Bonnie Peters. Photo by Ove Overmyer, CSEA ©2017.
Jamestown— Now and then good work gets noticed— and it recently happened to one of our own.
In its 30-year-plus history and for only the third time, the 38th annual Greater Jamestown Labor Day Festival at Bergman Park on September 4 featured an awards ceremony that honored a female recipient.
In conjunction with the annual citywide festival, which was postponed to Monday following inclement weather on Sunday, the Jamestown Area Labor Council AFL-CIO awarded Bonnie Peters of Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) Local 807 with its 34th annual George Ritzer Memorial Labor Award.
The annual George Ritzer Memorial Labor Award is given to an individual who volunteers and contributes toward the labor movement and who volunteers time to community organizations. The award itself was named after local labor leader George Ritzer, who served as president of the Jamestown Area Labor Council for more than 20 years. Having been a staunch and unflagging volunteer in the community since she moved here nearly 30 years ago, Peters is an all-too-deserving candidate for such an award.
At the event, Peters discussed the growing value placed upon female laborers and the benefits that they bring to the work force.
“I feel extremely honored to be receiving the 2017 George Ritzer Labor Award today, and I’m embracing this opportunity to speak about women’s involvement in our unions,” Peters said. “Women have shown that we have an impact in jobs outside of our homes in all different industries, including those that were often dominated by our male counterparts in the past. As the labor movement continues to build itself back up to be the strong social movement we once were, now is the time to integrate women into our leadership roles.
“Female leaders have a tremendous commitment to our community and to our fellow man,” she continued. “We bring new ideas and strategies to labor, many of which make a connection between what we face on the job and what we deal with at home. Our ideas and strategies are creative and unique, often bringing surprising results. Our labor movement continues to benefit from the type of leadership that women offer.”
Peters was born in North Dakota, where she met her husband, Mark Peters, who was stationed there with the military. Bonnie and Mark were married in 1983 and moved to Mark’s home state of New York in 1989 with their daughter, Holly. She also has one grandson, Noah. Peters started working with Chautauqua County in 2000 and became involved with the CSEA in 2004.
-Ove Overmyer
