May 16, 2019
Detroit – Today the Michigan AFL-CIO named Sen. Jeremy Moss (D-Southfield) and Rep. Kevin Hertel (D-St. Clair Shores) as its Legislators of the Year for 2019. Detroit City Councilmember Janeé Ayers was also named Local Elected Official of the Year. The awards were announced at the state labor federation’s constitutional convention at IBEW Local 58 in Detroit.
“Elected officials who use their time in office to support the working men and women of this state deserve to be recognized for those efforts,” said Ron Bieber, President of the Michigan AFL-CIO. “We have a lot more pro-working family members in the legislature and we’re looking forward to the work they do to support our freedoms. These lawmakers stood out because of their leadership on critical issues facing workers.”
State Representative Kevin Hertel played a key role in the passage of a bipartisan package that addressed critical failures in the state’s Unemployment Insurance Agency following the robo-fraud scandal that falsely accused 40,000 of committing fraud. Hertel continues to work to create a compensation fund for those wrongly accused and other continued reforms.
“I ran for office in order to represent working men and women,” said Kevin Hertel. “I was proud to work closely with the Michigan AFL-CIO when we passed a package of bipartisan bills to address unfairness in the Unemployment Agency, but we still have a lot of work to do. I look forward to continuing to work with them to make sure everyone is getting a fair shake.”
State Senator Jeremy Moss has led a bipartisan effort to expand accountability and transparency in state government. He has also been a strong advocate for expanding workplace protections to all working people, including members of the LGBTQ community.
“My family’s story is one of the many in Michigan that show why unions matter. My grandfather was able to lift his young family into Michigan’s middle class because his trade union made sure he earned a living wage that he deserved for the skilled work he completed. Union protections have afforded the grandson of a typesetter opportunities to succeed way beyond his grandfather’s hopes and dreams,” said Sen. Jeremy Moss. “I appreciate the continued support of the Michigan AFL-CIO in our joint mission to create a more fair, more honest system of government that seeks to protect Michigan families, their wages and their workplace standards.”
Detroit Councilmember Janeé Ayers is a former labor leader having been a member of AFSCME, UNITE HERE and former Vice President of the Metro Detroit AFL-CIO. As a local elected official, she has been working to protect the freedoms of working families in Detroit.
