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Clinton County Salute To Labor Presentation
Many Americans have forgotten the titanic struggles that the men and
women of labor have endured. Many Americans have forgotten that the
men and women of labor faced the terrible powers of industrial America
alone in their struggle for justice. The eight hour work day, forty
hour work week, paid holidays, paid vacation, paid sick time, and, of
course, health care are all benefits that would not exist for any
worker in America had our ancestors walked away from this great
struggle. The men and women of labor have been murdered, maimed,
arrested, economically destroyed and kicked out of their communities
all in the name of justice for working people.
This struggle endures. From the
Homestead Steel Strike of 1892 to the pending lock out threats at the
Alcoa Company in Massena today, America's labor community has been and
always will be the soul of working families throughout the world.
Unions lead the way in providing work place protection for workers,
job site safety, fair wages, decent working conditions, and of no less
equal importance, the issue of health care for all Americans. Without
the men and women of labor this country would be a poorer land.
When I worked as a labor relations
analyst under the Democratic administration of Ray Flynn in the City
of Boston, I was responsible for contract administration and
negotiating new collective bargaining agreements on behalf of the
mayor with the city`s various unions. During my tenure at that office
we addressed the issues of pay equity. Pay equity is the problem of
the disparate impact of woman with respect to the compensation and
classification plan used by the city. The disparate impact was felt
by women working in administrative staff positions earning less than
men working in environmental service classifications, mechanic
classifications and other such job classifications. The question we
had to address was why would two job classifications performing
equally valuable work result in a compensation plan where the
administrative support staff was paid less than the other titles. We
undertook a comprehensive approach to address the pay equity issue and
during collective bargaining sessions, the management team, on which I
served, reached an agreement with the union to provide upgraded job
classifications for those administrative support staff positions.
When it came to contract grievance
administration my goal was always to respect the language of the
contract and to treat all workers who presented their grievance in the
same manner that I would want to be treated if I were in their
position.
As a lawyer I have taken on many
employment law cases over the last 13 years. I have successfully
represented both men and women who have been subjected to illegal
discriminatory actions perpetrated upon them by their employers. I
have successfully vindicated the rights of victims of age
discrimination, gender discrimination and those who suffered under the
most horrendous illegal hostile working conditions imaginable. The
enactment of the Civil Rights Law of 1964 and the New York State Human
Rights Law both aimed at protecting people from unlawful
discrimination would never have been possible without the blood shed
by our fellow Americans whose only pursuit was justice.
In all these struggles for justice,
equality, fair wages and health care, labor always leads the way. I
salute you, the men and women of labor.
Kevin F. Nichols
Candidate for the 114th Assembly District
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