From left, Jamestown Mayor Eddie Sundquist, two-time Ritzer award winner George Spitale, and Dave Wilkinson, business manager of IBEW Local 106 and Jamestown Area Central Labor Council member. P-J photo by Jay Young

The Jamestown Area Central Labor Council honored all of the essential workers of the coronavirus pandemic with the 2020 George Ritzer Memorial Labor Award Friday at City Hall.

Jamestown Mayor Eddie Sundquist was joined by Dave Wilkinson, business manager of IBEW Local 106 and Labor Council member, and two-time award winner George Spitale for the ceremony.

“We have come here just for a small ceremony in recognition of Labor Day this year,” Sundquist said, reflecting on the history of the U.S. labor movement. “We take a lot of these things for granted. Things like the eight-hour work day, five-day work schedules, weekends, and better worker safety conditions. All of these things are what our brothers and sisters in labor and members of unions have fought year after year to get for our country and for our people. We are here to recognize not only what was accomplished decades ago, but our workforce today.”

Named in honor of George Ritzer, who served as president of the Labor Council for over 20 years, the Ritzer award is given to an individual who volunteers and contributes toward the labor movement, and volunteers time to community organizations.

In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Labor Council felt that it was appropriate to extend the honor to all workers who persevered through the pandemic.

“It is probably the highest, prestigious honor that we bestow up our labor workers in the community,” Wilkinson said. “We don’t know what to expect when we get to work. We don’t know if we are technically safe from the pandemic. But we got up every day and still went out and did our jobs to try to keep the economy going. Keep our community safe. There were many many people that got in their cars everyday and risked it. I think we have kind of forgotten that, so we are going to memorialize the essential worker.”

Sundquist closed his remarks with the Edgar Guest poem “It Couldn’t Be Done,” which begins with the passage “Somebody said that it couldn’t be done, but he with a chuckle replied, that ‘maybe it couldn’t,’ but he would be one, who wouldn’t say so till he’d tried. So he buckled right in with the trace of a grin, on his face. If he worried he hid it. He started to sing as he tackled the thing, that couldn’t be done, and he did it!”

Previous recipients include: Robert Franco, IBFO 27, 1984; George S. Spitale, AFSCME 418, 1985; James V. Kurtz, CSEA 807, 1986; Michael Piazza, UAW 338, 1987; Benjamin Spitale, UAW 338, 1988; Vaughn S. Rudy, UAW 338, 1989; Bruce Rhinehart, IAFF 1772, 1990; E. Douglas Card, IBEW 1124, 1991; G. William Samuelson, IATSE 266, 1992; John W. Campion, NYSUT/AFT, 1993; Donald A. Liden, IBFO 27, 1994; Jack C. Rudy, CSEA 807, 1995; G. Steven Simpson, IAFF 1772, 1996; Helen E. Sischo, IAMAW 2495, 1997; Hobart “Hobie” Rhinehart, NYSUT/AFT, 1998; Michael S. Dye, Carpenters #66, 1999; Vincent Capizzi, IAFF 1772, 2000; Stephen M. Skidmore, IAMAW 2111, 2001; Edward J. Mifsud, IAYSE 266, 2002; Anthony J. Foti, Carpenters #66, 2003; Clayton L. Barber, UAW 338, 2004; Jeffrey A. Peterson, Op. Eng., 2005; Gary Sorenson, IBEW 459, 2006; Jim Smith, CSEA 807, 2007; Rick Weilacher, UAW 338, 2008; David Painters, IBEW 106, 2009; William Servis, UA 69 & AFM 134, 2010; Norman M. Smith, District 65 IAMAW, 2011; Donald Lucas, USW 9367, 2012; David E. Wilkinson, IBEW 106, 2013; Valerie Hagglund, NYSUT 04-217, 2014; Gary Swain, IUOE 17, 2015; Joseph Sweeney, NYSUT/AFT 2611, 2016; Bonnie Peters, CSEA 807, 2017; George S. Spitale, AFSCME 418, 2018 and Jeffrey G. Keppel, NYSUT/AFT/NEA, 2019.