Chuck Sohner was a lifelong advocate for civil and workers’ rights. In the 1950s he was a civil rights organizer in the Jim Crow era American South. Later he organized staff and faculty unions in California’s public colleges. After moving to Kentucky, he founded and served as a co-Chair of Lexington’s Living Wage Campaign. He also served for many years as a Director of the CKCPJ. Because of his integrity and long experience, young activists looked to Chuck as a mentor. His resonant voice, knowledge of social justice issues, and gift for finding the right phrase made Chuck a frequent spokesperson for the living wage campaign. The Chuck Sohner Workers’ Advocate Award was the first award established by the CKCPJ. We have awarded it since 2004, a year after Chuck’s untimely death in 2003.
Jason Bailey is the recipient of the CKCPJ’s 2015 Chuck Sohner Workers’ Advocate Award. Jason has worked in Kentucky on economic justice issues since 1998. In 2011, Jason became the first Director of the Kentucky Center for Economic Policy (KCEP). The KCEP analyses the effects of budget and tax policies on the well-being of Kentuckians.
In the late 1990s, Jason assisted the CKCPJ's co-sponsored Lexington Living Wage Campaign, providing difference-making data on the work-related injury history of solid waste workers. Ultimately Jason’s statistics helped gain an early retirement program for Lexington solid waste workers who had suffered injuries on the job.
Jason has played a similar role in 2015. He has provided data on the number and identity of low-wage workers who would be affected by proposed minimum wage ordinances in Louisville and Lexington. His work helped make the case for the minimum wage bill that passed Louisville’s Metro Council last December.
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