Ed Finkelstein
Template:TOCnestleft Cara Spencer is a St. Louis Missouri activist.
2017 Hershel Walker Peace and Justice Awards
A diverse crowd of 170 gathered at the Painter’s Union District Council 58 hall to honor five labor and community leaders receiving the Hershel Walker ‘Peace and Justice’ Awards Breakfast May 13, 2017.
The annual awards breakfast was commissioned to commemorate the extraordinary life of St. Louis trade unionist and civil rights leader Hershel Walker, who dedicated over 60 years to the labor, peace, and justice movements.
This year’s Hershel Walker ‘Peace and Justice’ awardees were:
Cara Spencer: Alderwoman of the 20th Ward and director of the Consumer Council of Missouri, a non-profit advocating for consumers over corporate profits. Cara has passed the toughest legislation regulating payday lenders in the country and focuses her efforts on vacancy, affordable-housing, and community safety.
Rep. Bruce Franks, Jr.: Democratic representative for the city’s 78th legislative district in the Missouri House of Representatives. He was elected to his first two-year term in November 2016. Bruce is a small-business owner, was appointed Police Community Liaison by the St. Louis police chief, and founded 28 to life, a local youth violence prevention organization.
Richard Von Glahn: Policy director for Missouri Jobs with Justice, Richard first got involved in the labor movement while a student at Washington University-St. Louis by helping to establish the Student Worker Alliance at the university. The students living wage campaign eventually secured over $2 million in salary increases for university support staff.
Ed Finkelstein: Publisher of the St. Louis/Southern Illinois Labor Tribune, one of the few remaining weekly labor newspapers in the country. Ed joined the Labor Tribune when he was 14 years old. After graduating from the University of Missouri-Columbia School of Journalism in 1959 he served six years as an information officer with the Strategic Air Command in Wyoming and England. In 1970, Ed took over management of the Tribune and restored its aggressiveness and coverage of local and national labor news.
Jay Ozier: President and founding member of the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists-St Louis Chapter. Jay is a member of the Carpenters Union local 92, and for decades has been a champion for human, labor, and civil rights.
The awards ceremony was hosted by the Missouri/Kansas People’s World and the St. Louis Workers’ Education Society.[1]