July 24—Chanting, shouting, cheering and waving “United to Win” signs and wearing blue and orange “One Strong Voice for Workers’ Rights” T-shirts, nearly 2,000 delegates, union members and supporters rallied for more than two hours in Chicago in support of the “Winning for Working Families” team of AFL-CIO President John Sweeney, AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Richard Trumka and AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Linda Chavez-Thompson.
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| AFL-CIO President John Sweeney, AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Richard Trumka and Executive Vice President Linda Chavez-Thompson wave to nearly 1,000 union members rallying in support of their re-election to the AFL-CIO. |
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| Wearing "One Strong Voice" T-shirts and carrying signs supporting the re-election of the Winning for Working Families team, union members packed a hall in Chicago where the AFL-CIO Convention meets this week. |
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The rally was held on the eve of the AFL-CIO’s 25th Convention in Chicago in support of the team’s re-election to lead the 13 million-member federation. The Winning for Working Families team will stand for re-election during the July 25–28 AFL-CIO’s 25th Constitutional Convention.
“John Sweeney has demonstrated his leadership by bringing all these people with different backgrounds and ideas together to work hard to move things in the right direction,” said Wyatt Earp, a member of the Electrical Workers District 3 in New Jersey, who took part in the Convention.
“Sweeney has moved the labor movement forward in difficult times,” says Lavester Smith, a member of United Steelworkers Local 9777 in Chicago, who also took part in the rally. “He has a vision and his agenda is the right one for the future. He’s not just thinking about today, he’s thinking about the future.”
Four Unions Refuse to Participate in Democratic Election Process
The rally follows media reports that four unions will not participate in the AFL-CIO Convention. Over the past several months, the federation, its affiliated unions and union members have engaged in an extensive dialogue that culminated in scores of proposals outlining strategies for strengthening the union movement. Most of the proposals from the four unions that made the announcement today—United Food and Commercial Workers, SEIU, Teamsters and UNITE HERE—are similar, if not virtually identical, to many of those made by the Winning for Working Families team.
In the end, these unions acknowledged the real issue is not policy differences but rather control over the federation leadership—representing only 30 percent of union membership, they would not be able to gain through the AFL-CIO’s long-established democratic election process.
Sweeney Team Committed to Fighting for Working Families
Flanked by a stage filled with union leaders and members backing their re-election, the three AFL-CIO leaders called for a unified union movement and vowed to fight for justice for all workers no matter what.
“The Sweeney Team is all about giving renegade employers and reckless politicians all the fight they can handle and then some. And we’re committed to fighting them with the most powerful weapon we have—our solidarity,” Sweeney told the wildly cheering crowd.
Trumka celebrated as the crowd sang “Happy Birthday” in honor of his 56th birthday July 24. “No matter what obstacles stand in our way—internal or external—we will not stop. We are ready to lead a second revolution to deliver labor out of the iron fist of greed,” he said.
“I am living proof that John Sweeney believes a woman’s place is at the absolute top of the union movement,” said Chavez-Thompson, who is the first person of color to be elected to a top federation office. Sweeney created the executive vice president position after winning office for the first time in 1996.
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