AFSCME 46th International Convention “Front Line and Fearless
AFSCME 46th International Convention
Front Line and
Fearless
The conference was held in Los Angeles, Ca. Roughly 4,000 union brothers, sisters and retirees.
AFSCME welcomed guest speakers to the convention. Tim Waltz.
Governor of Minnesota and Vice President of the United State Candidate.
He was very energized and focused on the growth of the unions. Plans to make it easier to join unions. A key focus of his speech was Project 2025.This 900-page agenda would transform the entire federal government and take away power from the working people.
Something to think about, this project wants to change working time from a 40-hour work week to 160-hour work month. It calls for a complete ban on public sector unions like AFSCME. It will make health more expensive. It gives a free pass to employers who put their safety at risk. It guts overtime for tens of millions of workers. These are just a few items we need to be aware of when it comes to our future.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass was unable to attending the opening of the conference because she was flying back from the Paris Olympics with the United States Flag. She did attend the following day sharing her support for AFSCME and Unions.
AFSCME California had 2 vacancies for I.U. Vice President. For the various states with vacancies, there was an election. For California, there were 3 candidates. L444, we got together and shared our thoughts about each candidate. We were able to split our votes on behalf of L444. The 2 highest votes went to the candidates from local 3299.
Throughout the week there were workshops.
Steward Training, Building Legislative Power, Contract Campaigns, Cybersecurity and you, Developing and Organizing, Exploring and Advancing Gender Identity and Gender Justice, How to Get Member of Congress to Work for Us, How Politics Impacts Your Life and more.
One of my personal concerns was (Cybersecurity and You). This workshop mainly focused on our personal devices. Cell phones, tablets and computers. While the information was well received, I was more concerned about the bigger picture. Our personal information is being shared with our employer, health provider and others.
Throughout the week, AFSCME voted on Resolutions and Amendments. Some language clean up, some new which passed and others that didn’t. I will leave my copy in our local office.
Pin Trading: This is a big opportunity to talk with other locals. We trade pins and talk about different challenges we are dealing with. There were a lot of cool pins. I was able to get 2 different pins from Hawaii. I was able to talk to a lady who suffered during the fire in Hawaii. I shared that L444 made a donation to help our AFSCME family there. She was very grateful and said they’re still rebuilding. We exchanged information and plan to keep in touch.
My hat is off to Gil Loredo who really searched out various locals in different states that are in the same classification as him and shared the difference of responsibilities.
Hats off to Fermin for stepping up and attend the conference. This was his first conference as a representative of local 444. I was able to introduce Brother Fermin to AFSCME International President, Lee Saunders who was re-elected as President.
Once again, thanks for trusting us in representing 444 at the AFSCME 46 Conference.
Tony Martin
AFSCME L444 1st VP