UAW boss snubbed by labor group

Jim Graham is without a doubt one of the most influential and best known labor leaders in the Mahoning Valley, and yet, in his bid for mayor of Warren he failed to get the endorsement of an umbrella organization that encompasses 60 unions in Mahoning and Trumbull counties. Talk about a major political snub.

The Mahoning/Trumbull AFL-CIO Labor Council threw its support behind Doug Franklin, Warren’s safety-service director since January 2004 and a former 25-year employee at General Motors Corp.’s Lordstown assembly plant. Franklin is a card-carrying member of the United Auto Workers.

But so is Graham. Indeed, his union credentials are more impressive than just about anyone in this region. Consider: He has been president of UAW Local 1112 for 14 years, has been a union representative for 31 years, and has worked at the Lordstown plant for more than 35 years.

Even so, he was unable to secure the endorsement of the AFL-CIO Labor Council. It should be noted that the UAW is not part of the council.

Why didn’t he get it?

Here’s his take: “They picked Doug Franklin for whatever reason, and I wish them the best of luck.” He thanked the council and called the screening process “fair and unbiased.”

Franklin, who served in council for 14 years, said the endorsement “reflects what we’ve been able to accomplish at the bargaining table” with Warren’s unions.

“I think it reflects the good relationship we’ve had,” he said.

Ed Machingo, vice president of the labor council and president of Local 1375 of the United Steelworkers of America, said Franklin had a “better plan for the city and the experience. He’s held all the positions in the city.”

Intriguing reason

But this writer, not confined by diplomacy or political caution, has come up with a more intriguing reason for why Graham was rejected by the labor council: John Kasich, the Republican governor of Ohio.

Kasich, political devil incarnate as far as labor unions in Ohio are concerned, is just too free in his compliments of Graham, the Democratic union leader.

Indeed, Graham’s was one of the few names mentioned by Kasich in his March 8 State of the State address to a joint session of the Ohio General Assembly, this while hundreds of union members from the public and private sectors demonstrated in Columbus outside the state capitol. The demonstrations have been going on for weeks, ever since a Kasich-endorsed bill to strip public employees of their collective bargaining rights was introduced in the Republican controlled legislature.

The unions are fighting mad and are promising political retribution.

So, you can just imagine their distress upon hearing the governor talk in glowing terms about the president of the UAW Local 1112.

Kasich was discussing Youngstown and the Mahoning Valley when he offered this observation about the GM Lordstown plant:

“I went to Lordstown. We cannot let Lordstown fail. It is the center of the Valley. We’ve got to make sure that the plant is up to date. And while we have the Cruze, I always think in the future what do we get next? In Lordstown, the union and the management [have] worked together. Jim Graham the head of the UAW, oh, don’t tell him I mentioned his name, he’ll pass out. Jim Graham is running for mayor somewhere. He said, ‘If I get elected, I told them the first guy I’m going to meet with is you.’ I said, ‘What happened?’ He said they passed out.”

The legislators (mostly Republicans, of course) laughed.

Battle lines drawn

But the unions aren’t in the mood for clever quips. They see Kasich and the GOP as declaring war on public employees, in particular, and on the middle class, in general. They believe the battle lines have been drawn and they want to know that Democratic officeholders will stand firm against what they view as the Republican Party’s anti-worker, pro-business agenda.

The unions and Democrats are already planning to challenge the anti-collective bargaining law at the ballot box and will be looking to every Democratic officeholder to step up to the plate.

They are suspicious of anyone who might not be as stridently opposed to the governor as they are.

Would Graham repudiate Kasich?