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… Chicago, IL Sister Nancy Riche's lifelong commitment to workers' and women's rights has improved the lives of workers around the globe. She has been instrumental in promoting women's equality throughout the trade union movement. Sister Riche's dedication to protecting the rights of workers provides an inspiration to the global trade union movement. Her tireless efforts to … privatization, women's and human rights, and political action. For her lifetime of union activism, leadership and tireless work to improve the lives of working women around the world, the AFL-CIO is pleased to award the 2002 George Meany-Lane …

… from his sixty years of leadership on Catholic social teaching. The many union organizers and leaders who were privileged to know him and were aided directly by his counsel revered him for his intellect and tenacity B even if some days we were on the receiving end of a lesson or two. Msgr. George Higgins was always delivering a message - sometimes welcome to his listeners and sometimes the other kind - and so he seemed to be doing one last time in life when he passed away on May … planning to build upon the relationship George constructed and maintained through unique example. Today, when the right to organize remains under assault here and abroad, when minimum wage laws are weakened or eroded, when globalization of …

… New Orleans, Louisiana U.S. trade negotiators at the World Trade Organization (WTO) are currently seeking to expand an existing trade agreement called the General Agreement on Trade in Services, or GATS. Negotiators are not only … unions and other civil society groups from around the world. The assessment is necessary to guide negotiators in their work and to enable politicians and the public to provide educated input into these negotiations. As a condition of future … the core labor standards, which are defined by the International Labor Organization to include freedom of association, the right to organize and bargain collectively, and prohibitions on child labor, forced labor, and discrimination in employment. …

… corporate failures in American history, working families are not a priority. Unless our unions drive an agenda to create and maintain good jobs, to protect and strengthen retirement security, health care and education and to hold … as our airports, railroads, water, sewage, public health and energy systems, are in terrible shape. Too many women and men work hard every day, but receive only poverty wages regardless of how much we actually need and value their work. And too … honesty and decency in our corporate culture. And we will insist on respect for the rights of ALL workers, including the right to make a free choice to join with others in a union. 6. Improve and protect public education. A good education is a …

… West Coast. The union is negotiating with the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA), the employer group that is attempting to slash workers' health benefits and introduce new technology aimed at outsourcing union jobs. Other employers, such as Wal-Mart, Home Depot and Target, have joined together in the West Coast Waterfront Coalition to support the PMA. The ILWU contract with PMA expired on July 1, 2002. In a show of good faith, the ILWU has continued to … the Bush Administration to extricate itself from this legitimate labor dispute and adopt a position of non-intervention. · Work with the ILWU to support upcoming mobilization efforts and Labor Day rallies in support of the longshore workers' …

… Chicago, IL The most significant challenge facing the labor movement is to reverse the decline in union density and begin growing American unions once again. We cannot hope to accomplish our … resources into organizing, by adopting new strategies in organizing campaigns, by linking their bargaining and political work to organizing goals, by recruiting and training a new generation of organizers, by building strong links to the … is the next challenge we face. Finally, we must conduct this unified effort within a larger struggle to restore the right to form a union to American society. This will require a substantial political effort to achieve a change in our …

… New Orleans, LA Bill Wynn dedicated his life to the service of working men and women through building a strong, growing, progressive and politically active labor … Bill Wynn established an organization that gave workers a unified voice in the food industry, from the packing house to the grocery store–and, brought union representation to workers in health care, department stores, boot and shoe, fur and leather, and banking and insurance. He brought service …

… WHEREAS, after more than two years on strike, 750 workers have achieved justice, a fair contract and have returned to work at Basic Vegetable Products/ConAgra in King City California; and WHEREAS, the strike was forced on the predominantly Latino workforce by management which demanded a wage freeze, the right to subcontract work, and to change half of the workforce from full- to part-time employment; and WHEREAS, Basic …