The St. Louis Coalition of Black Trade Unionists (CBTU) Chapter held its 41st Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Human Rights Awards Banquet on January 21 at the Sheet Metal Workers Local 36 Union Hall. Four hundred and fifty guests braved the cold winter night to attend the gala honoring Dr. King’s birthday and to pay tribute to the 2019 awardees.
Speakers included state Senators Jamilah Nasheed and Karla May; St. Louis Recorder of Deeds Michael Butler; Reverend Tommie Pierson Sr., pastor of Greater St. Mark Family Church; and Mike Louis, president of the Missouri AFL-CIO. Richard Womack Jr., assistant to AFL-CIO International President Richard Womack, served as the keynote speaker.
Chapter President Jay Ozier, presented awards to LaKenya Roberson, Richard von Glahn, Sonja Gholston-Byrd and Keith Robinson.
LaKenya Roberson is staff organizer for the United Food & Commercial Workers Union Local 655. Roberson served as the St. Louis city field director for the We Are Missouri Campaign to defeat Prop A Right to Work (RTW). Her stellar dedication and hard work led to 88 percent African Americans voting NO against RTW (for less) in St. Louis city.
Richard von Glahn, Policy director for Jobs with Justice, was recognized for spearheading the ballot initiatives to Raise Missouri Minimum Wage (Prop B) and CLEAN – Amendment 1 to clean up Missouri politics.
Sonja Gholston-Byrd, director of Labor Engagement for the United Way of Greater St. Louis, was recognized for her tireless dedication to support the St. Louis Building Trades, Building Union Diversity (BUD) Program to increase minorities and women into the Building Trades through a mentoring program that connects BUD graduates with experienced minorities and women Tradespersons.
Keith Robinson, president of the St. Louis A. Phillip Randolph Institute (APRI) Chapter, was honored for his staunch efforts to increase voter participation in the St. Louis metro area with strong emphases on high school and college students, in addition to a stellar program to provide rides to the polls for those without transportation.
“We can best express our love for Dr. King and the things he so courageously stood for by rededicating ourselves to the struggle for jobs and better working conditions,” Ozier said, “to the struggle for peace, to the struggle for social, economic and racial justice and to the struggle to free all political prisoners.”
