John Commerford Labor Education Awards

The New York Labor History Association founded the John Commerford Labor Education Award in 1987. Each year we celebrate two honorees for their contributions to workers’ empowerment.

The 2025 Awards will honor legal pioneer and former NLRB General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo and activist scholar and Triangle Fire memorial leader Mary Anne Trasciatti.

SAVE THE DATE –  The Awards ceremony will be held IN PERSON on Wednesday December 3, 6-8pm, at NYU’s Tamiment Library. Live streaming will be available.

Register here to attend in-person or online. The event is free, but donations are accepted.

Click the button below to donate.

 Patrons (donations of $500 or more) will be honored in the Commerford Award program on Dec. 3, 2025.

Or send a check payable to the New York Labor History Association:
Loraine Baratti, NYLHA 
116 Pinehurst Avenue, Apt. K-1 
New York, NY 10033

Mary Anne Trasciatti is an activist, educator, scholar, and editor. She is a board member of the Triangle Fire Coalition, and a Professor of Rhetoric and Director of the Labor Studies program at Hofstra University in Long Island.

She is co-editor of Talking to the Girls: Intimate and Political Essays on the Triangle Fire with Edvige Giunta. She is also co-editor of Where Are the Workers?: Labor’s Stories at Museums and Historic Sites with Robert Forrant. Her most recent book is Elizabeth Gurley Flynn: The Rebel Girl, Democracy, and Revolution.

Trasciatti is the daughter and granddaughter of garment workers, and has devoted more than a decade to educating the public about the 1911 Triangle shirtwaist factory fire and advocating for the creation of a Triangle Fire Memorial, which was dedicated in 2023. She also serves on the board of directors for Long Island Jobs With Justice, helping to build coalitions among labor unions and worker centers, community and faith-based organizations, and individual social justice activists to protect the rights of working people on Long Island and support community struggles to build a more just society.

Jennifer Abruzzo is a pioneering labor attorney, renowned for her unwavering commitment to workers’ rights and her leadership at the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). During her tenure, the NLRB prioritized worker protections and streamlined unionization efforts.

Abruzzo began at the NLRB as a field attorney in Miami and ascended through various roles, including Deputy General Counsel and Acting General Counsel. Starting in 2018, she served as Special Counsel for Strategic Initiatives at Communications Workers of America, AFL-CIO (CWA), the largest media and communications union in the United States. Abruzzo served as General Counsel of the NLRB from July 2021 until January 2025. In January 2025 she was fired by President Trump. Her tenure was marked by significant initiatives resulting in the largest expansion of workers’ rights in decades, and her leadership in enforcing federal labor law played a pivotal role in supporting successful unionization efforts throughout the country. Following her tenure at the NLRB, Abruzzo joined Bush Gottlieb as Counsel and is a Senior Advisor to the President at Communication Workers of America, AFL-CIO, continuing her lifelong commitment to advancing labor law and assisting and supporting workers, families and communities across the nation.

The 2024 Awards honored Rebecca Damon and Lauren Kaori Gurley. Click here for a recording. The 2024 program can be accessed by clicking this link.

The 2023 Awards honored Rebecca Kolins Givan and Richard Steier. Check back soon for a link to the recording.

The 2022 Awards honored Dorothy Sue Cobble and Melvyn Dubofsky. Click here for a recording.

The 2021 Awards honored Jane McAlevey and Robert Wechsler. Click here for a recording of the virtual event. 

Commerford Honorees from 1987 – 2021 Are Listed Below:

Paul Cole, New York State AFL-CIO
Jeannette DiLorenzo, United Federation of Teachers
Kenneth Crowe, Labor Journalist
Joyce D. Miller, ACTWU, AFL-CIO
Ralph Fasanella, Labor Artist
David Montgomery, Yale University
Lois Gray, Cornell University
John J. Sweeney, SEIU, AFL-CIO
Ida Torres, Local 3, RWDSU
Dorothy Swanson, Tamiment Library, New York University
Education Dept., D.C. 37, AFSCME
Gus Tyler, ILGWU, AFL-CIO
Joseph Murphy, City University of New York
Alice Kessler-Harris, Columbia University
Kathy Andrade, Local 23-25, ILGWU
Maria Portalatin, United Federation of Teachers
Morton Bahr, Communications Workers of America
Debra E. Bernhardt, Wagner Labor Archives, New York University
Thomas Y. Hobart, Jr., New York State United Teachers
Philoine Fried, Jewish Labor Committee
Sonny Hall, Transport Workers Union
Daniel J. Leab, Seton Hall University
Brian McLaughlin, NYC Central Labor Council
Judith Helfand, George Stoney & Vera Rony, Filmmakers
Gabriel P. Caprio, Amalgamated Bank
Sol Stetin, Textile Workers Union of America
Edward J. Cleary, New York State AFL-CIO
Kate Bronfenbrenner, Cornell University
Randi Weingarten, United Federation of Teachers
Connie Kopelov, New York Labor History Association
Moe Biller, American Postal Workers Union
Norman Hill, A. Philip Randolph Institute
Denis M. Hughes, New York State AFL-CIO
Jack Schierenbeck, United Federation of Teachers
Theodore Bikel, Associated Actors & Artistes of America
Theodore H. Kheel, Labor Mediator
Forward Association, Jewish Daily Forward
Brenda Berkman, Fire Dept., NYC
Dolores C. Huerta, United Farm Workers
Roger Toussaint, Transport Workers Union, Local 100
Joshua B. Freeman, Queens College & CUNY Graduate Center
Judith P. Vladeck, Vladeck, Waldman, Elias & Engelhard
George Andrucki, Sheet Metal Workers, Local 28
Henry Foner, Fur, Leather & Machine Workers Union
Raglan George, Jr., AFSCME, DC 1707
Steven Greenhouse, The New York Times
George Altomare, United Federation of Teachers
Juan Gonzalez, New York Daily News
Janet Wells Greene, Labor Historian
Michael Mulgrew, United Federation of Teachers
Larry Cary, Labor Lawyer
Jane LaTour, Labor Journalist
Peter Yarrow, Artist & Activist
Barbara Bowen, Professional Staff Congress
Eric Foner, Columbia University
American Labor Museum/Botto House
Arthur Cheliotes, CWA, Local 1180
Stuart Appelbaum, RWDSU, UFCW
Sara Horowitz, Freelancers Union
Keith Mestrich, Amalgamated Bank
Ruth Milkman, CUNY/Murphy Institute for Worker Education
Bhairavi Desai, New York Taxi Workers Alliance
Tom Robbins, investigative journalist/CUNY Graduate School of Journalism
Jennifer Egan, Author
Annelise Orleck, Dartmouth University
The American Labor Studies Center, Nonprofit Organization
Miriam Frank, New York University
Brian Greenberg, Labor Educator and Author
Robert J. Croghan, Jr., Organization of Staff Analysts
Jane McAlevey, Organizer and Writer
Robert Wechsler, Transport Workers Union
Rebecca Kolins Givan, Rutgers University
Richard Steier, Journalist