District Council 37
NEWS & EVENTS Info:
(212) 815-7555
DC 37    |   PUBLIC EMPLOYEE PRESS    |   ABOUT    |   ORGANIZING    |   NEWSROOM    |   BENEFITS    |   SERVICES    |   CONTRACTS    |   POLITICS    |   CONTACT US    |   SEARCH   |   
  Public Employee Press
   

PEP April 2014
Table of Contents
    Archives
 
  La Voz
Latinoamericana
     
 

Public Employee Press

Roberts honored as
“Labor Trailblazer”


DC 37 Executive Director Lillian Roberts received an extraordinary honor Feb. 27 during the City Council’s Black History Month celebration at City Hall when Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito, Public Advocate Letitia James and the Council’s Black, Latino and Asian Caucus jointly presented her with their Lifetime Achievement Award.

Presenting the award to Roberts, the public advocate called her a “labor trailblazer” as District Council 37’s first black woman executive director. James pointed out that unions are under attack these days and said, “Anyone attacking DC 37 will find themselves up against one fierce woman — Lillian Roberts.”

“I started in the labor movement because I wanted to help people. I have spent 60 years of my life fighting for the rights of our members, because I know from my own life what it’s like not to get that support,” Roberts said. “I’m here today because people believed in me and helped me. Now we all have to stand up and fight the civil rights fight to eliminate unfairness from the civil service system so people will have the opportunities that we were denied.”

Also honored at the event were former Comptroller William Thompson Jr., New York State NAACP President Hazel Dukes, New York Urban League President Arva Rice, Bishop Ronald Bailey, attorney Khary Lazarre-White and School Crossing Guard Frances Brown. Brown, a member of DC 37’s Local 372 and a community activist in Red Hook, Brooklyn, for more than 20 years, received a community service award.

The celebration also included an African dance performance by members of the Bronx Youth Empowerment Program and a play honoring the late South African president Nelson Mandela. The East Harlem Repertory Theater presented the play, which was written by theater founder John Ruiz and Local 768 member Yolanda Brooks.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
© District Council 37, AFSCME, AFL-CIO | 125 Barclay Street, New York, NY 10007 | Privacy Policy | Sitemap