July 25—In a rousing keynote address to delegates to the 25th AFL-CIO Constitutional Convention, AFL-CIO President John J. Sweeney said despite four unions choosing not to attend the AFL-CIO Convention, the federation will continue to work for what the union movement is all about—“winning rewards for work, and respect for workers, working families.”
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| AFL-CIO President John Sweeney gave the keynote address to nearly 1,000 delegates at the 25th AFL-CIO Constitutional Convention. |
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“Pulling out of our convention dishonors the founders and the members of my union,” Sweeney said to loud applause. “It is a grievous insult to all the unions who helped us—and to the unions in this hall who came here to discuss and debate the difficult issues and make historic changes.”
“But most of all it is a tragedy for working people,” Sweeney said. “Because at a time when our corporate and conservative adversaries have created the most powerful anti-worker machine in the history of our country, a divided movement hurts the hopes of working families for a better life.”
United Food and Commercial Workers, SEIU, Teamsters and UNITE HERE—announced they would not participate in the Convention. Two of those unions, SEIU and Teamsters, announced July 25 they would disaffiliate from the AFL-CIO.
“The labor movement belongs to all of us—every worker—and our future should not be dictated by the demands of any group or the ambitions of any individual,” said Sweeney.
Building a New Union Movement
Sweeney called upon the nearly 1,000 delegates to build new power for workers by requiring the AFL-CIO Executive Council and state and local movements to develop plans to achieve targeted levels of diversity by 2009.
The federation also will shift huge resources to organizing, Sweeney said, “so we can ratchet up strategic campaigns aimed at the likes of Wal-Mart—and so we can provide serious incentives to encourage our affiliates to invest more and work harder and smarter to bring in new members.”
“Just as the delegates met 50 years ago and vowed to build a new labor movement for their hard times, let us commit to build a new movement for our hard times,” Sweeney said to the cheering crowd.
Political Leaders Commit to Fight for Working Families
Five top political leaders also addressed the crowd during the morning session, pledging to fight for workers’ agenda despite the anti-union Republican majority in Congress and the anti-worker Bush administration.
“In a time of such insecurity and instability, there has never been a greater need for a strong labor movement to stand up for America’s workers,” said Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.). Democratic congressional leaders, Sen. Harry Reid (Nev.) and Rep. Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) also joined delegates.
“It is an abuse of power to have the ability to help American workers and do nothing with it,” Reid said of the Bush administration. Democrats, he said, “are committed to reform that will help all working families.”
Pelosi attacked the Bush administration’s proposed Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA). “CAFTA is a bad deal for workers in the United States and workers in Central America,” she said. She pledged that House Democrats will vote solidly against the trade deal when it comes to the House floor, possibly as early as this week.
Illinois’ Sen. Richard Durbin (D) said America can do better for its workers and that Democrats will stand together with unions to work for working families.
Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) also spoke to the delegates via video from Washington, D.C.
Other speakers included Illinois AFL-CIO President Margaret Blackshere and Chicago Federation of Labor President Dennis Gannon.
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