FORT WORTH, Texas, Sept. 5 /PRNewswire/ -- To honor our nation's workers
on Labor Day, Dickies is proud to announce the 2005 national and state winners
of the 14th Annual American Worker of the Year Awards.

The 2005 South Carolina Worker of the Year is Kevin Lathrop, 35, a diesel mechanic from Pomaria.  He was nominated by his friend Hope Dorn, who wrote in her winning essay "He's the single father of two, his mother's seventh child, and the hardest working diesel mechanic this side of the Mason-Dixon ... he works from sunup until sundown ensuring that truck drivers can make their deliveries.  Drivers know they can count on him for a chuckle and to keep their big wheels turning."

"I'm grinning from ear to ear," said Mr. Lathrop when told of his award. "I started out washing trucks for a diesel truck company as a teenager and then got into being a mechanic." He says when he's not working he enjoys traveling to NASCAR races with his
son, 12 and daughter, 9, in the family's RV.    One national and 50 state recipients were selected from thousands of entries, submitted by appreciative spouses, parents, co-workers, friends, kids, bosses, etc. who were given up to 100 words to explain why their nominee deserves special recognition as an American Worker.

The awards also honor one worker from each of the 50 states, including a North Dakota railroad conductor, a Maine ship scullery worker, an Illinois carpenter, a Louisiana mechanic, a New Jersey janitor and an Arizona army sergeant, who will each receive over $500 in cash and prizes.

The national 2005 American Worker of the Year is Tim Carroll, 39, of Bartlett, Tennessee.  Mr. Carroll remodels homes in low-income neighborhoods in the Memphis area and was nominated by his admiring wife, Sherry, who wrote, "He works on each house as though his own family might live there.  While the job can be dirty, he doesn't let that stop him ... Tim cares about making quality homes affordable for others ... "

"The American work ethic always shines through in the top entries," says Jon Ragsdale, vice president of marketing for the Williamson-Dickie Mfg. Company.  "These are the unsung heroes of our economy, who take pride in doing a good job every day without public recognition.  That's what makes the awards so special on Labor Day."

Mr. Carroll will receive a 2006 Dodge Ram 1500 Quad-Cab pickup truck and an all-expense paid trip for two to Nashville, for the special American Worker of the Year Awards ceremony broadcast live from the stage of the Grand Ole
Opry on Friday, September 23rd at 8 PM CDT.

Since it was founded in Fort Worth, TX in 1922, the family owned, privately held Williamson-Dickie Mfg. Co.'s DICKIES brand has become the most recognized and trusted global name in sturdy work wear including pants, shirts, shorts, overalls, coveralls, jeans, painters wear, and outerwear.  In recent years, the company has extended Dickies appeal through school uniforms, outdoor apparel and vigorous licensing programs, which brought head-to-toe apparel options for the worker under the Dickies brand umbrella.  With headquarters in Fort Worth, TX, the company also maintains offices in Canada,
Europe and the Philippines.