Mar. 29, 2023 3:15p
(WGTD)---Word that a Kenosha School Board member was planning to vote against a resolution recognizing Cesar Chavez Day prompted the state's top labor leader to pay a visit to Kenosha Tuesday night.
Stephanie Bloomingdale, president of the Wisconsin AFL-CIO, addressed the school board a short time before school board member Eric Meadows cast the only 'no' vote against the resolution. "I do not support this resolution simply because I do not support the labor movement in general," Meadows said.
Bloomingdale's pitch for unanimity obviously had no impact on Meadows. "To say that you're opposed to labor unions is to say that you're opposed to safety in the workplace, to fairness and dignity, to fair wages," she said, continuing, "Labor unions built this middle class that we all have so much pride in as Americans. We brought child labor laws to bear. So sir, respectfully, you're on the wrong side of history."
Chavez founded the United Farm Workers of America in 1962 and is viewed as a member of the upper echelon of American civil rights leaders. In Kenosha Unified, Head Start's learning center is named after Chavez.
Cesar Chavez Day in the U.S. is a commemorative federal holiday which this year falls on this Friday.
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