View source for Rory Gamble

'''Rory Gamble''' is the [[UAW]] Region 1A Director.

==Detroit DSA honors event ==
[[Image:David-bonior-with-detroit-dsa-chair-david-green.jpg|left|200px|Bonior with Detroit DSA chair David Green]]
Detroit DSA celebrated the 10th Annual Douglass-Debs Dinner<ref>http://kincaidsite.com/dsa/nl-archive.html</ref>
November 8th 2008 Co-chairs were UAW Region 1A Director [[Rory Gamble]] and International Union of Operating Engineers Local 547 Business Manager [[Phillip Schloop]]. The Douglass-Debs Award winners were David and [[Judy Bonior]] and Judge [[Claudia Morcom]]. The keynote speaker was [[In These Times]] senior editor [[David Moberg]].

:''[[David Bonior]] served in Congress for 26 years rising through the leadership to become the Democratic Caucus Whip. During his tenure in Congress, Bonior fought to raise the minimum wage, protect pensions, support unions, and extend unemployment benefits. He led the fight to oppose NAFTA in 1993.'' 

:''He worked to prevent war in Central America in the 1980s and again to prevent the Iraq War in 2002. After leaving Congress, Bonior co-founded American Rights at Work, a labor advocacy and research organization, which has made passage of the Employee Free Choice Act its major legislative priority. Bonior was recently appointed to the Obama economic team.''

In his remarks at the dinner, David Bonior stressed the importance of building social movements;

:''to pressure the new Obama administration for bold progressive changes such as single-payer national health insurance, significant public investment in infrastructure and green technology, fair trade, progressive taxation, massive cuts in the military budget, ending the war in Iraq, and passing the Employee Free Choice Act''.

==2010 Detroit DSA Douglass-Debs Dinner==
Over 200 people attended the eleventh annual Frederick Douglass-Eugene V. Debs Dinner at  UAW Local 600 in Dearborn on  May 8th, 2010. Local 600 was the home local of the hunger marchers of the 1930s and is adjacent to the site of the “Battle of the Overpass” which launched [[Walter Reuther]] into national prominence.

The Douglass-Debs Dinner is the annual fundraising event for [[Greater Detroit Democratic Socialists of America]] . 2010 honorees were UAW Vice President [[James Settles, Jr.]] and Metropolitan Detroit [[AFL-CIO]] President [[Saundra Williams]]. The dinner co-chairs were UAW Region 1A Director [[Rory Gamble]] and American Federation of Teachers-Michigan President [[David Hecker]]. 

:''In his acceptance speech, Settles promised that the new UAW leadership which is expected to be elected at their convention in June, would be more progressive in its political orientation.''

[[Bill Fletcher, Jr.]], the Director of Field Services and Education for the [[American Federation of Government Employees]] , delivered the keynote address. His topic was “Right-Wing Populism.” Fletcher warned that progressives ignore the threat of right-wing populism at their own peril. He traced the history of this phenomenon from the Andrew Jackson administration . He mentioned the “Birthers,” the “Oathers,” and the Tea Party movement as manifestations of right-wing populism. He challenged the Left to confront right-wing populism and expose the fatuousness of their ideas. Failure to do so may be self-defeating as some of the ideas of the right-wing populists (e.g., conspiracy theories, condemnation of political and media elites) could prove seductive to a portion of our base.<ref>[http://detroitdsa.com/July%202010%20DSA%20Newsletter.pdf GDDSA newsletter, July 2010 Volume 11, Issue 4]</ref>

[[Category:Greater Detroit Democratic Socialists of America]]

==2013 14th Annual Douglass-Debs Dinner==

167 people attended the fourteenth annual Frederick Douglass-Eugene V. Debs Dinner at UAW Local 600 in Dearborn on Saturday, October 19, 2013. Honorees were retired Michigan Supreme Court Justice [[Marilyn Kelly]] and Reverend [[Charles  Williams,  II]],  Pastor  of  King  Solomon  Baptist  Church.  Keynote  speaker  was  [[Joel  Bleifuss]],  publisher  of  [[In These Times]] magazine. 

Dinner co-chairs were [[Rory Gamble]], Director of UAW Region IA, and [[David Hecker]], President of the [[American  Federation of Teachers]]-Michigan. Entertainment was provided by actress [[Karen Kron]] who performed a selection from Emma,  an upcoming Matrix Theater production on the life of radical activist [[Emma Goldman]] and by folksinger [[Julie Beutel]].
    
Justice Kelly received the Douglass-Debs Award for her strong defense of workers’ rights and consumers’ rights during her tenure on the court. She has also worked to expand ordinary citizens’ access to the courts. In addition, Justice Kelly has been an  advocate of public education. She served for twelve years on the State Board of Education.

Reverend Williams is a local labor, civil rights, and social justice advocate. He is the local leader of the [[National Action 
Network]]  which  organized  last  summer’s  commemoration  of  Reverend  [[Martin  Luther  King,  Jr.]]’s  1963  Civil  Rights  March 
through downtown Detroit. He has been one of the leading voices protesting against the Detroit bankruptcy.

In his keynote address, [[Joel Bleifuss]] emphasized the importance of electoral work in promoting progressive change.<ref>[https://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/detroitdsa/pages/69/attachments/original/1441478386/March_2014.pdf?1441478386 Greater Detroit DSA, 2013 Douglass-Debs Dinner, GDDSA newsletter, March 2014]</ref>

==References==
{{reflist|2}}
[[Category:United Auto Workers]]