MORAL FUSION LEADERSHIP AWARDS RECAP
Opening remarks by our Executive Director, Rev. E. West McNeill:
It’s a cliche at this point to say that the last year plus has been challenging. The pandemic is persisting longer than most of us ever imagined, and it continues to shape how we are able to organize. Nevertheless, there is a lot to celebrate when we think about how Labor-Religion Coalition and the other organizations here tonight have been able to adapt, to grow, and to win significant victories. Tonight we are celebrating in particular honorees who have been on the front lines of responding to the COVID-19 pandemic. This pandemic has exposed and exacerbated the inequalities and injustices that we have been fighting for decades. It has been absolutely devastating, and it’s not over yet. And yet confronting this pandemic has also prompted incredible creativity, compassion and courage. People have come together in extraordinary ways to take care of one another.
Congratulations to all of our Moral Fusion Leadership Award Recipients and thank you for your leadership!
From left to right. Moral Fusion Awardees: Mark Emanatian (Capital District Area Labor Federation) and Sister Betsy VanDeusen (Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Albany), the Workers at Pindar Vineyards (RWDSU/UFCW Local 338), the Albany Medical Center Nurses (NYSNA), and School Related Professionals (NYSUT)
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JOE HILL
Finally, we wanted to lift up that today is the anniversary of the execution of Joe Hill. Hill was a labor organizer and hero of the workers of the world. His poetry and endless striving to uplift the workers of the world continues on. Today we fight on for a living wage, the right to form unions, and the dignity and humanity of every living soul.