Public Employee Press

Still an activist: CBTU founder Robert Wilson

Only when he was introduced from the podium, did participants at the Toxic Awareness Workshop Jan. 20 learn that the quiet, distinguished-looking man at the rear table was Robert H. Wilson, one of the founders of the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists.

The CBTU held its first meetings in Chicago and Washington, D.C., in 1972 and 1973. Wilson, then a business agent for Local 174, Amalgamated Meatcutters, wrote to AFSCME’s William Lucy and inquired about setting up a CBTU Chapter in New York City.

Receiving an affirmative response,Wilson took it from there. Lucy came to meet with Wilson and other prominent labor officials in the city, including DC 37 leaders and the famed Cleveland Robinson of District 65. “We met at the Manhattan Hotel and formed the groundwork for the New York City CBTU Chapter,” recalled Wilson.

They organized and brought others on board from different unions, including the Communications Workers and the Teamsters. “We got good participation and we brought about change,” said Wilson. Winning voting rights for African Americans and Latinos was high on the list of critical issues that the CBTU chapter took on. They protested efforts to remove African American Judge Bruce Wright — dubbed “Turn ’Em Loose Bruce” by enemies after he set low bail for many poor and minority suspects — from the bench,” he recalled. “We even gave Christmas toys to the needy,” said Wilson. The campaign to elect David Dinkins was another initiative that won their support.

Retired from his union duties, Wilson carries on the tradition of social activism in his community, Plainfield, N.J. In addition to CBTU, he is active in a campaign to build affordable housing called “Faith, Bricks & Mortar, Inc.”

— JLT