Public Employee Press

Civil rights honor to Lee Saunders

AFSCME Secretary-Treasurer Lee Saunders received high honors April 6 from the National Action Network, the civil rights organization headed by the Rev. Al Sharpton.

"Nobody in the labor movement has been a more consistent fighter for the things we believe in," said Sharpton as he presented the Keeper of the Dream Labor Leader Award to Saunders.

In the award presentation, Saunders was cited as a fighter for diversity in AFSCME and the labor movement and championing the Next Wave movement to involve younger members active in the union and encourage future leaders.

Standing before a huge image of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Saunders reminded the audience that King had been assassinated in 1968 "supporting Memphis sanitation workers who were on strike to win a voice in deciding their pay and working conditions." The strikers were part of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, DC 37's national union. "And that's what we are fighting for today in Wisconsin, Ohio and across the nation against people who want to blame working families for the economic crisis they never caused," Saunders said.

Saunders was elected secretary-treasurer in July 2010 at AFSCME's convention in Boston.