LEWISTON – About 150 supporters of working people gathered Saturday morning to observe Workers Memorial Day and May Day with a breakfast and awards program at the Franco-American Heritage Center.

The third annual event honored 30 Maine workers who were injured or died on the job in 2008, and it spotlighted efforts of current and historical champions of labor equality.

Don Berry, Western Maine Labor Council president and master of ceremonies for the event, said the gathering was more than a somber remembrance.

“It’s also a chance to celebrate our proud labor history in Lewiston-Auburn and the surrounding communities,” he said.

A Workers Solidarity Award was presented to Lucille Barrett, past president and secretary of Textile Workers Union of America Local 462 at Bates Manufacturing. A Lewiston native and a millworker for 48 years, Barrett worked tirelessly to help her fellow workers, said Rachel Desgrosseilliers, executive director of Museum L-A, who presented the award to Barrett.

She went from shop steward to secretary to union president, a post she held for 10 years.

“Lucille said she sometimes felt she had to be like a lawyer” in her union position at Bates Manufacturing, Desgrosseilliers said.

Barrett retired several years ago, but they kept calling her back, Desgrosseilliers told the audience. Barrett finally managed full retirement at the age of 75, Desgrosseilliers said.

She told the breakfast attendees, “Being that Museum L-A showcases the rich history of the Industrial Revolution and its workers in Lewiston-Auburn, this event allows us to celebrate our playing an important part in the current economic and cultural revival as an everlasting tribute to the manufacturing heritage of the area and its workers.”

The Bruce Roy Workers Solidarity Award went to the employees of Knight-Celotex in Lisbon Falls. Randall Berry told the audience that Bruce Roy was a founding member and officer of the Western Maine Labor Council and a member of United Steelworkers Local 11 in Jay. He passed away just a few weeks ago.

In making the presentation, Jim Alexander, organizer for the United Steelworkers Union, said the Knight-Celotex workers “fought a long battle” beginning with a card-signing campaign in January 2008. With 73 percent of the work force calling for an election, the union won by a vote of 36-34.

Knight-Celotex, the world’s largest fiberboard manufacturer, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in early April.

A third award went to the late Frances Perkins and the newly created Francis Perkins Center in Newcastle.

Perkins, who had deep family roots in Maine, was the secretary of Labor under Franklin D. Roosevelt, the first female cabinet member, a principal author of the New Deal and a lifelong champion of working people and workers’ fundamental right to organize.

Leslie Manning, deputy director of the Maine Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Standards, delivered a dramatic biographical sketch of Perkins’ life beginning with her witnessing the tragic deaths of 146 young immigrant women in the 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in New York City. The tragedy influence her life and led to her being known as “the Mother of the New Deal.” Her grandson, Maine resident Tomlin Perkins Coggeshall, accepted the award.

Prior to the awards, a concert was presented by longtime labor and social movement musicians Charlie King and Karen Brandow.