And, unlike Wurzelbacher, he’s a licensed plumber.

Joe Moenck, a plumber in Zumbrota, Minn., is a member of Plumbers and Pipe Fitters (UA) Local 6—which, like all building and construction trades unions, has high professional standards for its members—such as making sure they hold a license to practice their craft.

Moenck was dismayed to see McCain repeatedly trot out “Joe the Plumber” during this week’s presidential debate with Sen. Barack Obama. Says Moenck:

“I felt that when John McCain was talking about Joe the Plumber, I didn’t feel that that was sincere. He didn’t mention the middle class in the last two debates at all. It upset me that he brought this up strictly because he had to, because his ratings are low among the middle class. I don’t think he believes what he said, but he knows his support is low there and said that strictly for the ratings, as a campaign strategy.”

When “Joe the Plumber” Wurzelbacher met Obama in Toledo on Sunday, Wurzelbacher expressed concern about being taxed on earnings of $280,000 per year should he ever start a small plumbing business.

But, as Moenck can tell you, hard workers like him in the building trades aren’t paid anywhere near $250,000 a year. For Moenck—and even for Wurzelbacher, who right now makes far less than his dream salary—Obama’s tax plan would mean a decrease in taxes by more than $1,200 a year—more than under McCain’s tax plan. And should Wurzelbacher ever pull in $250,000, he’d only pay a few hundred dollar more in taxes under Obama’s plan. Not a deal-breaker for a guy thinking of starting a small business.

Wurzelbacher also has a bit of an agenda. He’s a member of the Associated Builders & Contractors, a nonunion trade group that has endorsed McCain.

So, in addition to Moenck, we’d like to introduce McCain to a few other real Joe the plumbers.

There’s Joe Gutzwiller, a licensed plumber in Indianapolis and member of UA Local 440. Gutzwiller shares a lot in common with Moenck, including seeing through McCain’s pretensions of support for America’s middle class.

“I heard the one about health care, where McCain wants to tax our benefits, and I just think he’s looking out for bigger businesses and corporations leaving middle class people out of the whole picture.

“I think Obama is actually trying to help out middle class people who are feeling the effect of our economy. From what I’ve seen in the debates, he’s trying to prevent future problems and give the middle class a tax break to help stimulate the economy.”

And then there’s Joe Tatum in Virginia, who’s been a licensed plumber for 35 years after apprenticing with UA Local 10.

“McCain thinks we make over $200,000. I don’t make anywhere close to that. If I did, I could retire now instead of waiting ’til I’m 62.”

Over in Colorado, Joe Martinez, a plumber and member of UA Local 3, has this to say:

“John McCain doesn’t understand working families and I don’t understand how any plumber can vote for John McCain. He’s just not in touch with the working man at all.”

And there’s Joe Vicena, a member of UA Local 75 in Milwaukee, who sees McCain as continuing the same disastrous economic policies as George W. Bush.

“Our jobs are being sent overseas, people are losing their pensions and their 401(k)s, and the stock market is tanking. We need change in a positive manner. McCain is not the person to do it.  He is absolutely not the person.  Me and my family can’t take four more minutes, much less four more years, of the missteps and mis-policies we’ve had the past eight.”

Moenck, Gutzwiller, Tatum, Martinez and Vicena agree with their union that Obama is the best choice for America’s plumbers—and all middle-class workers—because, as under Bush, McCain’s economic policy would benefit the wealthiest and flush the rest of us down the tank. As Moenck puts it:

“If the middle class doesn’t have money to call Joe the Plumber, Joe the Plumber’s not gonna be in business very long.”

About the Author

This is a cross-post from the Firedoglake blog in partnership with the author Tula Connell, AFL-CIO managing editor. The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations, commonly known as the AFL-CIO, is a national trade union center, the largest federation of unions in the United States made up of 56 national and international unions including Canadian together representing more than 10 million workers. This organization gave Barack Obama one of his biggest Union endorsements.

Springdale, Arkansas – August 8, 2008 – Tyson Foods, Inc. announced today it has reached a new agreement with the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU), an American union, reinstating Labor Day as one of the designated paid holidays under the contract for covered employees in the Shelbyville, Tennessee, plant.

Tyson made this request on behalf of its Shelbyville plant employees, some of whom had expressed concern about the new contract provisions relative to paid holidays. In an effort to be responsive, Tyson asked the union to reopen the contract to address the holiday issue, and the union agreed to do so. The union membership voted overwhelmingly Thursday to reinstate Labor Day as one of the plant’s paid holidays, while keeping Eid al-Fitr as an additional paid holiday for this year only. This means that in 2008 only, Shelbyville employees will have nine paid holidays.
For the remainder of the five-year contract period, the eight paid holidays will include: New Year’s Day, Martin Luther King Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day and a Personal Holiday, which could either be the employee’s birthday, Eid al-Fitr or another day requested and approved by their supervisor.

This issue concerns only the plant at Shelbyville, Tennessee. Labor Day has always been celebrated, and continues to be, at the other 118 Tyson plants across the country. The Shelbyville complex employs approximately 1,200 people. Approximately 1,000 workers are covered by the RWDSU union agreement at that location.

In what became a marathon of persistence, a termination appeal hearing was conducted at the Clarksville Human Resource Department’s meeting room. The hearing was for Clarksville Fire Dept. Engineer Steve Sherlock in his quest to continue his service with the city’s fire department.

The hearing panel consisted of City Councilman Geno Grubbs, Sharon Hurst [CPD employee], and City Councilman Richard Swift. The hearing was conducted under a rotating police presence.

For over seven hours, the career of CFD engineer Steve Sherlock’s future with the fire department was up for review. During the tedious ordeal, testimony was given that reflected on past city government policies and practices which affected the ability and practice of city employees doing business with the city.

The debate went back to the early days of Mayor Piper’s first administration and the transition to Don Trotter’s return to the mayor’s office. There was tense debate and objections between the attorneys representing both sides. Political intrigue was even made mention as a motivation for the termination action and pursuit.

Engineer Steve Sherlock was appealing his termination from the Fire Department over a charge of violating the city’s Ethics Policy by doing business with the city in a window tinting project at the Waste Water Treatment Plant on January 24, this year. Sherlock was represented by Attorney Peter Napolitano and City Attorney Tim Harvey made the city’s case. Chief Roberts was the termination recommendation authority.

The two attorneys were dedicated to their arguments and sought to convince the review panel to rule in their favor. Harvey insisted the panel should only review whether the mandated protocols were followed and thus sustain the termination action. Napolitano argued that the case was more complicated because the charge itself was fallacious and without foundation. He cited points from the city’s own ethics policy, state law and national labor practice laws which directly contradict the actions being attempted against Mr. Sherlock. Thus the stage was set for a day of argument and revelations.

Fire Department Chief Michael Roberts initiated a ethics policy violation investigation after he was informed of the apparent policy violation by the city’s finance office. The crux of the charge is that on January 24, this year, a window tinting project at the Waste Water Treatment Plant project was performed by Sherlock’s company, S&S Auto Glass.

Upon presentation of an invoice for payment, it was determined that although S&S Auto was a certified city vendor, the company was owned by a city employee, that being Steve Sherlock, and thus was ineligible. The invoice was rejected because of this conflict and the project’s billing remains unpaid to date.

Testimony revealed that S & S Auto did not solicit nor perform the window tinting work. That was done by 113 Custom Glass, a separate company owned by Darren Lamont “Boxhead” Smith. Smith and Sherlock have a reciprocal referral relationship between the two businesses. There is no monetary exchange but they do refer work to each other as a courtesy based on friendship. Sherlock referred an initial inquiry from the waster water treatment facility for the tint work to 113 Custom, whose employees actually performed the work. Upon presentation of an invoice for this work, a series of missteps resulted in a perceived ethics policy violation.

However as testimony progressed it became evident that administrative missteps, along with a misguided attempt to assist a business associate, were the true culprits. It was also revealed that a high ranking fire department official has quite possibly violated this same ethics policy by doing business with the city whereby he received financial gain.

Vigorous challenges and arguments between the attorneys kept the proceedings lively and insightful to the casual observer. Eleven witnesses were called in all, coming from the fire department, city finance and purchasing office, waste water treatment facility, S&S Auto Glass and 113 Custom Glass. Discussion and debate over the city’s various ethics and conflict of interest policies and political rhythms of opposing administrations were all called into play during the testimony phase of the hearing.

Following the closing arguments by the attorneys, the panel declared its opinions and the end result was that the termination was not sustained. The hearing’s results will be formalized and submitted to the Mayor’s Office. Mayor Piper will then review the results and can either accept or reject the panel’s decision or impose some other punitive measures.

There is a growing threat to worker’s right to organize in this country which must be addressed in a positive context if the right to organize is to be maintained. We must act in ways which preserve the rights of workers and strengthen our unions. There are currently three cases pending at the Bush-appointed National Labor Relations Board which will have a significant impact on workers’ right to form and join unions in this country. The three cases are: Oakwood Healthcare Inc. (UAW), Golden Crest Healthcare Center (USW) and Croft Metals, Inc.

These cases deal with the roles of supervisors in nursing, health care and manufacturing facilities. A broad interpretation of who is a “supervisor” could allow employers to strip hundreds of thousands of workers of their right to union protection. The impact is likely to be particularly dramatic in the health care industry, in construction, and in other skilled occupations where it is common for higher skilled workers to direct the work of lower skilled employees.

On Wednesday, July 12th I participated in a mid-day rally in Nashville to support the rights of supervisors to belong to a Union. Over one hundred people participated in this rally because they are concerned about the future of this country and the health of our economy. In order to preserve this right we must support the rights of all workers, including those classified as supervisors. Unlike other employees, supervisors do not have protected rights under the National Labor Relations Act to form and join unions, and employers often try to classify workers as supervisors in order to deny them the right to union representation.

The effects of a bad decision by the NLRB would be devastating to average Americans and would hurt our strength and effectiveness both locally and in the global economy. Skilled workers are especially vulnerable in this situation of losing their union representation. For example, registered nurses who tell nurse’s aides to perform certain tasks for particular patients and journeymen/building trades workers who direct other workers on a crew are in real danger of being falsely categorized as management under a new interpretation of the law.

Big business would like nothing more than to strip these workers of their rights, and employer groups ranging from the Chamber of Commerce to the American Hospital Association have filed briefs with the Board urging them to adopt a broad interpretation that would allow employers to reclassify many employees as supervisors, in effect shrinking or wiping out existing bargaining units, and stripping federal protection for the freedom to organize for hundreds of thousands of nonunion workers.

Working class people in this country and union members will not stand by and let the Labor Board clear the way for opportunistic employers to strip away their rights without a real fight. Workers deserve to be heard on the this issue, which is why thousands of union members have asked their members of Congress to appeal to the Labor Board for an opportunity to provide oral arguments. I support the rights of workers to organize and I believe preserving this rights of workers keeps America strong.

Chris Lugo
Green Party of Tennessee
Candidate for US Senate

Vote For Peace in 2006!
http://www.chris4senate.com/