[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 119 (Thursday, September 21, 2006)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1813-E1814]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   CONGRATULATIONS TO MR. FRED KOTLER

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. BART STUPAK

                              of michigan

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, September 21, 2006

  Mr. STUPAK. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to a man who 
exhibited leadership and dedication in serving the working men and 
women of the Upper Peninsula and our Nation. On September 23, 2006, Mr. 
Fred Kotler

[[Page E1814]]

will be inducted into the Upper Peninsula Labor Hall of Fame. The 
organized labor movement enjoys a rich history in Michigan's Upper 
Peninsula. From the mining strikes in the Copper Country of 1913-1914 
to the present day, working men and women across the Upper Peninsula 
have exhibited a heritage of proud trade unionism. Mr. Kotler 
exemplifies that rich tradition by having served as an educator, a 
labor organizer and as a business agent.
  Mr. Kotler served as Director of the Labor Education Program at 
Northern Michigan University from 1986 to 1994. During his tenure 
there, he coordinated and worked closely with the Labor Advisory 
Planning Committee. He is credited with building the university's Labor 
Education Program.
  At Northern Michigan University, Mr. Kotler was responsible for 
developing and directing conferences, seminars and workshops that 
helped to educate the staff, officers, stewards and rank-and-file 
members of public and private sector local unions as well as the 
Michigan AFL-CIO and the Michigan Building and Construction Trades 
Council. Much of Mr. Kotler's expertise focused on what he refers to as 
``training the trainer,'' in other words educating key union leaders 
and personnel to build stronger, more effective unions. This technique 
focuses on empowering unions to grow their own membership and more 
effectively bargain on behalf of their members.
  Mr. Kotler's participation and leadership in the labor movement 
predates his work in the Upper Peninsula. In 1977, Mr. Kotler worked 
with the Service Employees International Union on a citywide ballot 
initiative in San Francisco. In the early 1980s, Mr. Kotler helped to 
organize hospital workers in Sonoma, California. In 1983, he returned 
to San Francisco to serve as the Business Representative and Organizer 
for the local Service Employees Union there.
  This extensive work in the field of labor organizing made him 
uniquely qualified to develop and implement the curriculum of Northern 
Michigan University's Labor Education Program. Many of my constituents 
benefited from his tutelage as well as from his work on the Marquette 
County Central Labor Council where he served as a delegate.
  As one might expect, since leaving Northern Michigan University in 
1994, Mr. Kotler has continued his commitment to organized labor as a 
scholar and an organizer. Today he serves as the Director of the 
Cornell/New York State AFL-CIO Union Leadership Institute and as 
Associate Director of the Construction Industry Program. Since joining 
the faculty of Cornell, he has developed a number of innovative 
programs that have been used to strengthen unions not only in New York, 
but nationwide. He designed and developed programs such as the 
Construction Organizing Membership Education Training (COMET) and the 
Multi-Trade Organizing Volunteer Education (MOVE) curriculums that 
streamlined labor's organizing techniques in the construction industry.
  While not a native of Michigan's Upper Peninsula, Mr. Kotler's 
contributions to the area have endeared him to many of my constituents 
who came to view him as one of our own. The feeling appears to be 
mutual. As he described his Upper Peninsula neighbors, ``The folks up 
there welcomed me with open arms. They taught me so much about the 
labor movement in the Upper Peninsula.''
  Since 1993, outstanding labor leaders and individuals who have 
contributed to organizing, workplace fairness, worker dignity, and the 
advancement of the labor movement in northern Michigan, have been 
honored with induction into the Upper Peninsula Labor Hall of Fame. The 
Hall of Fame is housed in the Superior Dome on the campus of Northern 
Michigan University in Marquette. Mr. Kotler is a deserving addition to 
this august group. I wish him all the best and ask that the U.S. House 
of Representatives join me in saluting Fred Kotler for his 
contributions to the Upper Peninsula Labor movement and his ongoing 
dedication to all working men and women in our nation.

                          ____________________