Four are recognized for labor relations work
A union leader, a public administrator, a physician, and a lawyer were honored as the recipients of the 40th annual Cushing-Gavin Awards for excellence in the field of labor management relations at a ceremony Dec. 7.
Given by the Labor Guild, which is sponsored by the Archdiocese of Boston, the award recognizes professionals for "competence, vision, and integrity" they bring to labor relations.
Honored at this year's dinner at the Sheraton Boston were:
Jay Hurley , president of the Ironworkers District Council of New England, this year's labor recipient.
Starting as an apprentice ironworker in 1974, Hurley worked his way up the union leadership and became council president in 2002. He is also the eighth general vice president of the international union, a vice president of the Massachusetts AFL-CIO, and executive board member of the Massachusetts Building Trades Council.
Hurley is also involved in sports; a father of three, the South Boston resident has coached numerous youth sports teams, ran the Boston Marathon in 1988, and in 1990 bicycled from Los Angeles to Boston in 42 days to raise money for the American Lung Association.
Frederick Laskey , executive director of the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority, winner of the award from the management community.
A veteran public servant, Laskey has run the MWRA since 2001, where he oversees 1,255 employees for the agency, which provides drinking water and sewage services for much of eastern Massachusetts. Previously he was commissioner of the state Department of Revenue, and secretary of administration and finance.
Laskey also is a member of the Medford School Committee, where he lives with his family, including four children, and has been active in the Boy Scouts of America.
Dr. Christine Oliver , a specialist in pulmonary disease at Massachusetts General Hospital and assistant clinical professor at Harvard Medical School, was recognized as the winner among auxiliary professionals.
Oliver is also president of her consulting firm, Occupational Health Initiatives of Brookline, and she has conducted many industrial health research projects over the years, including on the Big Dig .
She is also chairwoman of the asthma treatment subgroup of the Massachusetts Department of Industrial Accidents and a member of the Massachusetts Health Care Services Board. Oliver has won plaudits for her writing and lectures on occupational health matters. She is the mother of a college sophomore.
Ira Sills , a partner at Segal, Roitman & Coleman, was the awardee from the labor counsel community.
Sills joined his law firm in 1977 and represents several unions, including AFTRA, IBEW Local 103, and SEIU No. 615. He has also been an adjunct professor at his alma mater, Northeastern University School of Law, and a frequent instructor in the continuing legal educational seminars for union representatives.
He is a former chairman of the labor law section of the Massachusetts Bar Association. A resident of Cambridge and father of two, Sills was also previously chairman of the board of the Fayerweather School.
