Laborers 42 honors Mo. AFL-CIO President Mike Louis for leadership in defeating RTW (Prop A)

Laborers Local 42 honored Missouri AFL-CIO President Mike Louis before a crowd of about 300 union laborers last week.

Brandon Flinn, business manager of the Eastern Missouri Laborers District Council, said he considered Louis to be “an honorary member, our general that conducted and orchestrated the repeal of ‘right-to-work.’

“He is a true Labor leader who not only leads, but he knocks on doors and makes it happen,” Flinn said. “It was 18 months in the making, and our friend Mike was also busy behind the scenes making things happen. I am proud to call him my friend and my mentor.”

Louis was presented with a print plate of the Labor Tribune front page celebrating the defeat of Prop A.

Louis said it was a collaborative effort made possible by the strength and solidarity of Missouri’s Labor Movement. But he said electing worker-friendly candidates Nov. 6 and defeating incumbent office holders who voted for “right-to-work” is a must win if we want to prevent “right-to-work” from coming up again.

“In the end, we stood hand in hand. We showed Jeff City that it belongs to Labor and it does not belong to them,” Louis said. “But if we do not sustain this win by beating every politician who voted for Prop A, we lose. Let’s not lose what we won.

“If we keep it up and vote out those who pushed ‘right-to-work,’ it will be the day Labor came back to Missouri,” Louis said.