Heroes of the Labor movement from California and Missouri will jet in to join the seventh annual Irish Echo Irish Labor Awards in New York on 8 September.

Michael Louis, Business Representative and President of Missouri AFL-CIO, will be honored for a lifetime of service to working men and women at the gala event in the Edison Ballroom Manhattan.  

He will be joined by Kevin Norton of the IBEW Local 11 in California who has been nominated by Robbie Hunter, an Irish native and President of the California Building and Construction Trades Council in the Golden State.

Kevin Norton

Kevin Norton

The pair will join Irish Labor Leader of the Year 2017 John Samuelsen, national president of the TWU and a trailblazer in the proud tradition of Irish-born labor champion Mike Quill who organised the subway workers of New York. Chief guests will be Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams T.D.  and LiUNA President Terry O’Sullivan.

Three other honorees have also been named. They are:

Kerry Broderick, President of the White Plains Teachers Association, New York.

Christine O’Connor, Senior Director of Labor Accounts, Emblem Health, New York.

Christine O'Connor

Christine O'Connor

Denis Kilduff of the International Union of Elevator Constructors Local 1, New York-New Jersey and a stalwart of the Friendly Sons of the Shillelagh in Old Bridge, NJ.

The names of the final five honorees will be released next week.

The gala event is being sponsored by LiUNA and the Californian Building and Construction Trades Council.

Tickets are priced at $375 are available online here.

Additionally for tickets, you can call Tracey Quilligan on 212-482-4818 or email tquilligan@irishecho.com.

To see full details of the awards or go to IrishEcho.com.