Hoffman honored as Illinois AFL-CIO’s ‘go-to’ legislator

Springfield, IL – State Rep. Jay Hoffman (D-Swansea) was honored as Labor’s “go-to” person in the legislature with the Zeke Giorgi Award at the recent Illinois AFL-CIO state convention, its first held by remotely due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Illinois AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Pat Devaney described Hoffman’s tireless efforts in May to make sure workers were protected during the pandemic through workers compensation, as well as those workers displaced by the resulting economic collapse.

The award is given to the lawmaker who best advances the cause of Organized Labor and working families, and is named for Edolo J. “Zeke” Giorgi, the longtime state representative and union member from Rockford who served from 1965 until his death in 1993.

Hoffman, now an assistant majority leader, has also been the Labor Committee chair, among other positions. He has a 93 percent lifetime voting record spanning nearly 30 years of public service.

DREA, DEVANEY ELECTED
Also at the convention, President Tim Drea and Devaney were elected to new terms. They had been appointed by the Executive Board in December to replace outgoing President Michael Carrigan and to fill the vacancy created by Drea’s move to president. They were elected by acclamation along with the Executive Board.

The two were nominated by their unions. UFCW Local 881 President Steve Powell nominated Drea, while Associated Fire Fighters of Illinois President Chuck Sullivan nominated Devaney.

Drea said the convention was successful despite having to be held online.

“The preparation and practice paid off,” he said. “This was the first convention done in this way and it worked. The delegates have given us a clear direction for the next two years. We now have to build off that momentum.”