Katie Jordan

Katie Jordan

Katie Jordan is a Chicago activist.

"Building Solidarity Against Corporate Attack", 1995

According to the People's Weekly World, June 24, 1995, Page 19, the PWW was holding a banquet themed on July 9 entitled "Building Solidarity Against Corporate Attack: Saluting Working Women & Men", Hickory Pit Restaurant, 2801 Halsted St., Chicago. "Guest Speaker" included:

• David Watts - president, UPIU Local 7837 of locked out Staley workers
• Larry Solomon - "Special Guest" - president, UAW Local 751, Decatur Caterpillar strikers
• Katie Jordan - president, \Chicago\ CLUW - honored working class activist
• Pat Ellis - labor/community activist - honored working class activist

"For information and tickets: "People's Weekly World Banquet 1995", 3116 S. Halsted St., Chicago, Ill, 60608, (312) - 842-5665"

Rally to Lower Gas Bills

In the winter of 2001, the gas bills for heating Chicago homes rose. Members of Bea Lumpkin's South Side Communist Club were angry too when they saw their huge gas bills. We agreed, anger is not useful unless it leads to effective action.

So on February 7, 2001, the Communist club took the first step to start the fightback. They talked to their coalition partners and together acted fast. Within a week they had a rally of 130 people to demand lower gas prices.

On February 13, 2001, USWA and Save Our Jobs Committee co-sponsored a rally in the steel union hall in South Chicago. They formed a new group, "Angry Utility Consumers." They included presidents of three USWA locals, Bea Lumpkin , Frank Lumpkin of Save Our Jobs Committee, Katie Jordan of Chicago Coalition of Labor Union Women; community leaders included Rev. Winfield Phillips, Free Salvation Missionary Baptist Church, Rev. Bill Hogan, Saint Bride Roman Catholic Church, and many block club presidents and members.

The next month (March) they brought a busload of protesters to a demonstration against Peoples Gas, a company owned by Peoples Energy. The company claimed they were not profiting from the rise in gas prices. At a later date, the Illinois attorney general proved the company had lied. Peoples Gas was forced to pay back the overcharge to their gas customers.

That demonstration was organized by Pat Quinn, later elected Illinois lieutenant governor. He became governor after Rod Blagojevich was removed. Other community groups came from Bridgeport, Back of the Yards (stockyards) and South Austin. That same evening, at our coalition strategy meeting, they were joined by State Senator Donne Trotter, who was asked to introduce a bill to extend the moratorium on gas shutoffs until the gas crisis ended. He promised to "look into" it.

Free Mumia Abu-Jamal

In 2008 Katie Jordan, Retiree-Advisor, UNITE HERE Local 5, Chicago, IL signed a statement circulated by the Partisan Defense Committee calling for the release of convicted “cop-killer” Mumia Abu-Jamal.

2002 Chicago PWW banquet

Kathy Kelly, two-time nominee for the Nobel Peace Prize, and Ishmael Flory, long-time member of the Communist Party USA, headed the list of honorees at the 2002 annual Chicago People’s Weekly World/Nuestro Mundo banquet. Barbara Moore, vice president of the Coalition to Protect Public Housing, and a representative of the Carousel Linen workers rounded out the list of those who had been nominated to receive the Chris Hani/Rudy Lozano Award.

William McNary, president of USAction, was be the keynote speaker. "People’s artist" Peggy Lipschutz and singer Christian Lens highlighted the afternoon’s cultural presentation.

“We are very proud of our honorees, keynote speaker and entertainers, all of whom represent the finest of today’s struggles for peace, justice and democracy,” John Bachtell, chair of the banquet committee, said. “They also represent the ideals for which Chris Hani and Rudy Lozano gave their lives.”

Bachtell said the banquet committee sees the event “as more than a fundraiser for the People’s Weekly World, important as that is. It is also planned as an opportunity to draw strength for a final push to defeat the right wing in this year’s election wars.”

Bachtell, organizer of the Illinois district of the Communist Party, said the election will be “even more crucial” if the Bush administration succeeds in its effort to win congressional approval for launching a war against Iraq. “We simply cannot allow such a crime to happen,” he said.

The Chris Hani/Rudy Lozano Award is named in honor of Chris Hani, one-time commander of the armed wing of African National Congress and General Secretary of the South African Communist Party, and Rudy Lozano, a Mexican-American activist and key player in the campaign that elected Harold Washington as Chicago mayor in 1983. Both were gunned down by assassins.

In addition to Bachtell, banquet sponsors included Rev. Willie Barrow, chair, Rainbow/PUSH Coalition board of directors; Chicago Alderman Theodore Thomas; Katie Jordan, president, Chicago Coalition of Labor Union Women; Rep. Bobby Rush; and Tom Balanoff, president, SEIU Local 1.

Doors opened at 2 p.m., Oct. 20, at the Three Happiness Café, 2130 S. Wentworth.

Supporting the People's World

The Chicago Communist Party USA 22nd Annual People’s World Banquet Dec. 6, 2009, at the Parthenon Restaurant. Several thousand dollars was raised for the PW Fund Drive from "supporters who dug deep despite the hard economic times".

The attendees, a rainbow crowd of labor, community and religious activists, entered the festive room to the sounds of the jazz trio, Lovers in Arms and a running slide show of photos from struggles over the past year.

The program was emceed by Katie Jordan, president of Chicago Coalition for Labor Union Women.

She said it was vital for all progressive organizations to share in solidarity and CLUW was excited to be supporting the PW. She said the PW was a unique new source whose voice was needed now more than ever.

People's World 23rd Annual Banquet

Katie Jordan, Amy Dean at the event

More than 100 labor, community, religious, environmental and equal rights activists celebrated the People's World 23rd Annual Banquet in Chicago, Dec. 5 2010.

Despite the frigid temperatures outside supporters turned up the heat for justice inside as they wined and dined at the Lee Wing Wah restaurant in Chinatown honoring this year's theme, "Let's put people back to work: Rebuild America."

The event was dedicated to two great women who recently died: Dr. Margaret Burroughs, artist and co-founder of the historic DuSable Museum of African American history; and veteran peace and justice activist Joan Elbert.

Katie Jordan, president of Chicago Coalition of Labor Union Women, welcomed all and said of the internationally-celebrated Burroughs that she "was adamant about her legacy and the legacy of African American people. She taught that our roots were not born in slavery, but born in the heart of a land that had kings and queens."

IARA

In 2015, Katie Jordan was Treasurer Illinois Alliance for Retired Americans.

ARA Legislative conference

Katie Jordan, and Bea Lumpkin were part of Illinois' seventeen member delegation to the Alliance for Retired Americans Legislative Conference in Washington, D.C.

Bea Lumpkin's 100th Birthday

On August 3 2018, more than 300 people gathered at the Chicago Teachers Union Center to celebrate the 100th birthday of much beloved Chicago labor activist Bea Lumpkin. Seasoned trade unionists, politicians, labor lawyers, and labor historians rubbed shoulders with young people from INTERGEN, the activist intergenerational and multiracial alliance that Bea helped found in 2016. The young people who stole the night, including Lakesia Collins, co-Founder of INTERGEN, were there to pay homage to a woman who understands all too well the struggles of organizing during difficult times.

The crowd was transnational, multiracial, intergenerational, and, most importantly, energized. How could it be anything else? This was Bea’s crowd. Guest speakers including Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky, Congressman-Elect Jesus Garcia, Chicago CLUW President Katie Jordan, Chicago Teachers Union Vice President Jesse Sharkey, Co-Founder of INTERGEN Lakesia Collins, and Scott Marshall of the Steelworkers spoke about the enormous impact Bea had had on their own lives as she organized for worker power, racial justice, peace, and gender equality.