Lech Walesa began his career in Poland’s Gdansk shipyards where his activism and charisma helped push his country to semi-free Parliamentary elections in which he was elected President.

 

Walesa co-founded Solidarity, the Soviet Bloc’s first independent trade union.  He became a symbol of democracy and is widely recognized for leading Poland out of Communism. His actions are viewed as the crucial first step in the dissolution of the Soviet Union.  

 

Walesa spent his early life as a mechanic and then in the Polish military.  When he resigned from the military, Walesa was hired as an electrician at Gdansk shipyards. Troubled by the poor treatment of his fellow workers, he became involved in trade-union activism and quickly rose to prominence after organizing a strike in 1970. His activism garnered the attention of the Polish Government which soon placed him under surveillance. In 1976, he was fired from his position after multiple arrests.  Walesa then emerged as a leader of the growing movement calling for better working conditions and the right to free association. In 1980, Walesa played an instrumental role in negotiations of the Gdansk Agreement between the Polish Government and striking workers, an agreement that culminated in the creation of Solidarity.  

 

After the government imposed martial law and outlawed Solidarity, Walesa and his fellow activists were arrested and detained. Upon his release he returned to the docks as an electrician and continued his activism. The leading underground weekly paper featured his motto, “Solidarity will not be divided or destroyed”.  His continued dedication led to the 1989 Round Table Agreement which resulted in a Solidarity-led government in which Lech Walesa was elected as President of Poland.

 

Although his presidency lasted only one term, his administration oversaw the transformation of Poland to a free market economy. After Walesa left office, the Polish economy was among the healthiest in central and eastern Europe. Walesa remains a symbol of hope and has inspired many to pursue similar aspirations of rights and freedoms throughout the world. In 1983, Lech Walesa received the Nobel Peace Prize for his contributions to human rights and for playing a vital role in shaping Solidarity in his country. 

 

Lucas Benitez, a member of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers and a farm worker himself, has become a leader in the fight to end slave labor, human trafficking and exploitation in agricultural fields across America. The CIW worked with the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Human Rights to lobby major produce buyers in the fast food industry to implement an industry-wide surcharge on Florida tomatoes that will provide a livable wage for Florida’s farm workers. In March 2005 and April 2007, CIW signed historic agreements with Yum! Brands (parent company for Taco Bell) and McDonald’s, respectively, implementing the CIW’s demand for the one-penny-more-per-pound wage increase. RFK Center and CIW are working to broaden consumer and government awareness to create laws that eliminate the exploitation and enslavement of U.S. farm workers. RFK Center is also a founding member of the Alliance for Fair Food (AFF), a network of human rights, religious, student, labor and grassroots organizations dedicated to advancing the human rights of farm workers. Farming has become a multi-billion-dollar industry in which corporations negotiate with growers to purchase mass quantities of product for the lowest possible prices. To maintain profits and income for growers, suppliers and labor contractors, farm workers’ wages have been reduced to far below poverty levels. Furthermore, farm workers’ rights to organize and collectively bargain are not protected by the National Labor Relations Act. Many of these workers have become enslaved and victims of gross human rights abuses. In response to this crisis, the CIW, a farm workers’ rights group, was developed to promote change across the fast food industry.

 

Through her strength and passion, Librada became a leading voice for immigrant workers in fields and farms in New York and across the United States.  Together with the Rural and Migrant Ministry (RMM), Librada played a key role in the passage of laws requiring that farmworkers be provided with drinking water and restrooms - basic necessities long denied.  

 

 Librada is a Council Member for the RMM and a member of the Alianza Campesina, a national women’s farmworker movement.  In 2012, Librada received the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award for her courageous work and ongoing struggle to improve the lives and working conditions of farmworkers in New York and beyond.