The awards will be presented at LaborFest 2009 to be held at Caledonia—Mount Pleasant Memorial Park (a k a Franksville Park, at the intersections of Hwys K and H) on Sept. 7, at 3 p.m.
The award recipients are:
- Labor person of the year: Lenny Hand.
- Mr. and Mrs. Solidarity: State Rep. Cory Mason and his wife, Rebecca.
- Retiree of the year: Pat McManaway.
Over the past year, Lenny has been equally busy, serving in a variety of roles. Lenny and his wife, Janice, live in Mount Pleasant.
Cory Mason was born in Racine, and was elected to the state legislature in 2006. He has consistently been a passionate and articulate champion of organized labor, working across Wisconsin as a labor advocate, including as the political director for the state American Federation of Teachers (AFT-Wisconsin). The first bill Cory introduced in the legislature was to raise the state’s minimum wage and index it to inflation, which would increase wages for more than 225,000 workers statewide. In the recent state budget debate, he was one of the lead sponsors of the successful effort to expand collective bargaining rights to UW System faculty and academic staff, as well as championing provisions to require prevailing wages be paid on certain local government construction projects. He is the co-chair of the Racine/Kenosha I-94 Labor Development Committee.
Rebecca Mason is an attorney at Godfrey & Kahn in Milwaukee. She provides legal advice to labor unions and coalitions, regarding their political activities at the local, state and federal levels. Since 2004, Rebecca has worked with the national nonpartisan Election Protection Coalition to organize volunteers to monitor election day activities. She has been an advocate for equal coverage for prescription contraceptives.
The Masons live with their infant daughter, Eleanor, in Racine,
Pat McManaway started his union affiliation when he began working at Rainfair and then with Modine Manufacturing. In 1962, he joined J.I. Case, where he was a member of UAW Local 180 for over 36 years. In his first year of employment, Pat was elected as steward and served on the safety committee for three different plants. In 1968, he was elected to the bargaining committee, where two years later, he was elected as chairman; his duties included grievances and contract negotiations. Pat held this position for 27 years.
Retiring in 1999, Pat started working with and for UAW Local 180 retirees. Pat was chosen UAW Council 64 Trustee and is political election coordinator of the Racine county UAW Region 4. Pat and his wife, Ellen, live in Racine.
17 comments:
Hey guys is it just me or is The Post becoming a liberal spotlight publication.
Mr. and Mrs. Solidarity: State Rep. Cory Mason and his wife, Rebecca.
Can also be known as hacks for the worst Governor Wisconsin has even known.
Anon 6:04: It's just you.
But if you will kindly provide a list of those local organizations whose press releases we may disseminate without approbation, it would be most appreciated.
Far more then 6:04 Pete
Glad to see that backing Obama is the Post's #1 goal
The Post is definitely liberal. Cory Mason is the king of entitlements and should be voted out of office, not honored.
The Hands, the Masons and Pat are true friends of working people. They are chosen by the labor council, NOT the Post, (read the article, Anon 9:55).
katy - unions are no friends to anyone - they have killed virtually every manufacturing job in Racine - look at the idiots at Mercury Marine - they'd rather be out of a job then to agree to concessions. If it weren't for the city and the rest of the business's that support Mecury Marine, I'd tell the executives to get the hell out of town. And my liberal comment was in response to 6:04 - so you read the comment before spewing.
Anon 12:07 If this "needs to be said," then try again, without the profanity.
Well Pete, I guess we're both screwed now because I can't remember what I said.
Anon 11:00 It was mostly the f-word, with some otherwise valid points. If you'll send me your email address, I'll send you a copy.
Are there going to be any airplane banners?
Pete's daughter works for Cory Mason. The Racine Post is just a front for Cory Mason. Keep an eye on what Mason is up to. He is always on the side of costing taxpayers more money.
They are all worthy recipients and excellent individuals that care about our community. Thanks for posting, Pete!
I love how people blame Unions, the Labor Movement brought us every favorable benefit we have. I guess you don't like a livable wage, vacation, 40 hour work week, overtimes, workers rights, I could go on and on.
Or I bet you would prefer have your boss lock you into work like they did to the women of the Dress shops back in the day? And the only working bathroom is in a different building!
I applaud everyone and anyone who stands up for the working class people. And I would like to congratulate the Mason's on receiving this reward.
This is to Anonymous here is a history lesson for you: http://usgovinfo.about.com/bllabor.htm and if you are so against Labor Day I am sure your employer will gladly take back your holiday pay.
This event was not paid for by any taxpayer dollars and was a wonderful event where virtually everything was free.
You probably should have been in Sheboygan yesterday where they were protesting instead of celebrating all American Workers.
I am grateful for holiday pay, vacation time and every other benefit afforded to me through my employer so if I have a union to thank for these so be it! I am first and foremost an American and we support each other in good times and bad, unless you plan on moving Anonymous gripping is going to do you no good. As far as loss of jobs in Racine - they moved due to Corporate Greed not because of the workforce. Racine has a great workforce.
To Penny - You hit the nail on the head. I couldn't have said it better. All 3 of these recipients are well deserving of these awards. They give tiredlessly of themselves thru volunteerism and their dedication to making things better for their fellowman and woman.
Labor Day is a creation of the labor movement and is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers.
It is a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country. That is what Labor Day is about.
To Anonymous - Unions didn't kill anything. The Greed of the big Corporations is what killed Racine. Why is it that the workers should have to accept concessions to keep their jobs while at the same time corporate executives reap huge bonuses for running a company into the ground? A worker by accepting concessions may be able to keep/save his or her job for a short time, but in the end all concessions do is help lower the overall cost to the companies to move on. In other words, concessions pay for the move. Corporate Greed does not go away because of concessions, the greed grows. When is the last time you were faced with a 30% wage concession?
I am sick and tired of hearing that its because of the workers wages, the workers benefits, the workers this or the workers that, that caused the company to close down. Could it just once be that the company was mismanaged?
For several years now, American Workers have been wrapped up in a "Race to the Bottom". It is a humiliating race that is sweeping across the country like an out of control cancer. Workers throughout America need to stand together and put the brakes on. This "Race needs to be stopped".
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