[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 14]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 18630-18631]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




         IN RECOGNITION OF MARK GAGLIARDI, ACTIVIST OF THE YEAR

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. GEORGE MILLER

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                      Tuesday, September 14, 2004

  Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to salute 
Mark Gagliardi, who on September 17, 2004 will be named the Activist of 
the Year for Contra Costa County, California at the AFL-CIO's Labor-2-
Labor dinner in my congressional district. Mr. Gagliardi gained this 
honor after the delegates representing over 80,000 union men and women 
in Contra Costa County voted to recognize the work he does for his 
fellow union members.
  Mark is a steward with OPEIU Local 277 at American Income Life. 
American Income Life is the only 100 percent union insurance company in 
California. Mark maintains a food bank for striking union members at 
American Income Life and has made food deliveries throughout Northern 
California. He has been on dozens of picket lines throughout the State 
and his unique style with a bullhorn is seldom forgotten.
  Mark established with American Income Life the ``Shoot for a Cure'' 
Charity Sporting Clays Shoot to raise money for the Leukemia/Lymphoma 
Fund and has raised tens of thousands of dollars to fight that disease.

[[Page 18631]]

  When union men and women speak about a revitalized union movement in 
our Nation, it is people like Mark Gagliardi that represent that new 
spirit. I encourage my colleagues to join me in saluting Mark for being 
named Activist of the Year.

                          ____________________