[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 183 (Monday, November 6, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Page S5358]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    TRIBUTE TO CHARLES C. OWEN, JR.

 Mr. MARKEY. Madam President, today I recognize Charlie Owen, 
as he concludes his remarkable tenure as president of the American 
Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees--AFSCME--Council 
93.
  Charles C. Owen, Jr., was born on January 29, 1950, a son of the 
tightly knit Irish community in South Boston, MA. In 1968, he joined 
the U.S. Army and was stationed in Germany before heading to Vietnam, 
where he fought for his country. He returned to the United States with 
an honorable discharge in 1971. In 1975, he went into the public 
service, securing a job working as a mechanic in the city of Boston 
Police Department, repairing police cars. He went on to serve the city 
of Boston for 46 years.
  Charlie almost never worked just one job. Like many people in this 
country, he had to work multiple jobs to support his family. He worked 
as an emergency medical technician, and for 20 years, he was a day-of-
game employee for his beloved Boston Red Sox. He was a part of the Red 
Sox operation not just for the storied--and curse-breaking--2004 
championship season, but also for the 2007, 2013, and 2018 World Series 
winning seasons. And, typical of Charlie, he didn't just work the 
games. For over a decade, he ran his own charitable golf tournament, 
raising hundreds of thousands of dollars for the Jimmy Fund, the Red 
Sox charitable foundation that fights both childhood and adult cancer.
  But it was as a city of Boston employee that Charlie really found his 
niche as a union activist. He got involved in his local and eventually 
became the president of AFSCME Local 804, which represents supervisors 
and managers across the city of Boston. To this day, he remains a 
loyal, dues-paying member of Local 804. Across decades of union 
activism, Charlie learned to negotiate contracts, to stand up for his 
members at work, to work with management to solve complicated workplace 
problems, to figure out which political candidates would stand up for 
workers, to help elect those candidates to office, and to persuade 
elected officials to pass laws that would help working families. In 
2011, he ran for the vice presidency of AFSCME Council 93, the umbrella 
organization for all AFSCME Locals in Northern New England. He won his 
election and, in 2012, ascended to the presidency of the council.
  He has travelled all over New England, and indeed all over the 
country, talking to workers in Tennessee, Texas, Colorado, and 
elsewhere about standing together to have a voice at work. He has 
spoken with elected officials at every level about the concerns of 
workers--the need for a living wage, decent health insurance, and a 
dignified retirement. This includes three American Presidents--
President Bill Clinton, President Barack Obama, and President Joe 
Biden--as well as any number of Presidential candidates.
  In short, Charlie Owen is a great American. He has served his country 
from almost the moment he turned 18, as a member of the armed services, 
in public service, and as a union activist. Everywhere he went, 
everything he did, he looked for ways to serve others, whether those 
others be his coworkers, children with cancer, or simply his fellow 
Americans.
  In January 2021, Charlie retired from his job at the city of Boston, 
and in November of this year, his term as president of AFSCME Council 
93 will end. He has dedicated over 40 years of his life in service to 
his coworkers. As he ends his professional career and steps down from 
decades of service to his union, we salute him. He will spend time with 
his seven children, his many grandchildren, and great-grandchild, and 
he will continue to travel around the country talking to people seeking 
a voice at work. I thank Charlie for his unending dedication and look 
forward to seeing what great things he will do next.

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