In These Times is proud to announce the inaugural Labor Organizer of the Year award.
Three individuals, alongside their organizations, will be selected to represent the diversity and tenacity of the modern labor movement. Thanks to support from Omidyar Network, each Labor Organizer of the Year recipient will be individually awarded a one-time, “no-strings-attached” cash award of $25,000, with an additional $25,000 to be distributed to each of their respective organizations, campaigns or unions.
Eligible candidates include individuals who are bringing new energy to existing labor unions, leading collective action at their own workplace, or advancing worker power in worker centers, co-ops and other models outside traditional unions. Individuals may self-nominate.
Nominations will be evaluated by a panel of veteran labor leaders, scholars and organizers.
Nominations open January 16, 2025
Nominations close January 31, 2025 at 11:59pm CST
Winners announced in May 2025
Nelson Lichtenstein is a noted labor historian and author, whose books include Labor’s War at Home, The Retail Revolution and State of the Union. His most recent book is A Fabulous Failure: The Clinton Presidency and the Transformation of American Capitalism. He is a Research Professor in the Department of History at UCSB, where he directs the Center for the Study of Work, Labor, and Democracy.
Jane Slaughter worked at Labor Notes for many years, covering the United Auto Workers and other unions. She is the author of Concessions and How to Beat Them and co-author of Secrets of a Successful Organizer and Working Smart: A Union Guide to Participation Programs and Reengineering.
Victor Narro is a nationally known expert on immigrant rights and low-wage workers and has been involved with immigrant rights and labor issues for almost 40 years. He is currently a Project Director for the UCLA Labor Center and Core Faculty for the UCLA Department of Labor Studies, where he teaches classes that focus on immigrant rights, low-wage workers, and the labor movement.
Sheri Davis is the Executive Director with the Center for Innovation in Worker Organization and Professor of Professional Practice with the Labor Studies and Employment Relations at Rutgers University. She co-directs the WILL Empower program, a joint initiative with the Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor and the Working Poor at Georgetown University with Dr. Lane Windham.
Jennifer Epps is the executive director of the Labor Innovations for the 21st Century (LIFT) Fund. With more than 15 years of experience as a seasoned organizer and strategic leader, Epps led new organizing campaigns in hospitals as vice president at SEIU 1199 where she covered service and maintenance, technical, professional and registered nurse units.
The Labor Organizer of the Year Award is made possible by the generous support of Omidyar Network.