What an incredible time to be a Labor journalist!
The working middle class is under attack.
The Labor Movement in Missouri, Illinois and the nation is under attack.
American democracy is under attack.
The Free Press is under attack.
The institutions that protect our way of living: clean air, clean water, laws against predatory lending practices that screw working people, etc., etc. are under attack.
On the other hand, if you’re a wealthy family with a huge stock portfolio and a generous bonus plan from your company, you’re in great shape, and if all that’s proposed by the Trump Administration for the wealthy comes to pass, you’re in hog heaven!
WOW!
This is what we at the Labor Tribune are confronted with every day as next week we begin our 81st year of publishing the nation’s most comprehensive, aggressive, award-winning Labor newspaper, one of the few weeklies left in America.
WE ARE OPTIMISTIC
And yet we are optimistic about the future.
Why? Because in our region we are the ONE voice of working people that, week in and week out, is fighting for you, our readers, the hard working, real Americans who built this nation into what it is today. It’s a responsibility we take very seriously.
Where would you find news that impacts your daily life, news of real value to working men and women in our union families if it wasn’t for the Labor Tribune? NOWHERE!
ONLY IN THE LABOR TRIBUNE
Just look at just some of the recent news in our columns:
LOCALLY:
- Exposing the lies behind the phony “right-to-work” mailers flooding voters’ homes
- Detailing the political storm facing Illinois workers in next year’s state and national elections
- Revealing that a phony charge made against a local union to promote RTW in a Post-Dispatch OpEd was a 12-year old fraud from a questionable anti-union contractor
- Detailing the racist origins of the phony RTW
- Exposing Gov. Greitens as the political coward he is for killing wages for 35,000 workers, weakening discrimination laws, and pushing the anti-worker efforts demanded by his dark money funders
- Clearing up the true intent of the state photo ID law as an effort to deny voting rights
NATIONALLY:
- Revealing administration efforts to weaken overtime rules
- Outlining the terrible impact of the proposed new health care law
- Detailing efforts to staff NLRB with union-busters
- Highlighting legal challenges across America to the phony RTW law
- Revealing the truth: An Indiana Republican admitting prevailing wage repeal didn’t save the state money
- Trashing of labor law and workers’ rights by Republicans
And so much more.
PROMOTING YOUR STORIES
In addition, the strongest role the Labor Tribune plays is telling the positive side of what our unions are doing, for their members and for the communities in which we live. NOWHERE else do you find such stories as:
- IBEW 1, Electrical Connection’s support of “Shop with a Cop” and flood repairs to equine therapy center
- UFCW 655’s BBQ to raise funds for Sickle Cell research and many other charitable efforts
- Plumbers and Pipefitters 562 female member promoting trades careers for women; the local winning a national softball division championship
- Bricklayers 1, IBEW 1 and others bannering non-union contractors to protect jobs
- Laborers’ and others’ donations to the Arnold Food pantry; raising money for the police welfare association
- Plumbers and Pipefitters 101’s national apprentice finalist
- Helping raise money for out-of–work families via “$5 for the Fight”
- Madison County Federation of Labor awarding scholarships
- Missouri Women in Trades training programs for female construction workers
- Sprinkler Fitters 268 members saving carpenter’s life
- IBEW 4’s positive billboard ad campaign
- Steamfitters 439’s fundraising for fire safety camp
- CWA 6300’s and others’ efforts to gather signatures for RTW repeal
- And so, so much more
Even with today’s iPhone news feeds, working families are overlooked. First, they don’t get a fair shake. Second, the positive issues and efforts of our unions for their members and community are never told. Finally, Labor news is almost universally ignored.
Brothers and Sisters, information is vital to our survival, both as a Labor Movement and as a Democracy. Providing you with that information from a workers’ viewpoint is the role the Labor Tribune plays, with gusto!
That’s why we are optimistic about the future. The need to get Labor’s story out is more pressing today than ever.
Our heartfelt THANK YOU to our union subscribers and members for your continuing support. As we enter our 81st year, we pledge to continue to be an aggressive, fearless voice for you! COUNT ON IT.
P.S. If you’re reading this and are not a subscriber, you should be! We’re YOUR newspaper. We need your support.
- Share this story:
-
-
-
-
-
-
-