Make nominations for Mother Jones Award

Dan Coffman, President of ILWU Local 21 in Longview, accepts the 2012 Mother Jones Award that was presented to his union.

The Mother Jones Award of the Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO, has been recognized for more than 15 years as the state labor movement’s award that recognizes our own members in their struggle for dignity and respect for all working men and women in our state. The WSLC has traditionally presented two awards, one to an individual and one to an organization.

Since this award’s inception, the Economic Development, Job Retention and Transportation Committee has had the honor of recommending recipients to the WSLC Executive Board. All WSLC-affiliated unions are urged to consider whether they know an individual and/or a labor organization who meets the criteria described above and make nominations for these awards.

The committee is looking for candidates who best exemplify the tradition of Mary “Mother” Jones’ immortal statement, “Mourn for the dead, but fight like hell for the living!”

Please download the Mother Jones Award nomination form and return it by July 1. You can mail it to the address on the form or submit it electronically to Caitlyn Jekel or Bill Messenger. Each submission should include a memo to the committee (200 words or less), describing why the nominating organization believes the individual or organization deserves to be recognized.

In 2012, the Mother Jones organizational award was presented to International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 21 and the individual award was presented to Charlie Best (OPEIU Local 8), Director of the King County Reemployment Support Center, AFL-CIO. Here is TVW coverage of those award presentations.

If you have questions or need further information about the Mother Jones awards, please contact WSLC WIA Labor Liaisons Bill Messenger or Caitlyn Jekel. Bill can be reached at 360.357.8736 (bmessenger@wslc.org) and Caitlyn can be reached at 360.705.9469 (cjekel@wslc.org).

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