All eyes will be the Edison Hotel, Manhattan on 12 September when the cream of Irish America's labor leaders will be spotlighted at the 15th annual Irish Echo Labor Awards.
This year's 12 honorees represent unions across a myriad of trades from stevedores to carpenters and from teachers to engineers.
And for the first time, the event will feature the presentation of a Lifetime Achievement Award. Inaugural recipient Jim McNamara, chief of staff at the International Longshoremen's Association has been in the trenches with the ILA for over 40 years. He also shares a special connection to the Irish Echo, having honed his skills as a junior reporter with this paper back in the late seventies and early eighties.
Former Sinn Féin leader and architect of the Irish peace process Gerry Adams will address the Awards gala from Belfast. Gerry Adams addressed the first Irish Labor Awards which took place in Bobby Van's of Wall Street - where James Connolly once organised. (See video from that event below.)
Joining the Pantheon of standout Irish labor leaders previously honored at our annual gathering will be:
- Jason Winter (NJ) – Director of Safety & Training, USMX.
- Shaun Murphy (NY) – Council Representative, NYC District Council of Carpenters.
- Mary Jane Bertram (NY) – Hudson Valley Regional Director, Workforce Development Institute.
- Suzanne Hughes Fuller (NY) – Administrator, Town of Harrison Dept. of Building Code Enforcement and Fire Prevention; CSEA Local 860/Unit 9240 President.
- Thomas Cleary (NY) – President, Local Union No. 3, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.
- Kansas Asadoorian, Welder, UA Local 21 plumbers and steamfitters.
- Thomas Hurley (NJ) – Council Representative, Eastern Atlantic States Regional Council of Carpenters; President, Local 253; VP, Hudson County Building Trades.
- Jennifer Flynn (NY) – EEO/Management, Con Edison.
- Trevor Holloway (NY) – Senior Estimating Manager, AECOM Tishman.
- Patrick Kelleher (NJ) – Business Agent, Plumbers Local 24.
- Kansas Carey Asadoorian (NY) – Welder, HVACR Local 21/Plumbers/Steamfitters.
- Greg Lalevee (NJ) – Operating Engineers Local 825, Business Manager.
- David O’Brien Suetholz of Kentucky, General Counsel with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, will be this year's recipient of our Irish Peace and Unity Ambassador award in recognition of his commitment to the cause of Ireland.
"This is a unique celebration of the Irish contribution to the Irish labor movement, past and present," said Irish Echo publisher Máirtín Ó Muilleoir.
"It's true to say, that without the Irish the labor movement in the U.S. would not have scored so many successes in the past but it's also a fact that the Irish are disproportionately represented at the very highest level of today's top unions. To see the proof of that, you need to look no further than Sean O'Brien's pioneering leadership of the Teamsters or Harold Daggett's trailblazing role with the ILA."
