IBEW Local 1 celebrates 2025 graduating class Page 3
Laborers Local 110 Volunteer Organizing Committee reaches out to St. Louisans in need Page 3
AFT Local 420 overwhelmingly votes ‘no-confidence’ in SLPS Superintendent Millicent Borishade Page 4
Labor History Page 7
Retirees sponsor bingo for veterans on 90th anniversary of Social Security Page 12
AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler delivered the 2025 State of the Unions address, highlighting the resilience and strength of workers who are under constant threat from the Trump administration’s assaults on their jobs, contracts and communities.
The speech also debuted new polling, conducted by the AFL-CIO and David Binder Research, that found:
• Trust for unions is 20 points higher than trust for either the Democratic or Republican party.
• Nearly two-thirds of workers trust unions, while every other major institution — including political parties, the Supreme Court, religious institutions — is under water with working people.
• Among those “on-the-edge” voters who are most worried about their
“UNIONS ARE THE ONE THING we agree on,” AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler said in last week’s State of the Unions address. “Republicans aren’t going to save us. Democrats aren’t going to save us. Working people are going to save ourselves.”
– AFL-CIO screencap
ability to make ends meet, raise their families and retire securely, 75 percent see unions as their best shot at a decent life and a retirement with dignity.
The AFL-CIO represents 63 unions and nearly 15 million working people.
President Shuler shared stories from the AFL-CIO’s 40-plus-city “It’s Better in a Union: Fighting for Freedom, Fairness and Security” bus tour, which stopped in St. Louis on July 25. Her speech included accounts from veterans fired from their federal government jobs and immigrant workers living under the mass deportation agenda, as well as the historic union organizing and contract fights across the country. She described the Trump adminis-
tration as “government of, by, and for the billionaires,” and stressed that “Republicans aren’t going to save us. Democrats aren’t going to save us. Working people are going to save ourselves.”
President Shuler’s address also kicked off the Workers’ Labor Day week of action, during which the Labor Movement and allies hosted nearly 1,000 events across the country in the fight for what workers deserve.
Shuler delivered her speech at AFL-CIO headquarters in Washington, D.C., two blocks from the White House.
See SHULER page 14
SEIU Local 1 members rally for good, union jobs on heels of contract expirations for 1,600 janitors here
Clayton, MO – Members of Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 1 last week protested the use of non-union janitors at two office buildings in downtown Clayton.
SEIU Local 1 officials said janitors working at Regions Centre at 8182 Maryland Ave. and the Energizer Building at 8235 Forsythe Blvd. are paid $14 per hour, haven’t had a raise for two years and many can’t afford health benefits. The 12 to 14 workers are employed by Spotless Building Services.
According to the St. Louis Business Journal, the office buildings are owned by entities associ -
ated with the Novelly family that owns St. Louis-based Apex Oil. The buildings’ manager is Crest Management, of which Jared Novelly, President Donald Trump’s appointed ambassador to New Zealand, Samoa, the Cook Islands and Niue, is chairman.
Local 1 organizer Carl Walter said if the janitors working for Spotless were represented by Local 1, they would earn an average wage of $16 per hour and have considerably better health benefits.
The Aug. 26 rally was held as Lo-
The current contract expires Oct. 31. Association members include
Washington (PAI) — President Donald Trump, who likes to boast he’s a job creator, just killed 1,000 jobs, pulling the federal permit for the Revolution Wind project in Long Island Sound and its associated shore facilities.
Building trades members constructing the project and its onshore terminal complex, hired by the Norwegian firm Equinor, were thrown out of work. Union leaders are outraged.
The stop-work order and the pulled permit marked the second time Trump schemed to stop Revolution Wind, all to feed his hate of
“green energy” and to please his party’s deniers of the fact that greenhouse gases produce global warming.
Coal-fired and oil-fired electric power plants are leading producers of greenhouse gases. Solar power, hydro power and wind power are alternative energy sources.
labored to complete 80 percent of this major project.”
Pulling the Revolution Wind permit also benefits Trump’s and the GOP’s corporate campaign contributors from fossil fuel firms. Trump gathered that crowd at Mara-Lago during last year’s campaign and offered a quid pro quo: Donate $1 billion and I’ll free you from rules and taxes. Revolution Wind was scheduled for completion in 2027. It would have produced enough energy to fuel 500,000 homes yearly.
“Let’s call the stop-work order for Revolution Wind what it is,” said an outraged Sean McGarvey, president of North America’s Building Trades Unions. “President Trump just fired 1,000 of our members who already
“A ‘stop-work order’ is the fancy bureaucratic term, but it means one thing: Throwing skilled American workers off the job after they’ve spent a decade training, building, and delivering” the new source of needed electrical power.
“This project isn’t some pipe dream; it’s real steel in the water and $1.3 billion in investment already on the ground. And with the stroke of a pen late on a Friday, President Trump personally signed off on killing these jobs and creat-
By ROBERT STEWART
As we commemorate Labor Day, a time to honor the dignity of Labor and workers, the parades may be smaller and the speeches shorter, but the stakes for America’s workers have rarely been higher. Catholic Social Teaching reminds us of a timeless message: Work is not merely about economics and the Gross Domestic Product, but it has a deeply human dimension.
Catholic Social Teaching, rooted in Pope Leo XIII’s landmark 1891 encyclical Rerum Novarum, challenges us to seek just wages, uphold the right to organize and collectively bargain, and affirm the dignity of every worker. Over time, further papal teachings –Laborem Exercens by Pope St. John Paul II in 1981 and his encyclical Centesimus Annus in 1991, and Pope Francis’s encyclical Fratelli Tutti in 2020 – have expanded this moral vision to include solidarity, subsidiarity, and a global economy of compassion.
CATHOLIC SOCIAL TEACHING
In 1933, Msgr. John A. Ryan stood on the steps of the U.S. Capitol, his voice carrying over the roar of Depression-era crowds, urging lawmakers to pass New Deal protections for workers. Known as “The Right Reverend New Dealer,” he spoke not in abstract economics but in the language of families – mothers who could put food on the table, and fathers who could come home with pride rather than exhaustion from an unsafe factory floor.
Decades later, Msgr. George Higgins, the “Labor priest,” marched alongside César Chávez in the grape fields of California. Msgr. Higgins didn’t just write about solidarity in his “Yardstick” column – he lived it. Farmworkers still remember the image of a priest in rolled-up sleeves, dust clinging to his collar, blessing the bent backs of grape pickers under the relentless California sun, blessing their struggle for fair wages.
From Depression-era factory floors to pandemic-era farm fields, the Church’s voice for worker justice has never gone silent.
The tradition of the “Labor priest” lives on today:
• In Chicago, Father Clete Kiley –founder of the Priest-Labor Initiative and former director of immigration policy for UNITE HERE –mobilizes clergy in support of worker rights.
• In the Midwest, Augustinian Father Anthony Pizzo leads community organizing for fair housing, healthcare, and racial equity.
• The Catholic Labor Network connects hundreds of priests across the country who stand in solidarity with workers.
• During the Covid-19 pandemic, Father Juan Carlos Ruiz organized pastoral care and advocacy for undocumented agricultural Laborers, ensuring that those often left invisible were neither forgotten nor unheard.
In his book Cathonomics: How Catholic Tradition Can Create a More Just Economy, economist Anthony Annett critiques the neoliberal focus on efficiency and self-interest, arguing instead for an economy rooted in ethics, solidarity, and the common good. He offers the idea of a “virtue economy” –one where relationships matter as much as results, and where moral principles shape markets.
Annett tells the story of a clothing cooperative in the Global South, owned by its workers, which competes successfully in the marketplace without cutting wages or exploiting Labor. Their success challenges the myth that justice and profitability can’t coexist. It’s a living parable of Catholic Social Teaching in action: subsidiarity at work, solidarity in practice.
Annett also exposes the false image of “Homo economicus,” the purely self-interested actor, as too narrow to explain the richness of human motivation. The church’s vision embraces reciprocity and community, seeing in every paycheck a moral statement about what – and who – we value.
At the 100 largest low-wage corporations, the average CEO now makes 632 times more than a typical worker. And Americans are fed up.
By SARAH ANDERSON
The gap between CEO compensation and median worker pay at Starbucks hit 6,666 to one last year.
In other words, to make as much money as their CEO made in 2024, typical baristas would’ve had to start brewing macchiatos around the time humans first invented the wheel.
Starbucks is the worst offender, but jawdropping gaps are the norm among America’s leading low-wage corporations. CEOs of the 100 S&P 500 firms with the lowest median wages — a group I call the “Low-Wage 100” — have enjoyed skyrocketing pay over the past six years.
As a group, these CEOs now earn 632 times more than their median employees, I found in a new report for the Institute for Policy Studies. Their pay has risen nearly 35 percent since 2019 in absolute terms, while their median worker pay hasn’t even kept up with the U.S. inflation rate.
CEOs are in effect getting richer while their workers fall further and further behind.
It’s not for lack of cash. Between 2019 and 2024, these firms spent a combined $644 billion on stock buybacks. This once-illegal financial maneuver artificially inflates the value of a company’s stock — and with it, CEO pay. Even the most inept executives can rake in vast fortunes through this scam.
Every dollar spent on buybacks represents a dollar not spent on workers.
The tradeoffs can be downright staggering.
At Lowe’s, for instance, every one of their 273,000 employees could’ve gotten an annual $28,456 bonus over the past six years with the money the retailer blew on stock buybacks.
Lowe’s median worker pay was just $30,606 last year.
If McDonald’s had spent their buyback outlays on worker bonuses during this period, they could’ve given all their employees an
extra $18,338 per year — more than the company’s median wage.
Siphoning resources from workers to make CEOs even richer is especially outrageous when so many Americans are struggling with high costs for groceries, housing, and other essentials.
It’s bad for business too — most of these companies are spending more on buybacks than on vital investments like training employees or upgrading technology, equipment, and properties. And extensive research shows that extreme pay disparities undermine employee morale and boost turnover rates.
As poll after poll after poll has shown, Americans across the political spectrum are fed up with overpaid CEOs and want government action. In one rather amusing recent survey, 80 percent of workers said they view corporate CEOs as overpaid, and nearly 70 percent said they do not believe their own company’s CEO could do the job they do for even one week.
How could policymakers incentivize more equitable pay practices?
They could increase taxes on corporations with huge CEO-worker pay gaps. Polls suggest this would be enormously popular. In one survey of likely voters, 89 percent of Democrats, 77 percent of Independents, and 71 percent of Republicans said they’d like to see tax hikes on companies that pay their CEOs more than 50 times what they pay their median employees.
Congress could also increase the one percent excise tax on stock buybacks that went into effect in 2023. If that tax had been set at four percent, the Low-Wage 100 would have owed approximately $6.3 billion in additional federal taxes on their share repurchases during the past two years. That revenue would’ve been enough to cover the cost of 327,218 public housing units for two years.
Policymakers have ample tools for tackling the problem of runaway CEO pay. Now they just need to listen to their constituents and get the job done.
(Sarah Anderson directs the Global Economy Project and co-edits Inequality. org at the Institute for Policy Studies. She is the lead author of the IPS report Executive Excess. This op-ed was adapted from Inequality.org and distributed for syndication by OtherWords.org.)
CONGRATULATIONS to the 50-plus graduates of the 2025 IBEW Local 1 Joint Apprentice Training program. Now that the apprentices have competed their classroom instruction, they will be working toward their 9,000 hours of on-the-job experience to become journeymen, said IBEW Local 1 RENEW (Reach-out and Engage Next-Gen Electrical Workers) President Gage Scurlock. For more information about the IBEW Local 1 apprenticeship program, visit ibewlocal1.org/jointheibew
ST. LOUIS – The Laborers Local 110 Volunteer Organizing Committee (VOC) teamed up with Churches on the Streets Aug. 25 to pass out food, hygiene products and much more to the unhoused in Downtown St. Louis and North City. Taking part in the one-day effort was (front row from left) Local 110’s Don Kreienheder, Delicia Simpson, Mark Barbay, and BreeAnna McKinney, and (back row from left) Local 110 Auditor Nick Schierhoff, Business Agent Jose Hernandez, Mathew Bilicki and Business Agent/VOC Chairman Colby Erhart. Churches on the Streets is a 501c3 non-profit organization that exists to meet the physical and spiritual needs of the poor. – Laborers Local 110 photo
FLORISSANT, MO – Officers of the St. Louis Labor Council Retirees Group were among those celebrating Labor Day at the St. Louis Labor Council Labor Parade and Festival Aug. 24 at Knights of Columbus Park in Florissant, Mo. Retirees, local union members and families enjoyed the event celebrating the brotherhood of Labor union solidarity. St. Louis Labor Council Retirees officers encouraging all retirees to support and join their local union retirees club were (from left) Vice President Dave Meinell, President Ron Gushleff, Recording Secretary Caroline Kemper, along with Rich Pickering, Teamsters Local 600 Retirees Club. – St. Louis Labor Council Retirees photo
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St. Louis – American Federation of Teachers (AFT) Local 420, the union representing teachers and other staff at St. Louis Public Schools (SLPS), presented petitions Aug. 25 signed by a majority of district employees expressing ‘No Confidence’ in the leadership of Superintendent Millicent Borishade.
The petition unanimously approved by Local 420’s executive board contains the signatures of two-thirds of the bargaining unit – a super majority. A personal letter addressed to school board President Karen Collins-Adams accompanied the signatures.
Local 420 President Ray Cummings said the no-confidence decision was made because of numerous and troubling concerns, especially after Borishade released a study calling for the closure of more than half the district schools
and her reluctance to talk with the union and the public about consolidation of tornado-damaged schools.
“Our students need a fresh start with a superintendent who wants to move to rebuild and invest in strong St. Louis Public Schools,” Cummings said.“We’re making our feelings absolutely clear that Borishade does not show the leadership necessary to steer the ship in the right direction.
“Supervision of the superintendent is the sole responsibility of the board, and we believe this petition makes an emphatic statement that our schools need a more enlightened leadership that understands the needs of all St. Louis students.”
Cummings said educators signed the petition despite concerns about possible retaliation. The union is asking that the signatures remain confidential like any other human resources document. He also said the petition drive should be considered protected union activity under the Missouri Constitution.
Local 420 Spokesperson Byron Clemens said there are several
reasons for the vote, but two of the most alarming happened in the wake of the deadly tornado that hit St. Louis on May 16.
“Part of the issue was tornado damage, which really traumatized the city of St. Louis and our schools. And some of the reaction to that was a grave concern to our members.” Clemens told reporters.
“We did get some of that resolved. That was a positive step, but we’re still traumatized. In the middle of this in July, there was a release of a study suggesting closing more than half of the schools, 37 schools. That alarmed our members,” Clemens said.
Borishade was named interim superintendent about a year ago when her predecessor Dr. Keisha Scarlett was fired. She was officially appointed to the job in February.
SPECIAL NOTICE: As of Jan. 1, 2025 the monthly dues will be $99 per month for Journeymen, Service Writers, Dispatchers, Body Men & Specialist and $86.50 per month for Apprentice, Greeter, Helper and Production Worker. Unemployment Stamps will be $4 per month.
IAM Lodge 822 Regular meetings at 6 p.m. first Tuesday each month at the IAM Lodge 822 Hall 2929 N. Fifth St., Quincy, Ill. PLEASE NOTE: New Office Hours: Monday-Friday 7:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
IAM Lodge 1345 The regular meetings will be held at the Machinist Hall, 12365 St. Charles Rock Rd., Bridgeton, on the second Thursday of the month at 5:30 p.m. and the night steward meeting is held at noon. If there is a cancellation of any meeting, it will appear under a special notice.
SPECIAL NOTICE: Effective January 1,2025 IAM Local 1345 dues rates are as follows: For members making $12.50 or less, their dues rate will be $89 per month. For members making $12.51 and above, their dues rate will be $96 per month. The initiation fee is $192, which is twice the monthly dues and $384 for reinstatement, which is four times the monthly dues. The out-of-work dues remains at $4. Dues are due no later than the 10th of the following month they are due.
SPECIAL NOTICE: Members should contact the Local 1345 office 314-739-8301 when retiring, going out on sick leave,workers comp and with any change of address or phone numbers.
IAM Lodge 1745 Membership meetings will be held for the first shift at 4 p.m. the second Monday each month at Ron’s Catering, 113 E. Main St., Warrenton. Quarterly meetings will be held for the second shift at 2 p.m. the second Monday of these months: March, June, September and December.
SPECIAL NOTICE: When approaching retirement, it’s a member’s responsibility to contact the financial secretary or local lodge officer to get an application for a retirement card.
IAM Lodge 1815 Meetings are held at 5:30 p.m. the second Tuesday each month at AFL-CIO meeting hall, 534 S. Second Street, Springfield, IL 62701.
IAM Lodge 2782 The regular monthly meetings will be held at 5 p.m. on the fourth Tuesday of each month at the IAM Lodge 2782 office, 408 Washington Ave. Suite 134, West Plains, MO.
SPECIAL NOTICE: The meeting for second-shift workers will be held at 2 p.m. on the fourth Tuesday of each month at the IAM Lodge 2782 office, 408 Washington Ave. Suite134, West Plains, MO.
IAM District 9 Retirees Club Meets the fourth Tuesday, 10 a.m. at Machinists’ Building, 12365 St. Charles Rock Road, Bridgeton, Mo. David Meinell, president, Caroline Kemper, secretary-treasurer. Retirees and spouses are cordially invited to join the Retirees’ Club.
D.C. residents less afraid of homeless than of
Washington (Satire from The Borowitz Report) — Residents of Washington, D.C. are less afraid of the city’s homeless population than they are of accidentally running into Stephen Miller, according to a new poll released on Thursday.
When asked, “What do you fear most?” four percent said, “the homeless,” while 87 percent said, “Being seated at a restaurant next to Stephen Miller.”
Describing her fear of encountering Miller, one poll respondent stated, “It’s the stuff of nightmares.”
In another finding, 67 percent said they feared being hit by a car driven by Pete Hegseth.
Columbus Plaza, Collinsville, IL 62234.
Plumbers and Pipefitters Local 101 Union Meetings will be held on the 4th Wednesday of the month except December, which will be held on the 3rd Wednesday. The meetings will be held at the Local 101 Hall located at 8 Premier Drive in Belleville, IL 62220 at 7:30 p.m.
Plumbers and Pipefitters Local 160 Union meetings are on the second Friday of the month at 8 p.m. at the hall, 901 Mulberry Street, Murphysboro, Ill. 62966.
Plumbers and Pipefitters Local 553 First Tuesday of each month September through May, 7 p.m., 967 East Airline Dr., East Alton, IL 62024.
Sheet Metal Workers Local 268 Caseyville Meetings: Fourth Thursday of each month at 6:00 p.m. in the Sheet Metal
If you’ve moved or changed your mailing address, please notify your union.
ARE YOU SAVING ENOUGH TO RETIRE COMFORTABLY?
DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH COLLEGE WILL COST?
Upon gathering necessary information from you, we can provide, at no cost or obligation, a retirement funding estimation or college tuition cost estimation.
David H. Safarian Senior Vice President/Investments
SEPTEMBER 1
1894 – Congress declares Labor Day a national holiday.
1903 – Some 30,000 women from 26 trades marched in Chicago’s Labor Day parade.
1934 – A three-week strike in Woonsocket, R.I., part of a national movement to obtain a minimum wage for textile workers, resulted in the deaths of three workers. Ultimately more than 420,000 workers struck nationally.
1946 – In Hawaii, some 26,000 sugar workers represented by the Longshoremen’s union begin what is to become a successful 79-day strike that shuts down 33 of the 34 sugar plantations on the islands.
SEPTEMBER 2
1916 – Operating railway employees win eight-hour day.
1921 – Mineowners bomb West
Virginia strikers by plane, using homemade bombs filled with nails and metal fragments. The bombs missed their targets or failed to explode.
1974 – The Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) was signed by President Ford, regulating and insuring pensions and other benefits, and increasing protections for workers.
SEPTEMBER 3
1891 – African American cotton pickers organize and strike in Lee County, Texas, against miserably low wages and other injustices, including a growers’ arrangement with local law enforcement to round up Blacks on vagrancy charges, then force them to work off their fines on select plantations.
1928 – Some 300 musicians working in Chicago movie houses strike to protest their impending replacement by talking movies.
1991 – Twenty-five workers die, unable to escape a fire at the Impe-
rial Poultry processing plant in Hamlet, N.C. Managers had locked fire doors to prevent the theft of chicken nuggets. The plant had operated for 11 years without a single safety inspection.
SEPTEMBER 4
1894 – Twelve thousand New York tailors strike over sweatshop conditions.
1991 – In what many believe was to become the longest strike in U.S. history (14 years), 600 Teamsterrepresented workers walk out at the Diamond Walnut processing plant in Stockton, Calif., after the company refused to restore a 30-percent pay cut they had earlier taken to help the company.
SEPTEMBER 5
1882 – Between 20,000 and 30,000 marchers participate in New York’s first Labor Day parade, demanding the eight-hour day.
The First Labor Day, 1882
1917 – “Palmer raids” on all Wobbly halls and offices in 48 cities in U.S. Alexander Palmer, U.S. Attorney General, was rounding up “radicals” and “leftists.”
1934 – Ten thousand angry textile strikers, fighting for better wages and working conditions, besiege a factory in Fall River, Mass., where 300 strikebreakers are working. The scabs are rescued by police using tear gas and pistols on the strikers.
1946 – General strike begins across U.S. maritime industry, stopping all shipping. The strikers
were objecting to the government’s post-war National Wage Stabilization Board order that reduced pay increases negotiated by maritime unions.
SEPTEMBER 6
1869 – One of the worst disasters in the history of U.S. anthracite mining occurred at the Avondale Mine, near Scranton, Pa., when a fire originating from a furnace at the bottom of a 237-foot shaft roared up the shaft, killing 110 miners.
1973 – Tony Boyle, former president of the United Mine Workers, is charged with murder in the 1969 deaths of former UMW rival Joseph A. Yablonski and his wife and daughter.
SEPTEMBER 7
1916 – Federal employees win the right to receive Workers’ Compensation insurance coverage.
(Compiled by David Prosten, founder Union Communication Services)
Union Wages, Union Wheels
Series 200-mile event.
By KEVIN WEAKS
Racing and music fans, start your engines. Enjoy Illinois 300 will bring the cars and stars of the NASCAR Cup Series to World Wide Technology Raceway (WWTR) Sept. 6-7.
The weekend will be packed with heart-pounding races, fan-favorite activities, driver meet-and-greets, and live entertainment including the Confluence Music Festival with more than 30 local acts and headlining performances.
The Enjoy Illinois 300 will be the 28th race of the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season, and the second race of the playoffs. Race weekend will kick off Saturday, Sept. 6, at the WWTR track with the NASCAR Xfinity Series followed by the Enjoy Illinois 300 on Sunday, Sept.
7. The event is expected to bring over 83,000 NASCAR fans to the southwest Illinois region for racing and live entertainment. World Wide Technology Raceway is the only venue in the country to host the premier series for each of the three preeminent racing organizations: NASCAR, INDYCAR and NHRA.
The Confluence Music Festival concerts are included in the price of admission. Your race ticket is also your concert ticket to experience the 4th Annual Confluence Music Festival. Bill Murray & His Blood Brothers, former Cardinal pitcher Adam Wainwright, country star Jon Pardi and rising country star Ella Langley are among more than 30 acts performing Sept. 6-7 as part of NASCAR Cup Series Playoff weekend. Wainwright and popular country artist Tim Dugger will perform after the NASCAR Xfinity
Confluence Music Festival acts from across the region include Blackwater Acoustic, Cardboard Dale, DJ Big D, DJ Mahf, DJ Mo Samba, Drawl STL, Dr. Zhivegas, Ethan Carl, Jeremiah Johnson, Lamar Harris, Malena Smith, Mark Perkins, Red and Black Brass Band, Standing on Pluto, St. Boogie Brass Band, The Charlie Berry Project and more. Available Confluence Music Festival upgrade packages include Gateway Garage/Fan Zone access that includes front-of-stage viewing for Sunday’s pre-race driver introductions, celebrity red carpet walk and the Ella Langley concert. Adult Sunday ticket packages start at $75.
“It’s always our mission to present a lineup that offers something for everyone to enjoy, and this year’s Confluence Music Festival really delivers,” said Kwofe Coleman, executive producer for the festival.
Coleman also is president and CEO of The Muny, which assists with production of the festival.
“This year’s festival will continue the tradition of featuring the hottest national acts and local favorites of all genres for an unforgettable celebration throughout this race weekend,” Coleman said. “We are grateful to Dave Steward, World Wide Technology, the Steward Family Foundation and all of our sponsors for investing in this vision and making this one-of-a-kind weekend possible.”
Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series Enjoy Illinois 300 race marks the
See ILLINOIS 300 page 9
48 states, four Canadian provinces and more than 30 countries attended the festival and race in 2024.
Fans from
“We are proud to host the cars and stars of the NASCAR Cup Series again in 2025 after the resounding success of the Enjoy Illinois 300,” said Curtis Francois, owner and CEO of World Wide Technology Raceway.
Located just five minutes from downtown St. Louis and covering nearly 700 acres, WWTR is the largest outdoor entertainment facility in the area. WWTR’s facilities include a 1.25-mile oval for NASCAR and INDYCAR, a quarter-mile drag strip; 1.6 and 2.0-mile road course; the Gateway Kartplex state-of-the-
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art karting facility; and the adjacent Gateway National Golf Links. Tickets for WWTR’s 2024 NASCAR Weekend are on sale now. For tickets and information, call WWTR at (618) 215-8888. For more details and directions, visit wwtraceway. com/enjoyillinois300 GETTING THERE
From Downtown St. Louis:
• Take I-70/I-64 east and merge onto I-55 north/I-70 east.
• Take the IL 203 north exit to the first stoplight at Ohio and turn left into the track.
From South St. Louis:
• Take I-55 north or I-44 east.
• Take I-55 north/I-64 north I-70 east U.S. 40 exit toward Illinois and merge onto I-55 north/I-70 east.
• Take the IL 203 north exit to the first stoplight at Ohio and turn left into the track.
From Southern Illinois:
• Take I-64 west to I-55 north then the IL 203 north exit to the first stoplight at Ohio and turn Left into the track.
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2025 race is both in-person, virtual Registration is now open for this year’s 17th Annual Alton Miles for Meso 5K Run and 3K Fun Run/Walk hosted and produced by Simmons Hanly Conroy and Metro Tri Club of Edwardsville, Ill. The in-person and virtual event, with proceeds to benefit the Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization, will take place Saturday, Sept. 20, just ahead of National Mesothelioma Awareness Day on Sept. 26. “It is an honor to once again host
the Alton Miles for Meso 5K Run and 3K Fun Run/Walk to benefit the Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization (ADAO) and support people affected by mesothelioma,” said Simmons Hanly Conroy Chairman John Simmons. “This event not only strengthens our
mesothelioma community, but it raises vital funds to help ADAO provide the resources necessary to continue critical mesothelioma research and awareness.”
First held in 2009, Miles for Meso has raised more than $952,900, including $27,500 from last year’s Alton event. The largest independent asbestos victims’ organization in the United States, ADAO uses the funds to give a united voice to asbestos victims and concerned citizens, raise public awareness about the dangers of asbestos exposure, and work toward a global asbestos ban.
The Alton Miles for Meso event will take place outside the Simmons Hanly Conroy national headquarters in historic Alton, which is less than a 30-minute drive from downtown St. Louis.
Simmons Hanly Conroy is one of the nation’s largest mass torts firms and a national leader in the legal representation of mesothelioma patients and their families.
Race day festivities begin at 7:30 a.m. at One Court St. in Alton, across from Marquette High School. The 5K Run and 3K Fun Run/Walk kicks off at 9 a.m.
The race registration fee is $40 through Sept. 6, and $45 Sept. 7-14 and on the day of the event. Reg-
istrants will receive a race packet containing a long-sleeve, moisturewicking T-shirt, and more.
Online registration is available on the Race Roster website: https://raceroster.com/ events/2025/107431/17th-annual-alton-miles-for-meso-5krace-and-3k-fun-runwalk
Virtual attendees should register by Sept. 12 to guarantee their shirt ships in time to wear on race day. In-person runners and walkers can pick up their packets at Simmons Hanly Conroy’s headquarters at One Court St. in Alton on Sept. 19 from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Shirts and packets may also be picked up on race day. Registered virtual attendees can record race results using the Runkeeper app.
The overall top five men and women 5K finishers of the in-person race will each win cash prizes of $500, $250, $200, $100 and $50, respectively. High school and college-level athletes are ineligible to receive cash prizes due to IMSA/MHSA and NCAA eligibility requirements. Alternative prizes will be given to student athletes in lieu of cash who place in the top five of the men’s and women’s categories. For complete information visit milesformeso.org , email info@ milesformeso.org, or call 877-3046376 (MESO).
Sept. 6 – 12th Annual Greg Booth Ride for the Relief Poker Run, hosted by the IBEW Local 1 Electrical Workers Riding Committee, starts at the Local 1 union hall, 5850 Elizabeth Ave. Check-in is at 8:30 a.m., and kickstands go up at 9:30 a.m. The cost is $25 for the first hand and $5 for additional hands. The event, which will feature door prizes and raffles, is open to all.
Sept. 6 – Laborers Local 110’s Cops & Bobbers Fishing Tournament, benefitting the St. Louis County Police Welfare Association and Variety St. Louis, will be held at Red Oak Resort & RV Park in Camdenton, Mo. The event runs from 6:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. The entry fee is $200 per boat and each angler will receive a t-shirt and breakfast. Prizes include $1,200 for first place and $1,200 for the biggest bass. To register, visit https:// shorturl.at/DAh2K
Sept. 13 – The Second Annual Franklin County Labor/Political Committee Union Picnic will start at 1 p.m. at Union City Park Pavilion, 500 West Park Ave., Union, Mo. The event is open to every union member and their family in Franklin County and will include a bounce house and playground for the kids. Food, chips and drinks provided. Celebrate camaraderie and brotherhood with other union members
and meet AFL-CIO union-endorsed candidates.
Sept. 17 – Electrical Workers Minority Caucus Greater St. Louis Chapter Meet & Greet will be held from 3:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the Henry Miller Museum at 2726 Dr. Martin Luther King Drive in St. Louis. The event will include food, drinks, union comraderie and a tour of the museum. For more information, email greaterstl.EWMC@gmail.com
Sept. 18 – Missouri Women in Trades (MOWIT) Meetup for tradeswomen and women interested in joining the building trades, 4 to 6 p.m. at the AGC Training Center, 6301 Knox Industrial Ave. in St. Louis. RSVPs are required and food will be provided. Register at mowit.org or call 636926-6948.
Sept 18 – St. Louis Faith Labor Alliance Breakfast, hosted by Missouri Jobs with Justice (MOJWJ), will be held at the Painters District Council 58 union hall at 2501 59th St. in St. Louis from 7:30 to 9 a.m. For more information, contact The Rev. Teresa Danieley, of MOJWJ, at teresa@mojwj.org or call her at 314-503-7415. To register, visit mojwj.org/action/join-a-st-louisfaith-labor-alliance-breakfast
Sept 18 – Coats for Kids Bourbon & Cigar Night, hosted by the Electrical
Workers Minority Caucus (EWMC) Greater St. Louis Chapter, will be held from 5 to 8 p.m. at the Florissant Golf Club at 50 Country Club Lane in Florissant. The $100 entry fee includes two fine cigars, six bourbon pours, appetizers and a custom etched EWMC glass. Make checks payable to Greater STL EWMC Chapter and mail to 12756 Orley Drive, Black Jack, Mo. 63033 no later than Sept. 5. For more information, call Shondra at 314-960-6613.
Sept 18 – Gambling Addiction Seminar, sponsored by Aetna and coproduced by the Missouri Works Initiative and the Construction Forum, will be held from 7:30 to 9 a.m. at IBEW Local 1, 5850 Elizabeth Ave. in St. Louis. The free seminar, open to all union members and representatives, includes a complimentary breakfast. To register, visit constructforstl.org/upcomingevents/mental-health-in-thepublic-labor-industry/
Sept 20 – IBEW Local 309 Mouse Races, sponsored by the Local 309 Reachout and Engage Next-Gen Electrical Workers (RENEW) Committee, will be held at the Local 309 union hall at
2000 Mall St. in Collinsville. Doors open at 6 p.m., and the races start at 7 p.m. In addition to mouse races, the event will feature Mouse Roulette, Plinko and raffles. For more information or to RSVP, contact Lauren Streff at 636-357-9941 or at 309renew@gmail.com
Sept. 20 – 14th Annual Fall Classic Poker Run, hosted by the Teamster Horsemen Chapter 13 Motorcycle Association, starts and ends at Gettemeier’s, 269 Salt Lick Road in St. Peters. Registration starts at 10:30 a.m. and kickstands go up at 11:30 a.m. The cost is $20 per bike/ vehicle with the first hand included. Additional hands are $10. The winner will have a choice of a $500 M&M pistol gift card or cash. The event includes baskets, high-dollar raffle items, a booze barrel and door prizes. Sponsorships are available at $100 each and must be in by Sept. 6. For additional information, call Jay Krueger at 636-744-6506.
Sept. 20 – Jefferson County Main Event Comedy Night , featuring 105.7 FM’s Rafe Williams, will be held at the Meramec Elks Lodge, 1515 Miller Road in Imperial. Cocktail hour
begins at 6 p.m. followed by dinner and the show. The Jefferson County Main Event Charitable Organization, founded years ago by members of the Jefferson County Labor Club, raises money to help make a difference for those in need across Jefferson County. For more information, visit jeffcomainevent.org
Sept. 27 – Operating Engineers Local 513 Meet the Machines Open House . The free, family-friendly event, which includes barbeque, drinks, hayrides, bounce houses and children’s games, will be held from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Local 513 Training Center, located at 75 Hwy. F in Silex, Mo., which is about 25 minutes north of Wentzville. For more information, contact the Operating Engineers Local 513 Training Center at 573-485-2200 or email info@oelocal513training. com.
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Stewart From page 2
The call for worker justice is not just the work of individual priests – it is embedded in the teaching of the Catholic Church in the United States.
In 1986, the U.S. bishops issued Economic Justice for All, a landmark pastoral letter applying Catholic Social Teaching to the American economy. It affirmed the rights of workers, the moral obligation to provide just wages, and the preferential option for the poor – declaring economic justice to be an essential dimension of faith.
Each year, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops renews this commitment through their annual Labor Day statement, reminding the
faithful that protecting the dignity of work and the rights of workers is at the heart of Catholic moral teaching. These statements echo the same themes found in Cathonomics and in the witness of today’s “Labor priests:” An economy must serve people, not the other way around.
Labor Day should be more than a long weekend – it’s an opportunity for annual examination of conscience regarding worker justice. Are our workplaces structured to respect worker dignity, ensure fair wages, cultivate solidarity, and serve the common good?
In recent months, we have seen alarming moves in the opposite direction:
• The suspension of collective bargaining rights for over a million federal employees.
• Mass federal workforce layoffs.
• Efforts to dismantle public-sector union protections in multiple states.
• A Supreme Court decision allowing large-scale federal job cuts to proceed. The paralysis of the National Labor Relations Board –left without a quorum –has stalled protections for countless privatesector workers.
These aren’t just policy setbacks – they are moral failures, stripping dignity from the very people whose Labor sustains our nation; they are direct assaults on the dignity, security, and solidarity of working people.
Catholic Social Teaching makes clear that these workers are not expendable parts of an economic machine, but irreplaceable images of God. Cathonomics gives us a roadmap for shaping policies and practices that match that truth.
Something to consider: This Labor Day, let us honor not only the past victories of justice-inspired Labor advocacy, but also the people laboring in quiet heroism in our time – and recommit to resisting policies that undermine their dignity. True progress, as Pope Francis reminded us, is measured not by profits alone, but by the flourishing of all – especially those whose work too often goes unseen.
This Labor Day, let us lift our eyes from the balance sheet to the faces of the workers before us – and
HONORING VETERANS: Members of the Missouri Alliance for Retired Americans recently hosted bingo games at the Missouri Veterans Homes in St. Louis and St. James to celebrate the 90th anniversary of Social Security. At the St. Louis facility (left photo), members of the Alliance presented a bingo game and provided veterans with a special cake to commemorate the occasion. At the St. James facility (right
Alliance members and staff volunteers worked together on the bingo game and cake.
measure our economy by their dignity, not its dividends.
(Robert Stewart is an Ignatian vo lunteer who does writing and research for the Ignatian Solidarity Network-Education for Justice and for Social Action Linking Together (SALT), a Virginia-based advocacy organization. He retired in 2007 as the director of retirement programs for a Fortune 100 company. Earlier in his career, he served as a field service representative and later as a pension and employee benefit appeals hearing officer for the United Mine Workers of America Health and Retirement Funds. He also chaired the Justice and Peace Commission for the Catholic Diocese of Belleville, Ill. during the late 1970s and in the 1980s. Reprinted from the Catholic Standard.)
From page 1
“Outside this building, there are 2,000 federal troops on the ground: blocking peaceful streets; harassing working people. Costing American workers, as taxpayers, tens of millions of dollars. Money that could be expanding health care, funding our schools, or housing those on our streets. And it’s just one more example of what I have heard from workers again and again these past six months,” Shuler said.
“‘Where is the common sense? Where are the lower costs on my groceries, my rent, my medicine? Why are my job, my family, my future, my community, the services I count on suddenly being threatened and ripped away?’
“The State of the Unions — the state of working people in this country — is under attack,” she said. “Billionaires and CEOs have been handed full control of the government, our democracy and
our lives,” Shuler said.
‘GOVERNENT
“This is a government of, by, and for the CEOs and the billionaires,” she said. “But we also need to recognize: It’s been that way for a long time now. These struggles — the precarity people are living with, when it comes to their rent, their health care, their fears about A.I. and the future — it didn’t start with Donald Trump.
“It started with a system that has left people behind for a long time now. That has put CEOs over construction workers, Billionaires over baristas. That has gutted Labor rights over the past 40 years — and not a coincidence, saw income inequality rise to its highest level ever.
“If we push people to the edge — to the point where they can’t afford groceries, or health insurance, or a place to call home — we can’t be
janitors From page 1
‘THIS IS WHAT WE DO’ Local 1 members were joined at the rally by St. Louis Labor Council
President Pat Kellet, St. Louis Board of Alderman President Megan Green and other allies.
surprised when they turn against the system they’re living in.
“This is the choice working Americans have been given,” Shuler said: “Chaos or the same broken status quo.
“An authoritarian who tells us only he can make things great again, or convincing ourselves everything is already great — while Black women make 64 cents on the dollar, young people struggle to pay rent, and a CEO that makes 7,000 TIMES what his workers make. That has led us to this moment:
• “We wanted cheaper groceries and we got tanks in our streets.
• “We wanted affordable health care. We got 16 million Americans who are about to be kicked off their coverage.
• “We wanted jobs you could raise a family on. But that’s not what we got. We got more American workers laid off last month than any month since the start of the pandemic.
“The American people said loud and clear: Unions are the one thing we agree on. Instead this Administration attacked us — and the workers who keep this country going.
“This Administration wants us to look at stories like these and say: ‘It’s not my job, my livelihood. Maybe there will be more for me if someone else loses.’ They want to convince working people that we are each other’s enemies. That we need to fight one other to land a good job; to find a home in a safe neighborhood. That only so many of us can live with dignity at the same time.
“We are not each other’s enemies,” Shuler said. “We are each other’s neighbors. Friends. Coworkers. We are each other’s brothers, sisters, and family,” Shuler said. “Whether we work for the public sector or private sector, whether we are
“This is what we do,” Kellett was quoted saying in the Business Journal. “We don’t only fight for union
“ARE
workers. We fight for non-union workers – and who needs it more than the men and women behind us
immigrants or fourth-generation, whether we are gay, straight, trans, Black, white, blue state, red state — we are all suffering under this same broken system. It doesn’t have to be this way. Things can be different if we build real, sustained power that shows up every day — not just once every four years. Politics alone won’t fix what’s wrong with this country. Not when there are members of Congress on both sides of the aisle more worried about their re-election than they are helping working families. Who would happily let you get automated out of a job, if it meant they got another campaign check from the CEO doing it.
“Republicans aren’t going to save us. Democrats aren’t going to save us. Working people are going to save ourselves.”
Watch a video of the speech at https://www.youtube.com/live/ r4kDzpyVIKI?feature=shared
in this non-union building.” STRUGGLING TO MAKE ENDS MEET
Despite their hard work, many janitors who maintain St. Louis office buildings struggle to make ends meet, even while juggling two or three jobs, the union said in a statement.
“It’s time for building owners and janitorial contractors profiting from their labor to provide sustainable union jobs that strengthen the working class and, in turn, the local economy.
“When workers struggle to meet basic needs, the entire economy suffers,” the union said. “Billionaires can no longer profit off the backs of working families without ensuring proper compensation for the essential work they do.
‘GREED NEEDS TO STOP’
“St. Louis working families are feeling the pressure of the rising cost-of-living – from medical bills, to groceries, to rent – we’re struggling to stay afloat while building owners and decision makers continue to live comfortably from the profits made off the backs of working people,” said longtime Local 1 member and janitor Marla Lacey.
“The greed needs to stop. It is time for building owners to respect the work we do and support the St. Louis working class by ensuring there are good paying janitorial jobs that uphold the standards that will allow us and others to get by,” she said.
“St. Louisans are struggling to provide for themselves and their families, and today, St. Louis janitors stood up for themselves and spoke out about the situation they, and many other working families throughout St. Louis, are going through,” said Christian Rak, SEIU Local 1 vice president and Director of Missouri & Southern Illinois.
“Building owners and decision makers need to understand that these folks are asking for the things all workers deserve: fair wages and job security should be the bare minimum,” he said. “They must respect the work these essential janitors do and respect St. Louis workers as a whole by upholding these union standards.”
ing chaos. He pulled the plug on an almost-finished project, taking jobs, paychecks, and food off the tables of working families.”
Trump “keeps talking a big game about energy dominance, but actions like this prove it’s another empty promise from his administration. This is not dominance; this is decline. Energy dominance doesn’t mean taking away jobs. It doesn’t mean halting major projects that are nearly finished. It doesn’t mean making America less reliable for investors.”
‘TANKING THE CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY’
McGarvey predicted other projects would come to a halt or never get started, being “frozen by inconsistent rhetoric and direct actions from this administration, while Congress can’t or won’t act.
“These decisions are tanking the construction industry, eliminating thousands of jobs for workers across multiple sectors…. For the first time in 13 years, building trades members are collecting unemploy-
From page 1
ment checks instead of building the energy dominance” the U.S. desires.
If Trump can personally halt Revolution Wind, “he will do it to more projects in other sectors, too,” McGarvey forecast. He exhorted Congress and Trump to reverse course, approve Revolution Wind’s permits and to let other projects proceed.
But the GOP majority in Congress, genuflecting to Trump, is unlikely to heed McGarvey, or the construction workers. Not only have Trump and his Interior Secretary, Doug Burgum, killed other wind and solar energy projects, but the so-called “reconciliation” bill which lawmakers passed on party lines revoked Biden-era tax credits for renewable energy from wind farms and solar arrays.
Jason Walsh, executive director of the BlueGreen Alliance, a joint Labor-environmental movement led by the Steelworkers, saw the cancellation coming the first time Trump tried to stop Revolution Wind. And
Walsh says Trump wants to go further and kill the whole “green energy” sector of the economy.
“Donald Trump should support the country’s progress and do everything in his power to foster more resources for the people. Instead, he is trying to wipe an entire sector of the energy industry off the board at
a time when our electric grid is overburdened and electric bills are rising. Attacking offshore wind will put America behind its foreign competitors, kill jobs, and weaken our energy sector,” said Walsh.
‘AN
AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler called Trump’s stop-work order on Revolution Wind “an outrage. This project is fully permitted and 80 percent complete,” thanks to building
trades workers. “It is poised to create hundreds of additional jobs while supplying muchneeded energy to the region. Now, President Trump has issued an order requiring work on the project to stop, effectively kicking hundreds of union members out of jobs their families and communities were relying on.”
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By LAURA KELLEY President
By the time you read this, I will have the honor and the privilege of being elected as the next president of UFCW Local 655. I cannot tell you how humbling this moment is for me, or how excited I am for the future of this union family.
KELLEY
My journey began 28 years ago when I began working at Shop n Save. For 18 years I worked in the bakery alongside by union siblings. I worked countless days that had me in my store before the sun came up, preparing all the fresh bakery products the public has come to expect.
I was a union grocery store employee, and I never dreamed of anything more than that. I had bills to pay, managers to deal with, customers to take care of and coworkers to balance. Every new union contract was critical to me, just like it is to you, because it was going to determine my pay, my benefits and my rights on the job.
For most of my 18 years I was also a shop steward. It was always important to me that my union family had a voice at work. I’ve listened to my coworkers as they asked questions about the contract, vented their frustrations and sought guidance on how to navigate problems. I’ve sat across the table from managers and corporate bosses while representing my fellow union workers.
I was asked to serve on the Executive Board by then-president David Cook. At the time, I didn’t even know what the Executive Board was! But my time there was eye-opening. I saw firsthand how rank-and-file partners like myself had direct oversight of the decisions this union made. Reviewing budgets and hearing grievance appeals showed me how much of a voice any worker can have if they have a seat at the table.
In 2015, I was hired as a union representative and organizer. Barely 10 years ago I was asked to come work at the union hall in the best job I’ve ever had. Meeting my fellow union family members, handling their grievances, fighting for their rights, and hearing their stories was the most incredible experience I could have asked for. I was never far from that bakery though, and I remember well what that part of my life was like.
As your president my goal is to fight for you every day.
Anyone who knows me knows I’m a passionate person. My passion is what drives me. My passion is for YOU, my union siblings, because you and I will always be family. Sometimes families disagree, sometimes they don’t get along, but that bond cannot be broken. We are bonded by a common cause — it’s the simplest cause in the world.
We want better lives. We want better lives for ourselves, for our partners, for our children, and for our coworkers, neighbors, and friends. We don’t expect things to be handed to us and we don’t expect things to always be perfect, but we want them to always be moving in the right direction.
Inch by inch we work toward that better life:
• We fight for better wages and slowly we’ve seen those wages rise and rise and rise.
• We fight for better benefits, for protections from harassment and discrimination, and for the right to retire in comfort and dignity.
• We fight to make sure we have a voice at the workplace.
The road is long and there will always be the occasional pothole, but we continue to move down that road.
As I look to the future and to my role as your leader I am excited to go down that road with you.
I won’t promise to be perfect, but I will promise that you’ll never ever be able to doubt my motivations and my passion to fight for you.
Over the next few months I plan to visit every single one of the locations our union represents. I want you all to hear my passion, and I want to hear your stories. I want to see your faces and listen to your concerns. I want us to know each other.
Many of you I have the great fortune to know already from my time as a union representative or from my 18 years as a partner working in the stores, but for those
of you that don’t know me I am so excited to meet you.
Together we can accomplish great things. If you will stand with me, engage with me, speak up with me, I am certain we can accomplish so much together.
Let’s continue the fight for better lives. Let’s keep going down that road together. The future is bright, and we will meet it together. Onward and upward.
