CHEYENNE — School teachers, pipefitters, miners, firefighters, nurses and federal workers all gathered at the Wyoming Capitol on Friday to show solidarity for a common cause: opposing the recent efforts made by the Wyoming Legislature and President Donald Trump’s administration they believe will cut their labor protections.
Around 150 people turned out for the event.
“We’re just showing the Legislature Wyoming workers are still here and still want to work and live in this state,” said Truett Thompson, a member of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers 415 in Cheyenne.
State Rep. Karlee Provenza, D-Laramie, said a recent wave of retirees moving to Wyoming for the state’s low taxes has created a complicated dynamic when combined with the fact Wyoming has one of the lowest rates in the country for people born in the state staying, which she believes is due to a lack of jobs and affordable housing.
Marshall Cummings is a trona miner with United Steel Workers in Green River.
“Without MSHA (Mine Safety and Health Administration) and OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration), I don’t know what would happen to me and my fellow miners,” Cummings said.
The Trump administration has made sweeping job cuts across the entire federal government, including within these agencies.
Although he’s concerned about the direction the Legislature has been taking in recent years, his biggest concern is about cuts being made on a federal level he said ultimately have a trickle-down effect into the private sector because of uncertainty what the economic future may bring. He mentioned how 30 people were recently laid off at Genesis Alkali in Green River.
“If you want to use a precision tool, like maybe a scalpel to cut out spending, that’s one thing,” Cummings said. “If you’re making broad, sweeping chainsaw-toting cuts, that makes zero sense to me. We want the money here. We want it for the people here.”
Also Calls Out Freedom Caucus
Daniel Parson, a teacher in Sweetwater County School District No. 2 and the 2023 Wyoming Teacher of the Year, said he’s never been more offended than by the legislation brought in this year’s session. On Thursday, the Legislature sent House Bill 199 to the governor’s desk, a bill that creates universal school vouchers in Wyoming.
“If the (Wyoming) Freedom Caucus has its way, I might start looking into a new career,” he said. “Maybe something more lucrative like professional rodeo clown. At least in that job if you’re going to get knocked over by an angry bull, you’ll see him coming.”
Rep. John Bear, R-Gillette, chairman emeritus of the Freedom Caucus, disagreed with these conclusions.
“Job security is not based on much more than a great economy, which is most affected by government through spending and regulations,” Bear said. “The WYFC policies, which cannot possible become law before July 1, 2025, are the most business friendly in Wyoming government, through low regulation and reduced spending.”
Provenza believes the only two things the Legislature is interested in is reducing regulation and lowering taxes, comparing them to parrots at a pet store that can only say two words.
“I have nothing against older people or wealthy people who are moving here, and I hope they have a great retirement in Wyoming,” she said. “But the fact of the matter is that Wyoming overall is becoming a retirement community now at the same time.”
She pointed out that although it feels good to chant and cheer with like-minded folks, the real difference is made through legislation and elections.
“The biggest thing we can do is to stand together as working people and let the folks in this building know that in order to have good lives, we need to have good paying jobs and a house that we can afford, access to health care and child care that will allow our families to thrive,” Provenza said.
Cheyenne resident Mark Adams believes the wide sweeping cuts the Trump administration has been making are illegal and contrary to the U.S. Constitution. As someone who lost his job and almost all his money in the past, Adams said he can relate to the fate that the federal workers are going through right now.
As an employee of Union Pacific Railroad, he said the company is generally trying to fire its employees whenever it gets the chance.
“It’s a hostile work environment,” Adams said.
Victory Earned
After about 30 minutes, the rally goers went inside to protest Senate File 175, a bill that would reduce the unemployment coverage period from 26 weeks to 20 weeks in Wyoming. The bill was defeated on a 36-23 vote on Friday.
“I 100% believe we influenced that bill,” Cummings said.
Wyoming has one of the lowest unemployment rates in the country but Sen. John Kolb, R-Rock Springs, has the brought the bill as a way to motivate residents to find new employment more quickly once becoming unemployed.
Rep. Jayme Lien, R-Casper, spoke in favor of the bill, saying it allows the state to give out a helping hand while not making it a way of life.
Rep. Mike Yin, D-Jackson, and Cummings both said they found the premise that shortening the unemployment period will give them more motivation to work insulting.
Rep. Lee Filer, R-Cheyenne, said he understands the roots of the bill- reacting to people who were laid off for long periods of time as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, but said the real solution would be to lower unemployment rates on employers.
“This is how you do it, you don’t beat up their workers to do it,” he said.
Leo Wolfson can be reached at leo@cowboystatedaily.com.
