News & Updates
Local 249 Community Service members Melody Decoudres, left to right,Stephanie Taggart, Elicia Salazar-Banuelos, Cortez Bradley, Luteesha Hall, Charla Patrick, Lena Wiley, Carla Pouncil, Deneane Pouncil, Jacquie Childs, Sydne Donaldson, Darriean Diaz, Hunter Himes, Porsche Thomas, Nitisha Johnson, Lynn Brown, Stephanie Henderson, Robin Taylor, Nicole Holbert-Zabel, Davion Gray, Nathan Himes, Hilary Johnson, Sadie Bass, Shauncei Gray, Stephanie Carruth-Shines, Terri Aquino volunteered to renovate a home for Habitat for Humanity June 15. Photo by Don Lehman.
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Local 249 activists attend CBTU Convention
By Robin Taylor
Local 249 civil rights activists Oshumal Butler, Shirley Bell, Neal Byers and Robin Taylor attended the 51st Coalition of Black Trade Unionists Convention in Los Angeles May 25-30. CBTU was founded in 1972 and is the largest independent labor organization representing the views and values of 1.9 million Black trade unionists in the United States and Canada. There are 50 different international and national trade unions represented in CBTU and there are more than 50 chapters in the U.S. and Ontario, Canada.
“It was great reuniting with the CBTU Convention after three long years,” said Local 249 member Oshumal Butler. Seeing Congresswoman Maxine Waters speak at 83 years old with so much love, passion and truth was truly the highlight of the convention for me. It was also great to reconnect with my KC Chapter, it felt like family again, if only for a week.”
Local 249 members Sadie Bass, Shirley Bell, Oshumal Butler, Neal Byers, Stephanie Shines and Robin Taylor joined more than 800 CBTU delegates and guests listened as CBTU President Terrence L. Melvin reported that, “Black workers, Black communities, Black women, Black youth, Black seniors, Black incarcerated men and women are under siege from all directions.”
Melvin’s report on the state of black trade unionism warned that, “our very humanity is in peril – stoked by anti-Black racism and by the monstrous big lie of a stolen presidential election. We must come together, now, in this embattled landscape to affirm our beautiful humanity and to lead the way out of these dark, dark days. True, our plate is full, but we come to L.A. ready to work.”
In addition to Melvin, many speakers came from around the world to deliver speeches on legacy, promise, hope and the future of Black trade unionism. Both AFL-CIO National Secretary-Treasurer Fred Redmond and California State Representative Maxine Waters spoke passionately about the key role black trade unionists play in defending civil and democratic rights.
“As a first-time retiree attending the 51ST CBTU International Convention in Los Angeles,” said Local 249 retiree Shirley Bell, “I thought it was very empowering and educational. The theme for retirees was “Power of the Past, Force for the Future”. This is to remind us of the legacy we, the people, have led but also to focus on the work ahead. All the speakers on the panel were dynamic and I felt honored to be among other retirees that have led the way.”
The Local 249 delegates’ days were full of sessions, and workshops that offered a lot of information, and training along with encouraging ideas.
The CBTU was founded in 1972 by 5 men. One of those men was Nelson “Jack” Edwards, who served as Vice President of the UAW. He was also known for being Walter Reuther’s point man for civil rights.
The CBTU aligns with a lot of things we promote as Local 249 members. Solidarity, unionism, and supporting local, state, and federal representatives who support our cause as laborers, unionists, and working-class people.
Recent trade union organizing victories at Starbucks, Apple and Amazon brought home the central truth that was the theme of the CBTU Convention: “When we fight, we win.”
That theme of the convention was like throwing gasoline on a fire for Local 249 activists and so many others at the convention. Because that’s who we are and what we do at Local 249. That’s what I’ll carry with me as I uphold our contract and going into the next contract. Local 249 is truly a force to be reckoned with and “When we fight, we win.”
By the people, for the people perishing in Missouri
By State Sen. Lauren Arthur
In just the past few years, Missouri has legalized medical marijuana, expanded access to health insurance coverage, raised the minimum wage, and repealed the state’s Right-to-Work law. None of these things happened because the legislature passed a bill. None happened because the Governor signed them into law. Each one of these policies came about by a vote of the people of Missouri. Ordinary Missourians used their vote at the ballot box to implement the policies that were important to them.
And the people in power didn’t like that - so now the politicians in Jefferson City want to change the rules so that it becomes far less likely that voters will be able to do this in the future. They’re advancing a wide-ranging proposal to make it much harder for citizens to put forward policy initiatives through constitutional amendments and referendums.
It’s already hard to pass laws through the initiative petition process. It’s expensive and requires large numbers of workers and volunteers. Something I bet you know first hand from the hard work UAW did to defeat Right-to-Work and Prop A. Politicians want to make it even harder - rigging the system and changing the rules of the game at the same time. Perhaps most troublingly, they want to require an initiative to get two-thirds support from the voters instead of a simple majority to pass.
You see, Missouri’s government is singularly controlled by one party: the Republicans. They have a large super-majority in the legislature, and they hold the Governor’s Office. They can pass any bill they want without a single vote from a member of the Democratic minority. If it were up to them, none of these popular policies would have ever come about.
Back in 2017, the super-majority Republican legislature passed a law making Missouri a so-called Right-to-Work state. The Republican Governor signed the bill into law, which would have gone into effect in 2018. But, it never did.
That’s because organized labor did what you do best; you organized. In this case, you used a right afforded by the state constitution to petition for a statewide referendum on a law passed by the legislature. By gathering the hundreds of thousands of signatures required to get the referendum on the ballot you put implementation of the Right-to-Work law on hold pending a vote of the people.
When the election was scheduled for the late summer of 2018, labor and your allies got to work campaigning for repeal of the so-called Right-to-Work law. And when the votes of ordinary Missourians were counted, the result was an overwhelming rejection of the law. As a result, Missouri has never been a Right-to-Work state.
However, if the Republicans succeed in their latest effort to wreck the initiative petition and referendum process, we could very well become a Right-to-Work state in short order.
That’s why it is essential that working Missourians who rejected it in 2018, and who voted for popular policies such as healthcare expansion and raising the wage, to make their voices heard in opposition to so-called initiative petition reform. If Republican legislators don’t listen, hold them accountable by voting them out of office.
Without access to the ballot, many popular policies that improve the lives of working Missouri families would never see the light of day. Without the ability to access the referendum process, I have little doubt that this legislature and Governor would implement so-called Right-to-Work in an instant. We can’t let that happen.
It’s vital that organized labor again do what you do best: organize. It’s going to take every one of us - republicans, democrats, and independents alike - to stop them from making Missouri’s working families worse off by taking away this important tool for change.
Sparkie's Fireworks has some great Union Member deals and a 25% discount on all regular price items for Union Members. Stop by the UAW Local 249 location and a portion of the proceeds go towards our Standing Committees and the work we do in our community.