Appleton, Wis. – Outagamie County Executive and pro-labor populist candidate for U.S. Senate Tom Nelson today announced his endorsement from the union representing workers from Appleton Coated (now Midwest Paper Company), a 122-year-old paper mill he fought to save.
Nelson worked with union leaders to file a lawsuit to stop the mill from being shuttered and sold for parts after it was forced by a bank into receivership in 2017, instead resulting in a successful collaboration that saved more than 300 jobs.
The statement endorsing Nelson from the mill’s United Steelworkers Local 2-144 reads:
“Why stand with Tom Nelson you ask? Simple – because he stood with us and because he saved 300 plus paper mill jobs, and a mill that was destined to disappear is back up and running STRONG. Tom got the job done.”
Nelson, who wrote about the Appleton Coated fight in his 2021 book One Day Stronger, has been the most vocal and proven pro-union candidate from among the Democratic field seeking the nomination to take on anti-union extremist Sen. Ron Johnson, who admitted he didn’t care to lift a finger to help union workers fighting Oshkosh Defense to keep jobs in his own hometown from going to South Carolina.
“Local 2-144 is an inspiration to my candidacy and campaign and my main motivation to go to the Senate is to make sure we put workers first. Their victory showed me that workers in Wisconsin don’t need to lay down to big banks and corporations who want to shut down their jobs or politicians like Ron Johnson who are happy to cheer for the devastation of our working families,” Nelson said.
