauqua County - Together.

All of Western New York Labor Will Be Watching – And With Great Interest.

But Back to Wilkinson – As The Dunkirk News Conference Came to an End, Wilkinson Opted to Pass on a Press Opportunity Behind the Curtains with Local and State-Elected Representatives.  Instead, He Got Up From the Chair He Was Sitting On Next to Governor Cuomo and Walked Directly Into the Packed Ballroom that was Filled with Union Members from Across the County and Western New York.

“As I Sat There, I Was Watching the People in the Crowd.  Many of Them Had Tears Running Down Their Cheeks.  It Was Like: ‘We Got This Done,’” He Told WNYLaborToday.com.  “Those People Who Were In That Ballroom Were There to Support Labor – to Support Me.  It Was Important For Me To Do That.”

Asked What He Did After Sharing Several Rounds of Handshakes and Countless Exchanges of “Congratulations,” Wilkinson Jokingly Replied: “I Went Home, Started My Truck, Plowed My Driveway and Smoked a Cigar.”