Over 700 Attend City of Justice Awards Dinner
LAANE Honors UNITE HERE President Bruce Raynor, L.A. City Councilwoman Janice Hahn and La Opinión
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| David Altschul, Co-chair of LAANE Resource Board, Madeline Janis, LAANE’s Executive Director, Bruce Raynor, honoree and president of UNITE-HERE, Stella T. Maloyan, LAANE Development Director, Vivian Rothstein, LAANE Deputy Director |
More than 700 people attended LAANE’s sixth-annual City of Justice Awards Dinner. To the applause of a full house of elected officials, community and labor leaders, students and workers, LAANE honored Los Angeles City Councilmember Janice Hahn, UNITE HERE International President Bruce Raynor, and the Spanish language daily newspaper La Opinión.
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| Honoree Councilmember Janice Hahn appears with co-emcee Rev. Jarvis Johnson. |
Hahn spoke movingly about the hotel workers, port truck drivers, and airline service workers she has come to know through years of advocating for better wages and working conditions for L.A.’s low-income workers. Henrik Rehbinder, accepting the honor for the Spanish language daily newspaper La Opinión, recounted how his newspaper began as a voice for poor immigrants and has since grown—along with the region’s Latino population—to speak for a large and diverse Spanish-speaking community.
Actor Danny Glover introduced Raynor, recounting their long friendship and their efforts to improve the livelihoods of working people across the country and abroad. Raynor commended LAANE for building a movement for economic fairness in Los Angeles and creating a national model for using organizing, coalition building, policy, research, and communications to improve the lives of working families. Raynor invited a group of striking Prudential laundry workers to join him on the stage, and they were greeted with a standing ovation. Another ovation recognized members of the striking Writers Guild.
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| Actor/Activist Danny Glover with a group of workers at the dinner. |
Held at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, the event opened with a stirring performance of World Latin Soul music by Cava. Rev. Jarvis Johnson and LAANE’s Resource Board Co-Chair Amy Wakeland emceed the program, which included a video commendation from Senator Edward Kennedy. In addition, there were two other videos shown, one that profiled a grocery worker and a hotel housekeeper, and another that highlighted the campaign to improve trucking jobs and clean up diesel exhaust at the Ports of L.A. and Long Beach. The event, which dramatically demonstrated the strength and solidarity of Los Angeles workers and community activists, exceeded attendance and fundraising goals.
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| Honoree Bruce Raynor, President of UNITE HERE, gave a stirring address. |
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| Editorial page editor Henrik Rehbinder accepted the award for La Opinión. |
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| Click below to watch a special video commendation to LAANE from Senator Edward M. Kennedy. |
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| Click below to view Voices of Courage: Stories From the Nation's Low-Wage Capital. |
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| Click below to view to view The Blue-Green Alliance: The San Pedro Ports and the New Movement to Fight Poverty and Pollution. |
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Once characterized as "Teamsters and Turtles," labor and environmentalists have worked together on workplace health and safety, environmental restoration and globalization. Obach examines why, when and how labor unions and environmental organizations either cooperate or clash. (MIT Press)
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