July 21—Delegates gathering for the AFL-CIO’s 25th Constitutional Convention in Chicago July 25–28 will mark the 50th anniversary of the federation by charting a course to strengthen the union movement and improve the lives of working families through organizing, political action, building state and local power and bringing more diversity to labor movement's political ranks. , Delegates also will elect top leaders for the next four years and chart a course to strengthen the union movement through organizing and political action to improve the lives of working families in the coming decades.
The nearly 1,000 union delegates from 56 unions will meet at the historic Navy Pier where the Convention mantratheme, “Respect Work, Reward Workers,” is a timely—and all-too needed—reminder that sending jobs overseas, paying below-poverty-level wages and making health care and retirement security out of reach harms millions of hardworking employees and their families.
"This Convention is going to decide the future direction of the labor movement," says James Bestpitch, a delegate to the Convention and president of the Western Maryland Central Labor Council in Cumberland, Md. "Our adversaries are growing stronger, and we need to set our priorities and work together to get them done," says Bestpitch, an AFSCME member.
Thousands of Union Members Join in Discussions
Delegates such as Bestpitch will vote on major resolutions proposed by the AFL-CIO Executive Council and others that grew out of a broad months-long debate among union leaders, grassroots activists and allies as they and enabling working families’ power to balance corporate power.
In November 2004, AFL-CIO President John Sweeney asked every union member, national union, constituency group and allied organization to identify issues that should be addressed and make proposals for meeting the challenges and fostering union movement growth.
Dozens of proposals were submitted: More than 60 extensive proposals from national unions, state federations and central labor councils, three from AFL-CIO trade departments, five from constituency groups, two from Executive Council committees, two from community partner organizations and more than 20 from academics and other individuals.
Through the AFL-CIO Strengthening Our Union Movement for the Future website, thousands of rank-and-file union members and community allies took part in the discussion, with more than 9,000 comments posted online. Representing every job category, union and geographic area, workers wrote about the issues critical to their workplaces, unions and the nation and recommended strategies for building strong unions, communicating with members and conveying the union difference to the press and public.
“I think that it is time to get the message out in new ways and develop new partnerships. Let's talk to people where they live rather than simply where they work,” wrote Mark Kaufman, a Seattle member of the Graphic Artists Guild, an affiliate of the United Steelworkers.
An IUE-CWA member in New Jersey wrote, “More women and minorities need to be involved in the labor movement at leadership levels, and not just the AFL-CIO, but in state federations and international unions. It is still a boys’ club.”
Winning for Working Families
Backed by unions representing the majority of union membership, the federation’s top leaders for the past decade, Sweeney, Secretary-Treasurer Richard Trumka and Executive Vice President Linda Chavez-Thompson, are running for re-election. Determined to make the changes needed to build a stronger, better union movement, the team developed the proposal for union movement unity and strength.
This far-reaching and innovative proposal calls for creating a $22.5 million Strategic Organizing Fund, establishing Industry Coordinating Committees to focus on strategic organizing and encouraging and promoting union mergers. The mobilization provisions include building year-round capacity for member political action and legislative mobilization and increasing the Member Mobilization Fund—which does not include contributions to candidates—by $7.5 million a year.
The proposal has the overwhelming backing of the AFL-CIO Executive Committee, a group of the leaders of 24 of the largest unions and the Executive Council. The “Winning for Working Families” plan will go to the Convention as Resolution 1.
Building Power for Working Families
The weekend prior to the Convention, more than 800 union activists will meet in an unprecedented two-day conference to discuss strategies for Building Power for Working Families. So many people preregistered for the conference, it was filled up more than a week prior to its start.
On the first day of the July 23–24 conference, participants will hold a National Summit on Diversity in Our Union Movement, where they will discuss diversity, inclusion and representation in the union movement and strategies for implementing resolutions, diversity principles and other change proposals delegates will consider during the Convention.
The next day will be devoted to campaigns that build capacity and help workers to achieve three priorities critical to for building a stronger union movement: organizing, strengthening state and local movements and global justice.
Pelosi, Reid, Durbin, Kennedy, Obama and Other Top Leaders to Speak
House and Senate Democratic leaders Rep. Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) and Sen. Harry Reid (Nev.) will lead a parade of top political and activist speakers, including Sens. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.), Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) and Barack Obama (D-Ill.). Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) and Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.) will send video greetings.
Other speakers include Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D); 2004 Democratic vice presidential nominee John Edwards; Chicago Mayor Richard Daley (D); Alliance for Retired Americans President George Kourpias; NAACP National Chairman Julian Bond; the Rev. Jesse Jackson, founder and president of the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition; Sharan Burrow, president of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions; Ken Georgetti, president of the Canadian Labour Congress; and Jeannie Drake, sororal delegate from the British Trades Union Congress.
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