What I Do
Deborah Cannada, Librarian - West Side Elementary School, Charleston, WV.
Deborah Cannada, Librarian - West Side Elementary School, Charleston, WV.
The AFL-CIO’s state and local organizations, and the local unions that comprise them, are the engines of the labor movement’s grassroots campaigns. They fight and mobilize for all workers in legislative, political, issue, organizing and contract campaigns as well as corporate battles. The labor movement cannot run effective programs without strong and capable grassroots organizations and full and active participation by local unions in these organizations.
As we move toward the convention in September, the AFL-CIO will convene a series of discussions with affiliates, state federations and central labor councils, constituency groups, community allies and others, aimed at developing recommendations about specific changes that should be adopted to strengthen and build the labor movement at the state and local levels and maximize affiliate participation and support. The AFL-CIO’s state federation and central labor council advisory committee already has made important contributions to this work, and committee members’ active involvement in the process leading up to the convention is essential.
At the same time as these pre-convention discussions are taking place, we are prepared to move now on a specific set of changes and to begin implementing them immediately. Pursuant to Article XIV, Section 2(c) of the AFL-CIO Constitution, the Executive Council adopts the following requirements:
Summary: State Fed/CLC Advisory Committee Meeting Feb. 22–23, 2013
Thirty-six State Federation/Central Labor Council Advisory Committee members met with President Trumka, Committee Chair Jimmy Williams and Vice Chair Arlene Holt Baker. We listened to and discussed President Trumka’s proposals for change to strengthen the AFL-CIO state federations and central labor councils. We wholeheartedly agree with the need to improve the effectiveness of the labor movement’s grassroots cross-union program and are more than willing to do our share and lead our local labor movements to be more effective and accountable organizations on a year-round basis.
We support the proposals for a 50-state strategy that will ensure, at a minimum, each state federation and large central labor council will develop an integrated strategic campaign plan and designate or hire a professional campaign manager in conjunction with the national AFL-CIO; provide regular quarterly financial reports to ensure fiscal transparency and management of federation resources; and broaden the program of all state feds and central labor councils to engage our community partners in order to build a bigger and broader movement to win for workers.
We embrace and support these proposals as necessary elements of our strategy, but not in and of themselves sufficient to implement a serious plan to strengthen our movement to meet the challenges faced by our affiliates and the federation.
They are not sufficient on their own because accountability for organizational strength and effective professional campaign operations cannot be achieved without full participation, engagement and accountability of the affiliate unions who make up—or should make up—the leadership and membership of the state federations and labor councils in every community.
The Advisory Committee discussed a number of corollary recommendations to make certain the changes we undertake as outlined by President Trumka will be effective and long-lasting. These will be necessary to ensure we are building organizations that on a year-round basis can run professional political, legislative and issue campaigns and provide the necessary support for the organizing and collective bargaining campaigns of our unions.
These include, but are not limited to:
