Lobbyist with Belarusian Roots Passes
Evelyn Dubrow, Labor Lobbyist, died at 95, reports The New York Times. According to the newspaper, she worked in Washington under presidents from Dwight D. Eisenhower through Bill Clinton. She won many battles, like raising the federal minimum wage to $1.15 an hour in 1961. But she often lost, failing, for example, to defeat the North American Free Trade Agreement under Mr. Clinton.
When Mr. Clinton awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1999 — he towered over her as they hugged — he said, “A tenacious and effective union activist, she has been a force for social justice and improved labor conditions by working for increases in the minimum wage, health care reform, family and medical leave, and pay equity for women,” remembers the Times.
I thought it would be nice to mention it here because her father emigrated from Belarus. He worked as a carpenter, was a union man and Socialist.
