‘We have a fight in front of us’

CBTU Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Human Rights Awards banquet honors workers’ justice, Labor leaders

By TIM ROWDEN
Editor-in-Chief

St. Louis – Union leaders, members and civic leaders gathered at Sheet Metal Workers Local 36’s Grand Union Hall Jan. 15 for the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists (CBTU)-St. Louis Chapter’s 44th Annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Human Rights Awards banquet.

This year’s honorees included:

• Rev. Dr. Teresa Danieley, Champions organizer, Missouri Jobs with Justice;
• Earline Jones, retired CWA 6300 and founding member of CBTU-St. Louis; and
• John May, retired UAW Local 110 and founding member CBTU-St. Louis.

The theme of the evening was “When We Vote, We Win” and speakers, including Missouri State Senator Karla May (D-St. Louis) and keynote speaker American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) President Everett Kelley made that clear in entreaties to the assembled union members and Labor supporters to vote, to organize and reach out to their contacts, friends and neighbors about the importance of participating this year’s election.

‘CANNOT SIT THIS ONE OUT’
May started with a warning about the agenda of the Republican party at the state and national level.

“We cannot afford to sit this one out,” May said. “Republicans are turning back the clock, and we need to move forward. They are attacking women’s reproductive rights, and they’re trying to criminalize them. They are attacking everybody… LGBTQI rights… They are attacking everything, all rights in the state of Missouri.

“If you look at all the bills that have been passed, they are removing African American literature from our public schools. So we have to stand up and be vigilant in 2024. We have to take the fight to them.,” she said.

“If you just do your block on your street, that will be powerful enough. If you can just organize or touch the people that are in your contacts on your phone and tell them we need to get out the vote, that will be powerful enough. But I’m telling you, if you sit this one out, you’re going to regret it. If we sit this one out, we’re going to be turned into a dictatorship and we’re going to lose our individual freedom.”

‘WE HAVE A FIGHT IN FRONT OF US’
The importance of participating in this year’s elections cannot be overstated.

“We have a fight in front of us,” said Kelley in his keynote address. “For those who know that we’ve got fights and those who will fight, we have a fight at the bargaining table, in Congress in the state House, all throughout this country and yes, at the ballot box. We have our work cut out for us in 2024.

“We’re still on Dr. King’s journey, brothers and sisters, a journey for justice, a journey for equality. The political landscape we see before us today is dotted with both progress and setbacks, it’s dotted with victories, and it’s dotted with struggles.

“Our politics are still beset by those who want to suppress the voices of millions of working Americans,” Kelley said. “Brothers and sisters, it’s our task in these times to channel the prophetic spirit of Dr. King, to see his vision, to see clearly the problems before us, to see clearly the path of righteousness, to see clearly how far we have strayed from justice, but never ever losing hope. Dr. King’s vision reminds us that no matter how tough the fight gets, we’ve got to keep on marching. We have to keep on speaking up.

“We  can’t forget those who are out there right now, who are fighting on the opposite side, whose vision is to seize the power of government and turn it into  weapon of retribution, a weapon of hatred; who claim to love America more than any other; whose patriotism is unparalleled, but you only ever hear them talk about what they hate in this country. They say they love America, but they hate the liberals; they say they love America, and the Republicans… they hate the minority groups, and the immigrants and the unions, and they go on and on and on. And they’re always ready to tell you something they hate about the country that they say they love. They say they love America but they hate everyone in America. If they seize power again, they keep telling us what they’re going to do.

“They want to crush workers, the power of Labor. They want to do it once and for all,” Kelley said. “We need to get to work today and re-elect Joe Biden and Kamal Harris as president and vice president of the United states of America.

“We need to let the world know in 2024 that we’re never going to give up our democracy, that we’re  never going to give up our unions, that we’re never going to surrender to dictatorship, that we’re never going to backslide and let Dr. King’s light be snuffed out. We will never, ever do it. We’re going to follow in his footsteps. We all rise together. We will unite, and we will fight them.”

U.S. Congresswoman Cori Bush (D-1st District) was also scheduled to speak but was out of town and unable to get a flight due to the weather.

THE REV. DR. TERESA DANIELEY
The Rev. Dr. Teresa Danieley (right) with CBTU-St. Louis President Jay Ozier, works as the statewide Champions Organizer at Missouri Jobs with Justice and is a proud member of the United Media Guild, TNG-CWA Local 36047.

Danieley has been ordained for more than 20 years and serves as the secretary of the International Episcopal Church’s General Convention Task Force on Imagining a Church Grounded on Social Justice as a Christian Ministry, the missioner for public policy at the Episcopal Diocese of Missouri, a priest associate at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, St. Louis, the President of the Mann Elementary PTO in St. Louis Public Schools, the president of the board of Sanctuary in the Ordinary, which focuses on affordable housing and development, and a clergy counselor with Faith Aloud.

Danieley earned a Bachelor of Arts from Yale University and Master of Public Policy (MPP) from the University of Chicago, a Master of Divinity (MDiv) from General Theological Sanctuary and Doctor of Ministry (DMin) from Eden Theological Seminary.

She and her husband, Jonathan, are raising three children in the City of St. Louis. All three children attend St. Louis Public Schools.

EARLINE JONES
Earline Jones (right) with CBTU-St. Louis President Jay Ozier,  has a rich Labor heritage, starting her career in 1973 with the United Telegraph Workers Union (UTW), serving as shop steward, local vice president and president. She was elected the Southwest Regional vice president prior to the merger of UTW with the Communications Workers of American in 1985.

Jones joined the St. Louis Chapter of CBTU more than 50 years ago, and is one of the founders of the chapter. She also has served on the chapter executive board and as a trustee and sergeant-at-arms.

Her current affiliations include serving as CWA District president of the Retired Members Council; executive board member and first vice president of the Greater St. Louis Labor Council, AFL-CIO; board president of the Missouri Alliance for Retired Americans Education Fund; vice president of the CWA Local 6300 Retired Members Chapter; and CBTU.

Her past affiliations include serving as a National Bargaining United member for the Western Union Employees Board of Directors; serving on the Board of Directors of Girl Scouts of Eastern Missouri; serving as a board member at Mary Ryder Home; serving the Coalition against Racist Political Repression and the A. Philip Randolph Institute (APRI); and serving as a member of the University of Missouri Extension, St. Louis County.

JOHN MAY
John May (right) with CBTU-St. Louis President Jay Ozier, has been a member of CBTU for the past 50 years and is one of the founders of the St. Louis chapter of CBTU. He has served on numerous standing committees and served on the executive board of  CBTU-St. Louis Chapter for the first 10 years of the chapter’s 50 year history.

May was hired at the Chrysler Assembly Plant in Fenton, Mo., in 1964, and September 2024 will mark 60 years with the United Auto Workers union. He was one of the founders of the Black Employees for Equity – Black Caucus at the Chrysler Truck Assembly Plant. With the filing of Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) complaints, the caucus was successful in breaking down racial barriers in hiring for the assembly lines and skill trades, and through careful record keeping was able to show the racial bias in disciplinary procedures, promotions and supervision. As a result of the caucus EEOC complaint and suit, the first women were hired in 1970 to work on the assembly line for the first time since the 1950 Korean War.

May was also elected to the UAW Local 110 election committee, executive board, and as a delegate to the UAW 1977 constitutional convention in Los Angeles, Calif.

May was also a noted baseball player with the Igoe Stars and Matthew Dickey Knights and is a member of the St. Louis Baseball Amateur Hall of Fame.