Public Employee Press

Unity and solidarity at AFSCME ’08 convention

By DIANE S. WILLIAMS

AFSCME renewed its commitment to unity, political change and organizing at its 2008 international convention in San Francisco, Calif., from July 28 through Aug. 1.

“We are strongest when we are united,” saidAFSCME President Gerald W. McEntee. “What unites us are the values we share: justice, opportunity, solidarity. It’s time to put differences aside and pull out all the stops to elect Barack Obama the next president of the United States!”

“AFSCME is the world’s greatest union, the largest single union in the AFL-CIO, and DC 37 is the most progressive union in AFSCME,” said DC 37 Executive Director Lillian Roberts.

The convention featured speakers from labor and politics and highlighted the union’s successes in revitalizing the labor movement, organizing new members, increasing PEOPLE contributions and electing a Democratic majority to Congress and pro-labor candidates to state and local offices.

Convention delegates passed more than 80 key policy resolutions and constitutional amendments to guide future efforts for the right to organize, pensions and workplace safety and against privatization, the war in Iraq, oppressive treatment of union organizers abroad, and more. Sixteen workshops trained local leaders to build public support through the media for the services members provide.

Video presentations told AFSCME’s truth, from the Memphis sanitation workers’ strike in 1968 to today’s battles against anti-union politicians who threaten members’ jobs. And delegates rallied to protest California Gov. Schwarzenegger’s threat to cut state workers’ salaries until the budget is balanced.

Vote for Obama
The convention re-elected McEntee and Secretary-Treasurer William Lucy, who was nominated byDC 37 President Veronica Montgomery-Costa.DC 37 delegates elected Montgomery-Costa and re-elected Eddie Rodriguez as international vice presidents.Local 1322 President James Tucciarelli chaired the Site Committee, which handled arrangments forDC 37’s 399 convention delegates and alternates.

“The election this November signals an opportunity for change,” said guest speaker Al Gore. “We need a wholesale housecleaning in Washington.”

Sen. Hillary Clinton thanked AFSCME for its steadfast support, called for unity and support for Barack Obama and bashed President Bush for “not getting the lesson,” that the mark of a good president is to leave “a better country for future generations.”

“We can’t afford to have John McCain serve Bush’s third term,” said Sen. Obama, who spoke via satellite to cheering AFSCME members. The Bush administration has stripped workers of their rights, he said, failed to create jobs or protect wages, failed to implement health care policies that work and saddled future generations with billions in debt. “What holds us together,” Obama said, “is our stake in each other. We are our brother’s keeper.”

“The stakes are high,” McEntee said. “We cannot afford to elect a president who does not respect our jobs and the needs of our families.”
“We are the conscience and the core of the American labor movement,” Lucy said. “Support for Barack Obama is about America’s promise.” To understand the significance of his campaign, one must remember the history of slavery, civil rights struggles and the collective desire for change, he said. “We’re called upon now to fight for workers and their families, hold America to her promises and be the tide that lifts all boats!”