The Irish Echo Labor Awards is one of the best nights of the year. Not only does it give you an insight into the Labor movement in America, it offers a glimpse into the soul of the nation itself.
At the 2016 Awards I realized for the first time that Donald Trump would win the upcoming presidential election. This occurred when a union leader unequivocally stated that while leadership was sticking with Hillary Clinton, membership was largely pro-Trump.
His sentiment was echoed by an attendee who bellowed down the bar, “Yeah, where I’m from, everyone’s voting Trump.”
This year I don’t think I heard the president’s name mentioned at the Edison Ballroom, except for one sotto voce remark accompanied by an expletive.
No, the people of the hour were James Connolly, Big Jim Larkin, Mike Quill and Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, all of whom were hailed both from the stage and the bar.
Workers’ rights were trumpeted, along with calls for unity against oligarchs (a word rarely uttered at previous Labor Awards).
There was a sense of urgency in the air and a conviction that unions, along with other institutions, were being worn down by the avalanche of money and power that has accrued to mega-corporations. It was time for a new beginning. And you could feel it throughout the ballroom.
Friends from San Francisco, LA, Chicago, Buffalo, Boston, Cincinnati, New York and New Jersey came to support newly minted ambassadors and cheered lustily for their favorites.
My sole duty was to introduce John Gardiner, President/Business Manager of Ironworkers Local #1, Chicago. In his sterling acceptance speech John left no doubt that in order to look after the interests of his union brothers and sisters he had to be involved in the thick of local politics.
The most poignant moments at every Labor night are the farewells to recently deceased comrades, the like of Terrence “Terry” Fitzmaurice, Business Manager/Secretary-Treasurer of Painters District Council 14, Chicago.
When Terry was saluted from the stage you could appreciate the full arc of this valued union member’s life, from being hired as a painter at O’Hare Airport to serving as a trustee for the Chicago Building Trades. You got to share with his loving family what the union meant to them, how membership provided stability and support through good times and bad.
You also learned just how foundational the Irish were to the cause of trade unionism in the US. It wasn’t just the contributions of secular saints like Connolly, Larkin, Quill and Flynn – but during each ambassador’s acceptance speech, you heard of a grandfather or father arriving on these shores, and getting his first leg-up from poverty and aloneness by joining a union.
Each middle-class person receiving an award could trace their piece of the American Dream back to a striving immigrant who had the good fortune to join a union.
Perhaps the defining aspect of this year’s awards was the presence of so many women. Marie Drumm, formerly of the Biden White House, now a media coordinator for the Teamsters,
displayed her sharp communication skills on stage, while Cyndie Williams talked movingly about her love for both her carpentry profession and all things Ireland.
Speaking of which, Ethel Buckley flew in from the old country. This dynamic Deputy General Secretary of SIPTU (a union whose roots go back to the hardscrabble days of Larkin and Connolly) gave a riveting speech about the history and politics of Irish trade unionism, and the necessity of US and Irish union solidarity.
My favorite table was that supporting Michelle Healy who worked her way up from a bagger at a Stop & Shop in Quincy MA to currently running a national pensions and procurement reform campaign. Cheered on by Mary Kay Henry and other radical women friends, you could feel the rebel-girl spirit of Elizabeth Gurley Flynn in their midst.
Irish Echo publisher Máirtín Ó’Muilleoir deserves our heartfelt thanks for bringing us all together on such a remarkable night. Does anyone know more Irish-Americans, or hold them in such esteem as this Belfast force of nature?
Congratulations also to the evening’s MC, Editor Ray O’Hanlon, and his tireless Irish Echo staff. I hope we’ll all reunite at the 2027 Labor Ambassador Awards.
Long live the Irish Echo as it shines a spotlight on trade unionism, arguably the most vital institution in our rapidly changing society.
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