[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 192 (Tuesday, December 3, 2019)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1523]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




RECOGNIZING MICHAEL CARRIGAN FOR YEARS OF DEDICATION AND SERVICE TO THE 
                           PEOPLE OF ILLINOIS

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                        HON. RAJA KRISHNAMOORTHI

                              of illinois

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, December 3, 2019

  Mr. KRISHNAMOORTHI. Madam Speaker, today I rise to honor Michael 
Carrigan for a lifetime of vigorous and effective advocacy protecting 
the rights of workers in my home state of Illinois and working men and 
women across the United States.
   Michael Carrigan's life is a quintessentially American story of 
talent, determination and deeply felt ambition to build a better world. 
He began his career as a journeyman wireman and a member of the 
International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. Displaying an early 
talent for organizing, Michael quickly rose through the ranks to become 
business manager and financial secretary for IBEW Local 146, and then 
assumed greater positions of responsibility in the Illinois AFL-CIO as 
Secretary-Treasurer and President. Michael also held a variety of 
positions of national leadership in organized labor, somehow found time 
to serve nearly four terms on the Decatur City Council, and briefly as 
the Mayor of Decatur.
   During his tenure as president of the Illinois AFL-CIO, Michael 
played a key role organizing support to increase the Illinois minimum 
wage to $15 an hour, and to enact a $45 billion dollar capital 
improvements bill that will fund the repair of aging infrastructure in 
our state. He continues to work tirelessly to build support for a 
progressive state income tax that asks our wealthiest citizens to 
shoulder their fair share of the cost of government, while providing 
revenue streams sufficient to balance our budget and fund education, 
important social services, and our state's pension obligations to its 
workers.
   In 2018, Michael was the first Illinois resident to receive the 
World Peace Prize ``Roving Ambassador for Peace'' award. In accepting 
this honor, Michael observed that all peaceful societies are built upon 
foundations of economic justice: ``The Labor Movement and its allies 
build peace through economic and social justice causes . . . Our fight 
for justice knows no borders, and the enemies of peace are the enemies 
of [social and economic] justice.''
   Madam Speaker, on behalf of the 900,000 members of the Illinois AFL-
CIO and the millions of hard-working men and women in our country who 
owe so much to Michael Carrigan, I offer my gratitude for his years of 
dedicated and selfless service to our country. Although Michael may be 
retiring from the Illinois AFL-CIO, I know he will not retire from his 
commitment to public service, and I wish him great success in all his 
future endeavors.

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