Delegates to the AFSCME 47th International Convention in Chicago passed resolutions Monday honoring three of our union s most prominent leaders.
The resolutions honored the legacies of AFSCME Secretary-Treasurer Emeritus Bill Lucy, retired CSEA/Local 1000 President Danny Donohue and retired New York District Council 37 Executive Director Lillian Roberts.
Lucy remains AFSCME’s longest-serving executive officer. He served as secretary-treasurer of AFSCME International for 38 years.
Throughout his career, he fought for civil rights, labor rights and against the apartheid regime in South Africa, helping secure the freedom of Nelson Mandela. He was president of Public Services International. And he is credited with coining the iconic “I AM A MAN” slogan during the historic 1968 Memphis sanitation workers’ strike, in which he was involved as an AFSCME representative.
Roberts left a legacy of breaking barriers. In 1964, she was first Black woman to serve as an AFSCME International vice president. She helped found the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists in 1972. And in 1981, became the first Black woman to serve as New York State industrial commissioner.
During her legendary leadership of DC 37 in New York, she fought on behalf of all public service workers and for civil and women’s rights.
Donohue was a respected leader in CSEA, AFSCME and the American labor movement. He served 25 years as CSEA president, winning reelection seven times. Under his leadership, CSEA added 25,000 independent child care providers, won a permanent COLA for retirees, passed a workplace violence prevention law and defeated efforts to contract out jobs.
He was humble and a working man at heart, despite the position of power he occupied and his clout in the labor movement.
