The spirit of solidarity lit up the AFL-CIO’s Solidarity Room Wednesday night as the
Labor Heritage Foundation honored two bold labor leaders whose words and actions have electrified a new generation of workers.
United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain received the 2025 Solidarity Forever Award for his unapologetically militant leadership style that has galvanized a revitalized labor movement. “We don't win by playing nice with the boss,” Fain declared last year after winning an historic election at the VW plant in Chattanooga.
“We win by giving working-class people the tools, the inspiration, and the courage to stand up for themselves.”
Former Acting U.S. Labor Secretary Julie Su praised Fain as a transformational figure who “showed that a dynamic, direct speaking, f-bomb dropping, bad-contracts-in-the-trashcan-throwing leader could turn public opinion dramatically in workers' favor.”
Clearly moved deeply, Fain reflected on the honor. “It's tough for me to accept awards because I don't do this for awards,” he said, voice catching. “This is about telling stories and telling about the struggle… Telling workers’ stories is revolutionary.”
Also honored was Fran Drescher, president of SAG-AFTRA, who accepted the Tony Mazzocchi Labor Arts Award via video. “Whether they're wearing hard hats or 
high heels, union members are proving every day that a better world is possible,” she said, saluting the DC Labor FilmFest for lifting up labor’s voices.
Representing Drescher in person was SAG-AFTRA Mid-Atlantic President Tracee Wilkins, who accepted the award on her behalf in front of a packed room of unionists, artists, and activists.
For Painters union president Jimmy Williams, who emceed the evening, the event offered more than celebration. It was a moment of refuge. “Especially at a time when history, education, our roots, the things that we stand for within the labor movement are being attacked every single day, just two blocks away,” Williams said, “it's nice to be in a place of safety, comfort, and being around people that think and share the same values.”
“Heritage,” said LHF Chair Saul Schniderman, “is a bond of fidelity where faithfulness with the past lives on in leaders like Shawn Fain, who carries the heritage of the United Auto Workers in his heart and in his soul.”
Reading the award’s inscription, LHF President Ashley See summed up the evening’s spirit: “Creative, electrifying, and inspiring leadership… has reignited the spirit of solidarity and energized a new era of labor power across the nation.”
The evening featured stirring performances by The Steve Jones Trio and the DC Labor Chorus, which closed the event with a rousing, hand-clasping rendition of Solidarity Forever that brought the entire room to its feet.
- report/photos by Chris Garlock; Click Here for an album of photos by Bruce Guthrie