Boston, MA - The Massachusetts Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development is proud to announce that Department of Labor director George Noel is the distinguished recipient of the Richard M. Fontera award. The award is presented to those individuals who have demonstrated an outstanding commitment to education and the ideals of democracy and social justice. The Richard M. Fontera award is named for the former Dean of Faculty at Southeastern Massachusetts University (now University of Massachusetts Dartmouth). Fontera was an advocate for civil liberties and democracy in education. His vision was integral in brining the university’s Labor Education Center to life.

 

During his more than 34 year career at Raytheon, Mr. Noel was involved in the testing and troubleshooting of some of the world’s most sophisticated communications and radar systems. Mr. Noel joined the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 1505, where he was selected to be a shop steward and was later appointed Chief Steward. His proudest accomplishment was being elected Business Manager/Financial Secretary of Local 1505 IBEW. He was responsible for representing 2,000 at Raytheon facilities across Massachusetts, and served as the union’s chief contract negotiator.

 

In 2002, he was elected as vice president of the Massachusetts American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO). He was also a delegate to both the Greater Boston and Greater Lowell Central Labor Councils. He helped to found the Merrimack Valley Central Labor Council, and was elected as its first president. In addition to these outstanding accomplishments, Mr. Noel also served as an advisor to the Patrick/Murray Transition’s Workforce Development Working Group, and sat on the Merrimack Valley Workforce Investment Board.

 

Throughout his career, Mr. Noel has been an advocate for workers and working families, and has been actively engaged in efforts to create and retain jobs. He served as labor representative on the Massachusetts Defense Technology initiative, a project to save 33,000 defense-related jobs in the state during military restructuring. Most recently, he played an integral role in the formation and implementation of the state’s Joint Task Force on the Underground Economy and Employee Misclassification, an organization which works to identify and eliminate fraudulent employment activities and increase fair business competition.

 

Mr. Noel was raised in Dedham and is a veteran of the United States Army. He now lives in Billerica with his wife Anne.