President's Column - Veterans Day 2002

Veterans Day is the time to honor heroes and we in the Labor movement have heroes that might not appear on everyone's list. Heroes like Senator Paul Wellstone and Labor Leader Tony Mazzocchi. The labor movement and working families lost these two giants in the past month and we are the lesser for it. They worked hard all of their too brief lives to provide the leadership and fostered legislation to protect working families and those in need of social justice.

Paul Wellstone, killed in a tragic airplane crash in October, was the representative in Washington, D.C. for grassroots economic and social justice. He was from Minnesota but everyone, no matter what state they lived, could count on Paul Wellstone to be their voice for justice and the conscience of the Senate. His life was devoted to making things better for those who were downtrodden, poor and he became that spokesman and leader. His was the lone voice in the Congress for progressive ideas and ideals. He learned to negotiate without compromising his ideals and principles. Both sides of the aisles respected him. While most did not agree with his politics, they all respected him as a man of principles.

Tony Mazzocchi was a progressive labor leader. Born in Brooklyn of Italian immigrants, his father a garment worker and an active union member. Tony's mother died of cancer was he was six and the family home had to be sold to pay the medical bills. An event that was the impetus for his avid support of a national health plan. His influence was felt in many movements, he was tireless worker for safety and health with the Oil, Chemical and Atomic worker. He, along with the United Steelworkers, was most responsible for passage of the OSHA Act.

Tony was a combat veteran at the Battle of Bulge and saw the horrors of the concentration camps; he was witness of man's inhumanity. In 1991 he co-founded the Labor Party Associates, with the idea that Labor should have its own party and not be tied to the parties that took workers for granted. His was a life-long struggle for equal rights, human rights and the dignity of the working man. He lost his valiant fight to pancreatic cancer on October 5, 2002. His statement at the 2002 Labor Party convention, " I am both afflicted with an incurable disease and blessed with an incurable optimism, It's been a god run."

I had the pleasure of meeting both of these heroes and working with them in a small way. It was both an honor and a privilege to be on the same planet with them. They shared vision and hope that life could be and should be better for all working people everywhere. Both had principles, neither took the easy way, only the right way...May their light shine forever to guide the rest of us in our daily struggle to make things better. Having known them makes me want to work a little harder and a little longer to carry on their work.