Congressman Kuhl Gets More Than Expected

(Labor News)By Aron J. Reina, Lead Field Organizer
Rochester & Genesee Valley Area Labor Federation           

            (April 6, 2007) Last Saturday, more than 150 Labor activists converged on Congressman Kuhl’s town hall meeting in Corning, NY. This time Kuhl received more than he bargained for when he chose to double-cross working families on his support for the Employee Free Choice Act (E.F.C.A.).

A sponsor of the Employee Free Choice Act prior to the 2006 elections, Congressman Kuhl expressed his support of the Act to local and national Labor leaders. After only narrowly winning re-election in 2006 against a political newcomer, Kuhl chose retribution. Kuhl decided to display his frustration at his narrow victory by removing his name as a sponsor of HR 800, and then voted against this important legislation. Last weekend the Labor community in mid-western New York voiced their concerns about Kuhl’s removal of not only his sponsorship of the E.F.C.A., but his spiteful “no” vote against the bill on March 1, 2007.

While Labor has effectively organized for years, and provided hundreds of bodies to rallies, this abandonment of Labor’s largest piece of legislation in the past 70 years has awoken our membership. With Kuhl’s abandonment of Labor, more union members are seeing Kuhl’s true stripes. And our membership is mobilizing for action.

Pulling together 150 activists from throughout the 11 county mid-western region, we hoisted “the rat” and demonstrated our displeasure of Congressman Kuhl’s vote against unions. Members of Public Sector, Private Sector and the Construction Trades participated in the rally – all standing in solidarity for working families. We stood in support of a free, a more balanced, and a less intimidating democratic process for workers. We took to the picket line because Randy Kuhl is standing in the way of working men and women throughout this country.

When more than 150 Labor activists are joined by the Mayor of Corning, there is an issue which deserves attention. Together with Area Labor Federation leaders, we developed a picket outside Kuhl’s town hall meeting, presented our ideas in a loud yet peaceable fashion, and keep an orderly presence. While we were impassioned, we were also without violence, but not without voice.

We proved to Congressman Kuhl that Labor exists. Not only did we prove that Labor exists, we reminded the Congressman that he cannot expect the working families in his district to sit idly by while he opposes those very families, choosing instead to side with corporate interests. We demonstrated to Randy Kuhl that the democratic process is diminished when intimidation is permitted with relation to an election.

While we are disappointed that Randy Kuhl chose to reverse his support of working men and women, perhaps there is a silver lining. A greater number of our members are finding an interest, and a need, to become involved in government. A larger number of our neighbors and family members are starting to understand that workers make or break our economy. A larger number of us are seeing that we cannot go it alone.

Congressman Kuhl may have turned his back on working families, but we have one advantage over him. When working families face trouble, they work harder, they stand taller, and they speak louder. This is not a vote we shall soon forget.