Pat Barcas photo
CTU President Karen Lewis graciously delivered the keynote address at Sunday’s Union Hall of Honor awards, held at NALC Branch 11 headquarters on the south side of Chicago. Lewis said she believes there is one political party in America: the party of money.

By Pat Barcas
Staff Writer
Thursday, Dec. 6, 2012
     CHICAGO — The fight isn’t over, but three more warriors have been immortalized Sunday into the Illinois Labor History Society’s Union Hall of Honor, and now a new generation of labor fighters can pick up where they left off.
     “We need people to encourage our youth to become leaders. At the end, we will all have to answer for what we’ve done in this world. I don’t know about you, but I want to get there and say I did my best for those and the rest,” said Alvis Martin, field director, Illinois Federation of Labor as he spoke during the awards ceremony. “No matter what we do right here and today, we couldn’t have done it if it hadn’t have been for the likes of Frank, Ed, and Alice.”
     Inducted into the 2012 ceremony were Ed Sadlowski, Alice Peurala, and Frank Lumpkin.
     Sadlowski’s Steelworker Fight Back campaigns sought to bring democracy and progressive militancy squarely back into his union and the labor movement generally. Ed has been a notable workers’ champion for decades.
     Peurala fought discrimination against women at all levels of the industry. She became the first and only woman president of a basic steel local, USW 65 at South Works.
     Lumpkin led the Save Our Jobs effort after Wisconsin Steel closed its Chicago plant and refused to pay workers pay and benefits they were owed. After 17 years of fighting for justice, a settlement was won.
     Keynote speaker Karen Lewis, president of the Chicago Teachers Union, spoke of her beginnings as a union leader and how she still has humility.
     “Two and a half years ago, I was in the classroom. Two and a half years ago, I had no idea how all of our lives were changing. But I did know something had to change. Because of the attacks on public education and attacks on public services, because the attacks on working men and women seems to be relentless, and there seems to be no answers.
     Lewis said one must look at the history of labor to get the answers to current struggles. She said the 99 percent may not have the money, but they do have the votes.
     “No matter how much money and how much power they have, we have the numbers. We will never ever be able to compete on a level playing field with the ‘gazillionaires.’ But I don’t care how much money the heirs of Sam Walton have, each one of them have only one vote,” she said to applause.
     Lewis also cautioned against the political power of the wealthy.
     “I still believe there is one political party in this country — that is the party of money with two branches. I’m also reminiscent of something Lucy Parsons said, and I’ll paraphrase here: ‘Do not think for a minute that the rich will allow you to legislate their riches away from them.’”
     “We live in a time now where the wealth disparity is that of the robber-baron time period. The key thing is, they think nothing of killing us. Of putting our people in harm’s way. Of lethal working conditions. One thing that was interesting to me, is that during the strike, one thing that people always came up to me and said was, ‘What do you mean the schools are not all air conditioned?’ It’s a disconnect in our country from how some of us live, and how other people live. Which side are you going to be on?” she questioned.

Pat Barcas’ e-mail address is pat@foxvalleylabornews.com.