35 Years of Labor and Love
Northern California Coaliton of Black Trade Unionists' annual Salute to Black Labor dinner honors distinctive service in the traditon of Chapter Founder, Geraldine M. Johnson
Geraldine M. Johnson was instrumental in the establishment and empowerment of several organizations, from the Northern California Chapter of the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists (1976) to the San Francisco Martin Luther King Jr. Civic Committee (1983). She worked diligently in the Bay Area for the dismantling of apartheid in South Africa and helped sponsor high school educational exchanges with Seoul, Korea.
Geraldine was known to work 23 hours one day organizing folks in the workplace or community and then deliver a topnotch keynote address at a major labor convention the next day. She was the epitome and defining voice on community and labor organizing. She was an astute political analyst and strategist. Geraldine looked out for the interest of others. Like so many other good trade unionists, she could not stand by and let people suffer from the injustices of society either at home or at work.
Geraldine was a labor leader ahead of her time. Geraldine did what every trade unionist should do; organize; politically, in the community and in the workplace. She truly was the epitome of a Great Unionist.
At the thirty-fifth annual Salute to Black Labor dinner, C. Blake Huntsman, Utuma Belfrey, Gwendolyn Burgess, and Josie Camacho were presented with awards (as noted at right) honoring them for their service to the cause.
The program also included a special memorial observance for Octavia Johnson Bazile (1942-2012).
CBTU Dinner Committee
Mustafaa Abdul Ali, Teresa Green, Damita Davis-Howard, Ella Raiford, Valarie Wheaton, Ray Horne, Felicia Aubrey, Kathryn Ballard
Above, NCCBTU President Carl Jones with Bill Lucy, President and Founder of CBTU, and NCCBTU Executive Director, Antonio Christian.
See more photos from the celebration.
