Education is the theme for this year’s Illinois Labor History Society (ILHS) Union Hall of Honor, Friday, December 2 at Operating Engineers Local 399 Hall in Chicago.
“Our honorees have educated students and union members, organized teachers and opened apprenticeship opportunities,” said ILHS President Larry Spivack. “We salute them for their long term efforts to elevate teachers and share the union message.”
The guest speaker is American Federation of Teachers’ President Randi Weingarten.
Honorees include the late Karen Lewis (1953-2021), who led the Chicago Teachers’ Union into community-based unionism. Karen began her Chicago Public Schools career as a high school chemistry teacher. Instead of just improving conditions for teachers, Lewis knew that decent schools needed a strong community base. She fought against school closings and confronted Mayor Rahm Emmanuel. Her example inspired teacher activism across the country, with community-based teacher walk-outs in Arizona and West Virginia.
John F. Penn is the Midwest Region Manager and a Laborers International Union of North America (LIUNA) Vice-President. In 1979 when Illinois passed a law requiring labor education in the schools, Penn led a Bloomington-based effort to develop teaching materials and outreach to local schools. In his current position, he sits on the union’s national apprenticeship and training board, the Illinois Laborers’ and Contractors’ joint apprenticeship board and the Railroad Training and Education Fund. For any Laborer killed on the job, the Midwest Region maintains a scholarship fund for their spouse and any surviving children.
Union members by the thousands have participated in training programs with the University of Illinois’ Labor Education Program. Professor Emeritus Ron Peters led this program for many years. He organized on-campus training efforts for numerous unions. At these sessions workers learned public presentation, grievance procedures, contract negotiations, labor history and multiple other topics. Plus the program sent labor educators across the state to lead workshops in local union hall. Ron’s affable manner reflected an attitude to work with unions, tailoring educational programs to their specific needs.
The late William Pelz was a long-time Elgin Community College history teacher, ILHS board member, and former director of the Institute for Working Class History in Chicago. Bill was a faithful ILHS board member, a willing volunteer ready to participate in any program. Bill was the author of A People’s History of Modern Europe, Wilhelm Liebknecht and German Social Democracy, The Eugene V. Debs Reader, and Against Capitalism: The European Left on the March.
The event is Friday, December 2 at Operating Engineers Local 399’s hall, 2260 S. Grove in Chicago. A cash bar opens at 5 p.m., the program begins at 6 p.m. Tickets are available for $100 for individuals, $75 for ILHS members. A table of ten is $900. Sponsorships and other opportunities are available, see Union Hall of Honor tickets.
The ILHS is the nation’s oldest popular labor history group, for 50-plus years publishing books, leading labor history tours and organizing special events to mark the unique stories of Illinois labor.