Labor Arts Org Honors Trumka, Lucy & Nussbaum

(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)

Calling for “a new era of art celebrating working people,” AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka (at right) Tuesday night was among the honorees at the annual Labor Heritage Foundation’s “Evening of Labor Honors” fundraiser. Also receiving awards were longtime labor leader and civil rights activist William “Bill” Lucy, President of the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists (CBTU) and former AFSCME Secretary-Treasurer, and Working America Director Karen Nussbaum, whose organizing work among office workers inspired the popular film and song “9 to 5″. The Labor Heritage Foundation, founded in 1983, promotes the arts and culture of working people, among other things sponsoring the annual Great Labor Arts Exchange and Conference on Creative Organizing in which union and social justice activists participate in programs that combine union mobilization and outreach with songs, skits, art, poetry, theater, posters, cartoons and film. “We could all use a little bit of inspiration right now,” said Trumka at the fundraiser, which also featured bring-down-the-rafters performances by Beverly Holton and Renee Barnes as well as a dramatic reading by Poet Mark Nowak, author of Coal Mining Elementary. - report/photo by Chris Garlock; photo: Trumka with LHF Chair Elise Bryant (c) and Executive Director Darryl Moch (l)