Mike Konopacki (1951- ) began labor cartooning for the student newspaper at the University of Wisconsin-Madison where he majored in political science. Later, he cartooned for the Madison Press Connection, a local Wisconsin daily created by striking newspaper workers in 1978, while driving buses for Madison Metro. Konpacki has also collaborated with writer Alec Dubro to write and illustrate several comic books. He was the co-author and illustrator for Howard Zinn’s A People’s History of the American Empire . Konopacki also works on web-based cartoons and animations, specializing in satire and corporate images and logos.
Gary Huck drew cartoons for Racine Labor in the 1970s, the longest domestic labor weekly in the US. He has been the political cartoonist for the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America (UE) in Pittsburg, PA since 1985, when he succeeded Fred Wright. Huck is the only full-time cartoonist employed by a union in the U.S. He is also the cartoon curator and graphic designer for arts group ArtUp. Huck was responsible for the Women’s Workers’ History column, which originally appeared in the UE News and was later reproduced for the Huck/Konopacki syndicated cartoon service, distributed as packets of cartoons.
In 1983 he and Konopacki created Huck/Konopacki Labor Cartoons, syndicating their cartoons to the labor press in the U.S. and Canada. Together, they have worked on six publications entitled Bye! American, THEM, MAD in USA, Working Class Hero, Two Headed Space Alien Shrinks Labor Movement and American Dread . Huck and Konopacki have different styles of drawing and use a variety of materials in their work. They have used ink, crayon, line screens, zip tones, and computer generated graphics. Their cartoons collectively cover labor movements, strikes and injustices across the country, often focusing on Wisconsin politics and teachers.
From the guide to the Gary Huck and Mike Konopacki Labor Cartoons Collection, Bulk, 1985-2010, 1982-2012, (Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archive)
