Call for new leaders, union cooperation
PEF delegates to SEIU, AFT conventions part of powerful demand for change
By SHERRY HALBROOK
According to PEF Vice President Joe Fox, who attended conventions this summer for both of PEF’s international affiliates — the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) and the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) — the events were far from “same old, same old.”
“Change was the big news coming out of these conventions — change in leadership, especially at AFT, and a change in direction for the labor movement, especially coming from SEIU,” Fox said.
“The AFL-CIO needs to become more progressive, and if more union leaders focus on their members’ interests, those changes could take place,” said Fox, who leads the Capital District Area Labor Federation (ALF) in Albany.
ALFs are a key part of the AFL-CIO’s effort to restructure its organization at the grassroots to make it more effective and responsive to the changes and challenges facing workers.
But the AFL-CIO is not moving swiftly and effectively enough to transform organized labor in this country, SEIU President Andy Stern told delegates to that convention in San Francisco. And he gave the AFL-CIO one more year to substantially change or be replaced.
Stern, who was elected by the delegates to a third four-year term, said the AFL-CIO’s current structure of 65 separate international unions is too loose to deal with the issues confronting labor in the 21st Century.
He called on American labor unions to develop and support a single, united strategy, by pooling their resources and coordinating their campaigns for better wages and benefits.
If the AFL-CIO can’t meet this challenge, Stern said, “we need to build something new that gives workers a fighting chance.”
AFL-CIO President John Sweeney, who previously headed SEIU, also addressed the convention.
Sweeney praised SEIU “for setting the pace,” in spurring change to deal with national and global employers.
The SEIU delegates enthusiastically supported a resolution submitted by PEF that calls for a swift halt in the growing trend toward “off-shore” outsourcing of work in both America’s public and private sectors to companies and workers in other countries.
That measure and two other PEF resolutions, on nursing standards and support for a “Million Workers’ March,” were passed at both the SEIU and AFT conventions.
SEIU CONVENTION — PEF delegates to the SEIU Convention Pat Smith and Germane Greco join a march for health care in San Francisco. — Photo by Bill Sachs
McElroy new AFT leader
AFT President Sandra Feldman stepped down at the AFT 78th Convention, citing personal health reasons, opening the door for a shift in leadership roles right up the line at the national level.
The AFT delegates, meeting in Washington in mid-July, elected Edward J. McElroy, formerly the secretary-treasurer, president. And Nat LaCour, who had been executive vice president, was elected secretary-treasurer. The delegates chose Antonia Cortese of NYS United Teachers to succeed LaCour in the executive VP spot.
PEF President Roger Benson was re-elected to the position of AFT vice president — one of 39 VPs elected at the convention. All of the offices are for two-year terms.
The AFT delegates passed resolutions calling for major changes to the federal Patriot Act, especially an end to President George W. Bush’s use of the act to block unionization of federal employees of the Department of Homeland Security.
The delegates passed a plan to correct mounting problems in U.S. education resulting from unsound policies, chronic underfunding, inconsistent standards, inadequate resources and broken promises from the Bush Administration related to the No Child Left Behind Act.
And they passed a resolution expressing outrage at Bush’s failure to plan adequately for the rebuilding of Iraq and for dealing with post-war insurgencies. The resolution rejects “a precipitous pullout” of U.S. forces, and calls on the administration to “mend relationships with the international community” and involve the United Nations and NATO in restoring stability and security in Iraq.
Kerry’s their man
The emphasis on new leadership and national change was also reflected in the positions both conventions took on the national elections this year.
Presidential candidate John Kerry addressed both conventions and was heartily endorsed by their delegates. The AFT delegates commended him for his 97 percent voting record in the Senate on their issues.
Kerry pledged “to fight for and pass .... a bill that finally makes health care more affordable and accessible for all Americans.” And he pointed to Bush’s failure to fulfill his campaign promises for education.
PEF members and retirees are part of the vigorous campaigns both AFT and SEIU are waging to make working families aware of the important issues at stake in this national election, and get them registered and out to the polls on November 2.
AFT Vice President Ed Doherty praised Kerry as “an outstanding friend of all public employees and workers,” but he said the endorsement of Kerry is “meaningless, unless everyone goes back to their local unions and, for the next three-and-a-half months, works their hearts out to get John Kerry elected.”
The
Communicator September 04
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