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• Tuesday’s Report from the AFL-CIO Convention

During the 2009 AFL-CIO Convention, President John Sweeney will be stepping down after more than five decades in the union movement and 14 years heading the AFL-CIO. Today, the AFL-CIO Convention unanimously approved a resolution honoring Sweeney and pledging to carry on his values and his hard work.

Union leaders and activists from across the movement stood in support of the resolution, praising Sweeney as a leader and as a person.

As president of the AFL-CIO, Sweeney has fought to strengthen local union organizations and get them involved in their communities, and he also has strengthened the global union movement and increased the role of America’s unions in fighting for workers around the world. Through the creation of Working America, Sweeney helped mobilize and educated 3 million workers without a union. Through the founding of the Alliance for Retired Americans, he gave a voice to 4 million retirees and kept them actively engaged. It’s a record to be proud of and a legacy that will keep the union movement strong in the future.

Denis Hughes, the New York State AFL-CIO president who came up through the ranks of union leadership with Sweeney in New York City, said Sweeney was an inspiration and an innovator:

John really reinvented the way a union should work. He opened it up…he brought the community in. You always strived to make us better than what we do. You strove to make us more open, more progressive than we even know we could be.

AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Richard Trumka praised Sweeney’s dedication to his family, to the AFL-CIO and to all workers:

Everything he has done has been marked by his unwavering commitment to the core mission of our labor movement—fighting for social and economic justice. With Resolution 59, we honor John by recommitting ourselves to the work to which he has dedicated his life.

AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Arlene Holt Baker talked about Sweeney as a mentor, a friend and an advocate for a diverse and energetic union movement:

John’s commitment to diversity moved beyond resolve to implementation. I, along with so many others, am the beneficiary of his commitment to a more diverse labor movement at every level. John is not just a man of words, but a man of action.

John has been tireless in his drive and determination for a social and economic agenda that benefits not just the labor movement but all of America.

Elizabeth Bunn, secretary-treasurer of the UAW, noted that in John Sweeney’s AFL-CIO, the doors were opened to women and people of color, to gay and lesbian workers and to immigrants—and it’s a stronger movement with a brighter future because of it, and because of Sweeney’s energy.

Sweeney accepted the honor and promised that, even as he retired from the AFL-CIO, he would continue to advocate on behalf of workers:

Whatever I’ve been able to do is because of all of you…every one of you I owe a debt of gratitude….It’s been an honor to serve working men and women, and I pledge to continue as long as I can.

The nation’s health care system is broken and now is the time to act to gain real health care reform. With a vote on health care reform coming soon to Congress, delegates to the AFL-CIO Convention today passed two strong resolutions to provide quality affordable health care and another to ensure safe and healthy workplaces.

They also took immediate action on the floor to mobilize against the insurance industry that is profiting by denying health care to patients who need it and raising premiums.

Both AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Richard Trumka and Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Pa.) told the convention the Senate will vote on a health care bill in the next few weeks. After passing the resolutions, delegates signed pledges to work for real health care reform when they get back home. Many used their cell phones to call their locals to march on the major health insurers between Sept. 22 and Oct. 2. AFT President Randi Weingarten, who was presiding over the debate, called the chief lobbyist for the United Federation of Teachers in New York City, her home local, while on the podium, and with the entire convention listening, convinced him to hold an action.

The mobilization is part of an AFL-CIO campaign to hold insurers accountable, Trumka said,

for denying care and  shutting people out and using our members’ premium dollars.

The skyrocketing cost of health care is bankrupting our economy and stealing the American Dream from working families, Trumka said. Unless we are able to increase coverage for the uninsured and lower the cost of health care insurance, one day health care will be out of reach of only the rich, he said.

One resolution set a goal of a single payer health care system and the second supported a program of immediate health care reform. During the debate, Greg Junemann, president of the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers (IFPTE), said now is the time to put the AFL-CIO on the top of the health care debate. When workers leave the convention, they know that health care cuts will be on the negotiating table.

We will not rest until we get necessary health care for all Americans. It’s the right thing to do.

Health care is a civil right not a privilege, said delegate Alan Lubin of AFT. It’s wrong in America for people to have to make the decision between paying for health care or food.

Delegate Sol Luciano of AFSCME put it on the line, saying:

We live in a country where people are afraid to go to the doctor not because they are afraid they have cancer, but because they are afraid of losing their homes or their children’s college fund. We’ve been trying so long to reform health care that if the health care system were a person, it would be eligible for Medicare.

AFSCME President Gerald McEntee said President Obama gets the connection between the cost of health care and the economic mess we’re in.

Working families know the health of the family budget and the federal budget depend on health care reform.

North Carolina State AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer MaryBe McMillan added:

Working families have paid their dues, played by the rules and the insurance companies have not. The issue is fundamental fairness. It’s time to stand up, speak out and mobilize to tell members of Congress to listen to the people, not the insurance industry.

Health in the workplace was also on the delegates’ minds as they debated a resolution to strengthen the nation’s workplace safety laws. In 2008, some 5,071 workers were killed on the job and an estimated 50,000 more lost their lives due to occupational illnesses. Between 9 and 12 million workplace injuries and illnesses occur every year.

In two poignant statements, Mine Workers (UMWA) President Cecil Roberts and New York State AFL-CIO President Denis Hughes reminded the audience why health and safety is so important.

Roberts recounted the deaths of 12 coal miners at the Sago Mine in 2006 and others at the Jim Walter No. 5 Mine:

We are here to give voice to [the dead miners]. As a labor movement we have to make sure that this doesn’t happen to another miner. We have to let them know that the best hope they have of coming home to their families is a union.

Hughes reminded the convention that eight years after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, there is no mechanism in place to provide long-term health care to the first responders who risked their lives to save the survivors and recover the victims.

AFT President Randi Weingarten led much of Tuesday’s convention discussions.

We will not have a strong economy without a strong public sector. Over the past decade, the budgets of state and local governments have been decimated by tax cuts and the recession.

Today, delegates to the AFL-CIO Convention recognized the economic free fall not only threatens the stability of the economy, but also jeopardizes the welfare of our most vulnerable citizens, public safety and health and the protection of our environment.

Metropolitan Detroit AFL-CIO President Saundra Williams said conservatives have demonized government for decades, leading to official neglect and disinvestment in public services. Government responsibilities have been privatized or outsourced.

The results are clear, whether it’s the tragically slow and inadequate response to Hurricane Katrina or the financial crisis, which shows the consequences of failing to regulate corporate behavior.

Privatizing and outsourcing have failed, Williams said. Instead, they have led to a shadow government that costs more, provides fewer services and is less accountable to taxpayers.

AFSCME member Mike Fox was one of the delegates speaking on the resolution, saying:

Every day public workers are behind the scenes making America happen. The conservative mantra of cutting government means cutting people with good union jobs and cutting vital services when they are deeply needed.

Delegate John Gray from AFT laid it on the line, saying:

All of us are in this together. We need to support  a strong public sector—the employees on whom a vibrant society depends.

AFT President Randi Weingarten led much of Tuesday’s convention discussions.

We will not have a strong economy without a strong public sector. Over the past decade, the budgets of state and local governments have been decimated by tax cuts and the recession.

Today, delegates to the AFL-CIO Convention recognized the economic free fall not only threatens the stability of the economy, but also jeopardizes the welfare of our most vulnerable citizens, public safety and health and the protection of our environment.

Metropolitan Detroit AFL-CIO President Saundra Williams said conservatives have demonized government for decades, leading to official neglect and disinvestment in public services. Government responsibilities have been privatized or outsourced.

The results are clear, whether it’s the tragically slow and inadequate response to Hurricane Katrina or the financial crisis, which shows the consequences of failing to regulate corporate behavior.

Privatizing and outsourcing have failed, Williams said. Instead, they have led to a shadow government that costs more, provides fewer services and is less accountable to taxpayers.

AFSCME member Mike Fox was one of the delegates speaking on the resolution, saying:

Every day public workers are behind the scenes making America happen. The conservative mantra of cutting government means cutting people with good union jobs and cutting vital services when they are deeply needed.

Delegate John Gray from AFT laid it on the line, saying:

All of us are in this together. We need to support  a strong public sector—the employees on whom a vibrant society depends.

President Obama greets convention delegates, including Alliance for Retired Americans President Barbara Easterling.

President Barack Obama had a strong, inspiring message for delegates to the 2009 AFL-CIO Convention: We’re going to make this country work again.

In a speech punctuated by chants and standing ovations, Obama said he’s committed to the same goals as the union movement: restoring the economy, getting health care for everyone and passing the Employee Free Choice Act:

“These are the reforms I’m proposing. These are the reforms labor has been championing. These are the reforms the American people need. And these are the reforms I intend to sign into law.

“Quality, affordable health insurance. A world-class education. Good jobs that pay well and can’t be outsourced. A strong labor movement. That’s how we’ll lift up hardworking families. That’s how we’ll grow our middle class. That’s how we’ll put opportunity within reach in the United States of America.”

Throughout, the enthusiastic crowd gave him multiple standing ovations—when one woman shouted “I love you,” he responded: “I love you, too, sister.” In turn, Obama showed he understands the needs of working people and the unions that represent them:

“When labor succeeds—that’s when our middle class succeeds. And when our middle class succeeds—that’s when the United States of America succeeds.”

Obama pledged his continued support of the Employee Free Choice Act, because “when workers want a union, they should get a union.”

The economic crisis was brought on by greed and irresponsibility, Obama said, and we can’t wait to rebuild a stronger, better and fairer economy:

The problems in our economy preceded this economic crisis. Just last week, a Census report came out showing that in 2008, before this downturn, family income fell to its lowest point in over a decade; and more families slid into poverty. That is unacceptable. And I refuse to let America go back to the culture of irresponsibility that made it possible.

Obama spent much of his speech talking about health care and thanked union members for their hard work on making health reform possible:

Few have fought for this cause harder, and few have championed it longer than you…you know why this is so important. You know this isn’t just about the millions of Americans who don’t have health insurance, it’s about the hundreds of millions more who do: Americans who worry that they’ll lose their insurance if they lose their job, who fear their coverage will be denied because of a pre-existing condition, who know that one accident or illness could mean financial ruin.

When are we going to stop this? When are we going to say enough is enough? How many more workers have to lose their coverage? How many more families have to go into the red for a sick loved one? We have talked this issue to death year after year, decade after decade…now is the time for action. Now is the time to deliver on health insurance reform.

Obama also said that the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act helped pull the economy up and prevent even worse crisis. He pledged to keep working to create good jobs and make sure that “Made in America” won’t just be a slogan, but a reality.

Obama has already signed into law pro-worker legislation like the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act and an expansion of health care to millions of children in need. He asked the attendees to come together and fight with him for an America with lasting prosperity.

Pennsylvania AFL-CIO President Bill George spoke on the need for retirement security.

For more than 70 years, the three-legged stool of Social Security, pensions and personal savings have guaranteed retirement security for millions of retirees. It ensured that the promise of America—-if you work hard and play by the rules you will live in a comfortable and secure retirement—is fulfilled.

But now that stool is broken and many retirees are suffering from the fall. Once guaranteed pensions are being tossed aside for insecure 401(k) plans or junked altogether.

Today, the AFL-CIO Convention adopted a resolution reaffirming the federation’s commitment to strengthen and improve existing public and private defined-benefit pension plans and 401(k)s.

Pennsylvania AFL-CIO President Bill George summed up the issue this way:

We need to develop a bold new initiative for those without pensions, based upon the principle of mutual responsibility—with government, employers and individuals all contributing. This, together with Social Security, must provide a universal, secure and adequate income for retirees in the 21st century.

Machinists (IAM) Vice President Robert Roach said during the debate on the resolution that the federal agency that insures pension, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp., is seriously underfunded and that we must push for a major infusion of funds to keep the fund stable.

United Steelworkers (USW) Vice President Tom Conway said cutting pensions is a key topic in every contract negotiation and that the pension system must be changed to ensure that workers can enjoy their retirements.

Said Conway:

It’s a matter of dignity that workers can retire in comfort.

Barbara Easterling, president of the Alliance for Retired Americans, pointed out that the pension crisis affects every generation and is tied to the overall economic mess.

We need fundamental change in the way the economy works to better prepare workers for retirement.

Lynda Johnson Robb, the daughter of former President Lyndon Johnson, says that now is the time to pass health care reform and complete the promise of generations.

In a new video delivered to members of the Alliance for Retired Americans in Pittsburgh for the 2009 AFL-CIO Convention, Robb says  her father’s fight for Medicare should inspire us to go further in building a better health care system.

Harkening back to the administrations of Franklin Roosevelt, John Kennedy and her father, Robb noted that they would want to make the most of the opportunity to add to the historic achievements of Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security:

They would say that ensuring all Americans have guaranteed, affordable health care is the missing piece of the modern American social contract, the unfinished business of their legacies.

This is also the unfinished business of our generation. I urge America’s seniors, and all Americans, to finish this project by working for affordable health care for all.

People across the country, particularly seniors, are being targeted by powerful interests who are using scare tactics and disinformation in an attempt to stop health care reform, Robb said. But just as those interests didn’t prevent President Johnson from signing Medicare and protecting the health of older Americans, they must not be allowed to block health reform that finally provides health care for all, Robb said.

I urge you to reject the falsehoods spread by those who stand to gain by the failure of health reform, and those who simply don’t realize what’s at stake.

You can view the four-minute version of Robb’s message here and the full nine-minute version here.

IBEW delegate and U.S. veteran Mickey Harrington of Magalia, Calif., is among thousands of military veterans eligible to take part in the Union Veterans Council, the AFL-CIO’s newest constituency group.

Recognizing the service of the millions of veterans in the union movement, the AFL-CIO today voted to add the Union Veterans Council as the seventh AFL-CIO constituency group.

American Federation of Musicians of the United States and Canada (AFM) President Thomas Lee, a Marine Corps veteran, said the establishment of the constituency group will bring together union members who are veterans to speak out on veterans issues and support the appointment of labor-friendly veterans to government agencies.

J. David Cox, secretary-treasurer of AFGE and a former VA nurse, said we owe our freedoms to those veterans who protected our freedoms.