Public Employee Press

AFSCME trains staff for 21st century plan

A training conference for New York City staffers of AFSCME affiliates explored ways to strengthen the union.

The Jan. 10-11 conference, sponsored by DC 37’s national union, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, focused on how staff can work to implement AFSCME’s 21st century action plan for mobilizing leaders and members, strengtjem their own skills and commitment to change and better help the union develop its vision for the future.

“Our union is impacted by politics more than anything else,” said DC 37 Executive Director Lillian Roberts, welcoming the participants to the event. She noted that political action was a key component of the 21st Century Initiative, AFSCME’s blueprint for growth. DC 1707 Executive Director Raglan George Jr. also welcomed the participants.

During lively workshops, participants came up with proposals to help their unions evolve into political powerhouses and to adopt a culture of organizing.

Subjects included the leader’s role in change, why change fails, how to move members from apathy to action, resources for union reps, and effective communications skills.

Other topics included recruiting and developing the next generation of union leaders, encouraging members to become more active politically and contribute to the union’s national political action fund (PEOPLE), building support for organizing campaigns and increasing rank-and-file participation.

Participants made a number of recommendations. They included empowering and recruiting young members by, for instance, sponsoring a youth conference; developing an ideological training program about the economic and political need for unions; expanding union presence in the outer boroughs; building a volunteer army of member activists; surveying members to get input for change; and developing a vision and long-term strategic plan to build up the union’s political strength and membership.

“The conference provided a wonderful opportunity for everyone to really take a serious look at the challenges we face and to come up with solutions,” said DC 37 Field Operations Director BarbaraEdmonds. AFSCME’s education staff worked closely with their counterparts at DC 37 and DC 1707 to structure the conference to meet the specific needs of New York City staffers, she noted.