St. Louis Building Trades hosting rally Oct. 4 to hear from worker-friendly candidates, stop RTW

All trades are invited and urged to attend

By TIM ROWDEN

Editor

St. Charles – All union apprentices and journeymen, and all union members, are invited and urged to attend a Get Out The Vote rally sponsored by the St. Louis Building & Construction Trades Council at 5 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 4 at the St. Charles Family Arena at 2002 Arena Pkwy. in St. Charles.

It is imperative that all members of the building trades and all labor unions turn out for this rally to learn about and support candidates who will stand firm against the special interests dumping millions of dollars into this campaign with the intention of passing so-called “right-to-work” –– the sole purpose of which is to gut unions, drive down wages and take power away from working people.

Candidates confirmed to speak at the rally include Chris Koster for Missouri governor, Jason Kander for U.S. Senate and Russ Carnahan for lieutenant governor.

House Minority Leader Jake Hummel, an IBEW Local 1 member running for Missouri Senate District 4, and Missouri Senator Scott Sifton (D-Affton) and other U.S. Congressional and state senate and state representative candidates have also been invited to speak.

Doors will open at 4 p.m. so members can come by as soon as they get off of work. The rally will begin promptly at 5 p.m. and conclude by 6 p.m.

MUST ATTEND EVENT

John Stiffler, executive secretary-treasurer of the St. Louis Building Trades said this is a must attend event for members to meet the candidates and learn what’s at stake in this election.

Eric Greitens, the Republican candidate for governor has collected $2.2 million since late August from special interests bent on making Missouri a so-called “right-to-work” state and doing away with the state’s prevailing wage law.

According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch tops among Greitens’ donors are the Republican Governor’s Association, which sent him a $750,000 check. David Humphreys, president and CEO of Joplin-based TAMKO Building Products, donated $500,000 to Greitens last week.

Greitens also received $100,000 from Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner, a wealthy businessman.

Both Rauner and Humphreys are supporters of “right-to-work” laws, and Greitens has said he will sign the anti-worker legislation into law.

“If we don’t get Koster elected governor, Mr. Greitens has already told us if he’s elected the day he’s sworn it will be done,” Stiffler said. “We’ve got to get people engaged in this election. Our futures depend on it.”

VITAL TO GET THESE CANDIDATES ELECTED

That sentiment is echoed by Frank Jacobs, business manager for IBEW Local 1.

“It is vital that these candidates get elected,” Jacobs said. “Special interests are funding candidates in this election with the sole interest of making Missouri a ‘right-to-work’ state and repealing prevailing wage.

“It’s imperative that we support those candidates willing to stand up and make sure working class citizens have a voice. If we lose our voice in Jefferson City, we’ve lost our voice on these matters.”

For more information on the rally, contact Gina Knoll at the St. Louis Building and Construction Trades Council at 314-647-0628 or your local union labor leader.

“We cannot compete with the dollars being spent by special interests,” Stiffler said, “but we can compete by the amount of votes our members and families can generate.”