[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 157 (Monday, September 24, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6273-S6274]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       TRIBUTE TO PHIL NEUENFELDT

  Ms. BALDWIN. Mr. President, today I wish to honor Phil Neuenfeldt, 
president of the Wisconsin State AFL-CIO,

[[Page S6274]]

on his retirement. Throughout his long and remarkable career, Phil has 
been a passionate champion of fair wages and safe work environments for 
hard-working Wisconsinites.
  After serving our country in the U.S. Navy from 1969 to 1971, Phil 
began his career on the shop floor of a manufacturing company. He 
joined International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Local 1916 
in 1973 and quickly became indispensable in the union's fight for fair 
contracts and improved working conditions. In his 32 years at the 
Wisconsin AFL-CIO, Phil's responsibilities grew from legislative 
director to secretary-treasurer and finally to president in 2010.
  Phil Neuenfeldt has long been one of Wisconsin's strongest voices for 
the middle class and greatest protectors of fundamental freedoms for 
working people. Phil believes unequivocally in the dignity of work and 
the responsibility of employers to pay wages that can support a family, 
and he believes with every fiber of his being that workers deserve a 
seat at the bargaining table.
  Of his many accomplishments, Phil is perhaps best known for the 
Wisconsin Regional Training Partnership and Worker Centered Learning, 
which are programs he helped initiate that have become national models 
for job creation and training. He was also instrumental in defending 
the Family and Medical Leave Act, ensuring workers and families are 
protected when life circumstances required them to take care of loved 
ones. Phil is also known for pushing legislation to require public 
schools to teach the history of the labor movement, ensuring that 
generations to come would know the celebrated history of organized 
labor.
  Phil deserves to be proud of his outstanding leadership during some 
of labor's most tumultuous times in State history. Facing unprecedented 
attacks on worker protections and the right to bargain collectively in 
2011, he steered the Wisconsin labor movement through rough waters 
while the Nation looked on. Thanks to his leadership and perseverance, 
the Wisconsin labor movement is back on the rise, once again building a 
stronger middle class and restoring faith in the American dream.
  Today, as Phil retires as president of the Wisconsin AFL-CIO, I know 
he will never give up the fight that has made him the voice of those 
who work hard for a living. His engagement, his activism and his 
efforts to organize for change are a true reflection of Wisconsin's 
progressive traditions. I will be forever grateful for Phil's 
passionate and loyal advocacy on behalf of Wisconsin workers and 
forever honored to call him my friend.

                          ____________________