WNYLaborToday.com Editor’s Note: Part of the more than 100 Western New York Union Leaders, Union Members, Elected Officials and Candidates For Public Officials (Pictured Above/WNYLaborToday.com Photo) rallied in the Southern Tier City of Olean Saturday to focus a spotlight on a recent Plant Closing and the shipment of American Jobs to Mexico.

(OLEAN) – They were from Olean and they drove down from Buffalo and Niagara Falls and over from Jamestown.  They also drove up from Pennsylvania.  They gathered together, listened, shared and shed tears, and they resolved to bring to an end the closing of U.S. Manufacturing Plants and the shipment of American Jobs to Mexico.  In the end, all agreed to send Elected Officials in Albany, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania and Washington a clear message: It’s time to bring American Jobs home!

More than 100 Western New York Union Leaders, Union Members, Elected Officials and Candidates For Public Officials gathered in Downtown Olean’s Lincoln Park on a cold Saturday morning where the temperature failed to reach 50 in order to listen to a number of speakers - including several who are part of a group of 174 Workers that will lose their Jobs when the local Olean Tile/Dal-Tile Plant closes – and Representatives of IBEW (International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers) Local 1690, whose Members employed at Olean Advanced Products are losing Jobs to Mexico where Ceramic Capacitors are being made for the U.S. Military.

But it might have been Democratic 23rd U.S. Congressional District Candidate Nate Shinagawa who was the most passionate speaker at the Rally, first describing “the terrible week” Olean had just experienced with the announcement the long-time Dal-Tile Plant would be moving its local operation to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, before speaking about the loss of local jobs to Mexico at Olean Advanced Products.  It’s also been rumored the local Manufacturing Plant that employs 125 IBEW Local 1690 Members might close and move from the area too.

“My grandfather was in an Internment Camp here in the United States during World War II, but he climbed the ladder, serving in the U.S. Marines and Air Force.  In the Seventies, he worked in Manufacturing and made enough to buy a home, a couple of car and send my Father to College,” an emotional Shinagawa, his voice continually rising, told those at the Rally.  “Is the ‘American Dream’ there for Working Families today? (Which drew a hearty response of No from the assembled crowd)  I’m tired of the Government forgetting about the Middle Class and I will not stand down.  I choose good Labor.  I choose Unions.  I choose you!”

Hosted by IBEW Local 1690, the Rally drew a number of Representatives from Western New York Labor, including Brother IBEW Locals 41 from Buffalo, Local 237 from Niagara Falls and Local 106 from Jamestown, as well as from the Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA), the New York State United Teachers (NYSUT), the Public Employees Federation (PEF) and the Western New York AFL-CIO Area Labor Federation.  Cattaraugus-Allegany AFL-CIO Central Labor Council President Karen Fenner was in attendance and also spoke during the Rally.  Several Elected Officials, including an emotional Olean Mayor Linda Witte - whose Sister is losing her long-time Job at Dal-Tile, and Ward 2 Representative Ann McLaughlin - as well as Democratic New York State Assembly Candidate Dan Brown, also spoke at the Rally.

“Our ‘voices’ are being drowned out and we’ve got to get our Rank-and-File Members active,” International IBEW Vice President Donald Siegel, who made the trip from Washington, told WNYLaborToday.com prior to addressing the crowd.  “We’ve got to get the message out that we need to hold Elected Officials accountable and that (if elected, Republican Presidential Candidate) Mitt Romney will be the ‘CEO’s President.’” 

“I’m tired of Union Workers being vilified and demonized,” Siegel told those at the Rally.  “We stand for Jobs, Good Wages and Benefits and we shouldn’t be embarrassed about it.  Slowly the strength of Middle Class Families is being taken away.  We’ve got to stop it.  By the Year 2020, that’s eight years from now, the Median Wage for three-quarters of Jobs (across the United States) will be thirty-five-thousand dollars.  It’s being taken away, piece by piece.  And now, we have a choice between a CEO (Romney) and a Community Organizer (President Obama).  I’ve seen how a CEO treats us, like a ‘number.’  I have been in the IBEW for forty-five years and I’ve never seen such an important election as this one.  This is about saving the Middle Class and Jobs.  Once (Jobs) are gone, they don’t come backs.  We have to hold our Elected Officials accountable and save the Middle Class and our Jobs.”

United Steelworkers (USW) District 4 Director John Shinn, whose Olean Local represents Dal-Tile Workers, vowed the Union and Elected Officials “will make another attempt” to reverse the decision to move the Plant to Pennsylvania, as well as “bring back American Jobs to this Country.” 

USW District 4 Staff Representative Jim Shaughnessy also spoke, saying the Rally was “all about” American Jobs.  “We’ve lost sixty-thousand Manufacturing Plants and seven million Jobs.  It’s been devastating,” he said.

Cattaraugus-Allegany AFL-CIO Central Labor Council President Fenner, meanwhile, encouraged all to “speak with ten people and then tell them to speak to ten more people” to help get the message out and bring this Country’s Outsourcing Problem to an end.  “Tell them to get off their butts and walk with us door-to-door,” she implored those at the Rally.

More than 40 IBEW Local 1690 Members have lost their Jobs at Olean Advanced Products due to the Company’s Outsourcing to Mexico in recent times, including 14 as recent as last month. Rumors are there will be more.  IBEW Representatives say that for more than 60 years, the Union has worked with the Company toward a “common goal of a Good Secure Life and a Decent-Paying Job,” while helping (Olean Advance Products) achieve an income growth of 323% since 2007.  In return, they said, Olean Advanced Products has “turned its back” on Local 1690 Members by Outsourcing the vast majority of its Manufacturing Process, which includes Military Work to Juarez, Mexico, “where they can pay their Workers a lot less.”

IBEW Local 1690 Business Manager Mike Randolph, who served as Master of Ceremonies at the Rally, said: “I believe ‘Made in America’ should mean just that, especially when it comes to supplying the United States Military.  This Rally cannot be the end.  It must be the beginning.  We have to take our Country back from the ‘One-Percenters.’  This is all about ‘Corporate Greed’ and we can do it because the Labor Movement ‘is’ strong.”