Hundreds of Kansas union members filled the first floor rotunda of the capitol building in Topeka, Kansas for the annual Kansas AFL-CIO Labor Rally Day on January 24th, 2024.
Speakers included Governor Laura Kelly, American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten, United Steelworkers District 11 Regional Executive Director Cathy Drummond, International Association of Machinists International President Brian Bryant, and Communications Workers of America Assistant to the Vice President Billy Moffett.
All of the speakers commended the people of Kansas for their growing support of unions, for the economic growth that has been stimulated due to union members, and the bright future for the Sunflower State.
The event was widely attended not just by union leaders, politicians, and lobbyists, but by actual working-class unionized Kansans.
The Kansas AFL-CIO prepared a packet with information for each attendee that would allow them to properly engage with elected officials after the speeches that left the attendees energized.
The teachers unions encouraged union members to rally against vouchers, to eliminate Tier 3 of KPERS, to maintain school funding levels, and to consider the impact of changes to tax plans to schools.
The Kansas AFL-CIO encouraged members to fight for local control and prevailing wage, eliminating the state sales tax on food, and reforming the workers compensation benefit cap that currently makes Kansas the worst state in the country to get injured in.
If you live in Kansas and could not attend this event, you can call your elected officials and advocate for the issues above.
Tristin Amezcua-Hogan is the Editor of The Labor Beacon and a member of LIUNA Local 264. Tristin also serves as the Director of Communications for the Greater Kansas City AFL-CIO and the Chair of the Kansas City Regional Transit Alliance.
Tristin grew up as the son of a UA Local 669 member in Tecumseh, KS and the great-nephew of George C. Amis, longtime leader of the United Rubberworkers (now USW Local 307) in Kansas. Growing up in rural Kansas as the child of teen parents, Tristin quickly came to appreciate the life-changing benefit of a union job.
Tristin and his partner, Rebeca Amezcua-Hogan, are residents of the Westside, Kansas City, MO's historic Mexican neighborhood. They are proud members of Kansas City's New Reform Temple.
