IATSE Local One President Discusses Recent Wisconsin Events: 'A Wake-Up Call'

Statement of James J. Claffey, Jr. President of Local One IATSE Regarding Recent Events in Wisconsin:

"The events in Madison, Wisconsin must serve as a wake-up call to us in the great state of New York. The attacks on Union workers in Wisconsin matters to us in more ways than most can imagine. If you wear a Union pin on your lapel, there are powerful forces in this country who are
putting a bulls-eye on your back as part of a larger campaign whose target is all working families and everything we hold dear.

As the 125th Anniversary of Local One approaches and I consider what the last century and a quarter has meant, I take a closer look at our local's many struggles for achievement as well as the history of working people in America.

In the last century, unionizing in America meant working people joining the middle class: a decent roof over our heads, food on the table, respect in the workplace and a better life for our children.
But ever since unions secured all of these things, these powerful forces have been attempting to take them back. 

The Governor of Wisconsin wants to simply roll back two centuries of working people's progress and it should be clear; he's not talking about taking away the right to join a Union. The Governor of Wisconsin is talking about taking away the right for a Union to behave and perform like a Union whose objectives are to protect and negotiate wages, terms, conditions, benefits, jobs and jurisdiction. The Governor is attempting to challenge our mere existence by eliminating a union's right to collective bargaining.

All working families and labor organizations throughout this country must stand together because Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker is not alone. When a corporation like Fox News can have five potential Republican presidential candidates on its payroll or billionaires like David H. Koch (yes, that David H. Koch whose name is on The New York State Theater) can throw tens of millions into "grass root" Tea Party campaigns to elect anti-union activists like the governor of Wisconsin, then union families should not forget that the same thing can happen in their state and in Washington, D.C.

The campaign to take away the rights of unionized Wisconsin state workers is just the start. The so-called "heartland of America" is rapidly becoming the "heartLESS-land of America." There's similar talk in Ohio, and Tea Party governors and legislatures all over the country are starting to sing the same phrases written by the billionaires who wrote the tune. And the big lie they're all
harmonizing on is that unionized state, county or city workers are better paid than the equivalent private sector worker.

Brothers and Sisters of Local One and union people all over America must exercise their legal rights collectively and take action to fight this battle as if it were in their own backyards. We must acknowledge these union busting campaigns as a wake-up call to support our Brothers and Sisters in Wisconsin, because if we don't, we will all one day wake up in Wisconsin."

James J. Claffey, Jr. began his career as a stagehand in 1982 in venues including Radio City Music Hall, the City Center 55th Street Dance Theatre, Madison Square Garden, CBS-TV, ABC-TV and various Broadway theatres. Mr. Claffey began his career as an Officer of Local One in 1996, serving as the Chairman of the Board of Trustees until 1998 at which time the membership elected him to the full time position of Theatrical Business Manager, an office he was then re-elected to in 2001. Since May 2004, he has served as President of Local One. He is a graduate of both the Cornell University Labor Studies Certificate Program and the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School. Mr. Claffey was recently elected to the Board of Trustees of The Actors' Fund and serves on the NYC Opera Board of Directors as well as a Vice President on the NYC Central Labor Council.