"We Can Make a Difference" Says Trades Unionist of the Year Jimmy Tarlau
Monday, March 17, 2014
(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)
“We have to
do something different,”
CWA 2-13’s Jimmy Tarlau
said Saturdaynight
as he accepted the 2013 JC Turner Award
for Outstanding Trades Unionist of
the Year at the 37thannual Evening
with Labor. “We cannot just keep
on getting the same people elected and expect
that we’re going to get different
results. We have to take control of
what we do politically.
We have to make sure that the candidates we
support talk about expanding labor
rights and correcting economic inequality in
our country and our state – not
just in union halls but door to door when
they’re talking to potential voters.”
Tarlau, a CWA District 2-13 Vice-President and
Mount Rainier City Councilmember
who’s now running for a seat in the Maryland
Assembly, said that “We have to be
the ones who take the lead in Annapolis. That
is why Cory McCrayfrom the IBEW is
running for State Delegate in Baltimore; that
is why Veronica Turner from 1199
is running for State Senator in District 26,
and Larry Greenhill from IBEW is
running for State Delegate in District 25 in
Prince George’s County, and that
is why I am running for State Delegate in
District 47A. We are
challenging the status quo because we are not
getting the results we need. This
year there are a handful of us running for
state office. Next time there
should be over two dozen labor
candidates. We can make a difference.”
Other award-winners included the IBEW (Thomas
M. Bradley Community Services
Award), Reverend Curry (Outstanding Citizen
Award), Unite Here 23 (Golden
Picket Sign) and AFGE 17 (Organizing Award).
Maryland Lt. Governor Anthony
Brown and DC Mayor Vincent Gray were among the
dozens of area politicians
attending the event, at which more than 800
local union leaders, members and
activists enjoyed an evening of schmoozing,
dining and dancing.
- Chris Garlock; photos by Bill
Burke/Page One