Let’s all make


endorsements To the Editor: The Rev. John Koopman's letter in your


June issue reminds me of my question to PEF as to why Gov. Andrew Cuomo was endorsed by PEF (in 2010), in spite of his hurting the state employees and also the retirees. I urge all the state employees and the


retirees to demand PEF make no endorsement of a candidate without the full participation of the employees and retirees. Enough of this behind-the-door politics. We should not be fooled by Gov. Cuomoʼs


TV ads, which have very little substance. He is trying to look good as the 2016 Democratic candidate for the presidential election. SHRIHARI N. MANGALMURTI Clifton Park


Editor’s Note: As reported on page 4 of


this issue, the PEF Executive Board just voted August 14 to endorse Democratic challenger Zephyr Teachout for governor in the 2014 election. She is opposing Cuomo in


By DEBORAH A. MILES “Music touches the soul.” Joe Glazer emphasized those words in


activist recorded more than 30 albums during his career. Although he wasn’t a top Billboard performer, he was embraced and cheered by working-class audiences throughout the country. He sang about workplace perils in his songs such as “The Mill Was Made of Marble,” “Too Old To Work” and “Automation.” He was dubbed “Labor’s Troubadour,”


by an unidentified gentleman who introduced the singer/songwriter at a concert in Maryland. The title stuck. Glazer was born in New York City in 1918 and graduated from


Brooklyn College. He moved to Akron, Ohio where he worked as an education director in the 1950s and frequently performed for the United Rubber Workers. He was also a member of the Textile Workers Union of America. In 1961, he joined the Foreign Service staff of the U.S.


Information Agency, then headed by Edward R. Murrow, and was sent to Mexico as its labor information officer. He transferred to the State Department in Washington, DC as a labor adviser in 1965. All his life, Glazer focused on his music and the effects it had


on the labor movement. His songs brought people together. Former U.S. presidents such as John F. Kennedy and Bill Clinton, as well as many senators, welcomed this labor activist on stage with open arms to help rally a crowd. When he approached his 62nd birthday, Glazer founded


Collector Records, originally for his own recordings. His first album was a series on industrial folksongs recorded live in 1967 during a training program for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees held in Washington, DC. It was titled, “Joe Glazer Sings Labor Songs.”


Page 2—The Communicator September 2014


the September 9 Democratic primary election. PEF has a representative democracy that


gives the elected members of the Executive Board the authority to endorse political candidates. The board makes endorsements after


considering the recommendations of the PEF Political Action Committee and the regional political action committees. In addition, PEF asked members several


months ago to go to the union’s website and submit their comments and recommendations regarding endorsements. That invitation was published on the back cover of the May issue of The


Communicator, and it was prominently displayed on PEF’s homepage.


Civil service


articles wanted To the Editor: I would like to see regular educational


articles about civil service in The Communicator.


Also, I would like to see articles about civil


service enforcement efforts and an overview of successes or the strategy being used to ensure our members still have opportunities


to advance.


JOHN THOMSEN Albany


Editor’s note: See page12 of this issue for articles on civil service transfers. The


Communicator includes articles on civil service issues as they arise.


Emai l your ideas, comments to thecommunicator@pef .org


Correction: The July-August issue of The Communicator incorrectly listed two of the delegates to the PEF 2014 Convention representing members at the main office of the state Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services. Instead of Mark Lyman and Michele Tillery, it should have listed John P. Noonan and Sarita Wells, both from PEF Division 265 in Region 8. Their title codes are J and P, respectively.


A tribute to ‘Labor’s Troubadour’ for union-motivating music Glazer added younger and newer


an interview shortly before he died in September 2006. And he would know. This American folk musician and union


performers he had met through the Labor Heritage Foundation which he founded in 1978, and from its annual Great Labor Arts Exchange. Some of the artists, such as Bobbie McGee, went on to become well- known folk singers. Other songs Glazer recorded were written by union organizer Joe Hill, and Kenny Winfree, a textile worker who composed bluegrass-style labor songs. During the next five years after


launching the Labor Heritage Foundation, the concept of “labor culture” – the interaction of the labor movement with the arts – expanded. Glazer’s record company


with down-home voices promoted music with labor’s goals. Collector Records painted a picture of workers’ struggles with


songs such as “Corrido Del Minero” which tells the story of a steelworker working in a mine with outdated equipment. Another called “Cotton Mill Colic” describes the harsh conditions and low- pay of mill-working life. It was written by David McCarn, a textile mill worker in North Carolina. Glazer networked with workers from all walks of life and


songwriters to help build unity in the labor movement. The well- known tune “Solidarity Forever,” sung by Glazer and written by Ralph Chaplin, was one of his favorites. Glazer once said, “To make an impression in a song, keep the lyrics simple.” In 2002, the University of Illinois Press published Glazer’s


autobiography, “Labor’s Troubadour.” Four years later, Glazer died at the age of 88 due to the progression of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, at his home in Silver Spring, MD. The Glazer family donated Collector Records to the


Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage. Glazer’s recordings are now part of the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections distributed by the Smithsonian Folkways label. In one of his last interviews, still with a guitar in hand, Glazer


said, “The union makes us strong, and in the union movement, everything depends on solidarity.”


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