Pittsburgh, PA
For more than 50 years, from his first day as a member of the Masters, Mates and Pilots through his distinguished stewardship as president of the AFL-CIO, Lane Kirkland served the cause of justice, dignity, freedom and union for every working man and women.
Taking office as president of this federation as it reached its centennial — and with an ardent respect for the accomplishments of those who had preceded him — Lane Kirkland's strength, intellect and vision moved the American labor movement steadfastly into its second century, unified in spirit and resolute in purpose.
In his term of office, he met every rigorous challenge that he had set for himself and for our movement:
— to honor the past but prepare ourselves and our unions to face the demands of today with courage and resilience;
— to acknowledge essential change and respond with confidence and vigor to the challenges of the future; — to value the richness and variety within our movement and yet harness the formidable power of our solidarity as an awesome instrument for social progress;
— and to accept as our most important and enduring mandate the challenge to educate, agitate and above all else to organize.
For his dedicated stewardship of the labor movement through difficult and perilous economic and political adversity, for his personal dedication to human rights, social justice and freedom of association for every worker, for his diligent efforts to bring the American labor movement to the greatest unity in its history, for his fulfillment of his promise to widen the doors of leadership in this federation to women and people of every color and background, and for his courageous support for free trade unions around the world that helped to change the course of modern history, this 22nd Biennial Convention of the AFL-CIO rises in a vote of deepest gratitude and heartfelt thanks to our friend and brother, President Emeritus Lane Kirkland.