The winner of the Robert J. Kalaski Award for 2004 is Local Lodge 141’s Harry Katopodis

Harry is the long time editor of the Local Lodge 141 Transporter and the Michigan Machinist. His tenure at both publications earned him numerous awards including those from the IAM Newsletter & Web Design competition, the International Labor Communications Association contest, and the Midwest Labor Press competition.

In addition to his newsletter duties, Harry was LL 141’s first Communicator and helped establish LL 141’s presence on the internet with a brand-new website.

Harry’s labor journalism career at LL 141 was cut short when his employer shut down the facility where he worked. He is currently attending college and plans to become a journalism teacher. Harry is still active in the Detroit area labor community and has been a guest host on a labor-oriented radio show.

It is the IAM’s good fortune to have dedicated individuals like Harry to get labor’s message out. They are the ones who toil over newsletters and websites without pay and on their own time with only one reward in mind: Making a Difference.

As union members, we face a host of challenges each day at our jobs and in our workplaces. We have come to depend upon the IAM for the hope and help it offers. Frankly, though, the IAM would be a much less effective union and it would mean less to us without Harry and thousands of others like him.

They do make a difference. And they, too, are North America’s Might