This entry by AFSCME President Gerald McEntee was crossposted on The Huffington Post.

Labor Day traditionally marks the start of the election season. This year is certainly no different, but the stakes are much higher than they’ve been in a long time. The economy is in trouble, unemployment is high, bankruptcies are up, and families are finding their budgets crimped by rising gas, food and utility costs. The media reports that even college students are turning to food stamps to make ends meet and sky-rocketing food prices are forcing more and more people to rely on charity food pantries to feed their families.

It’s true that the economic indicators paint a gloomy picture, yet workers have much to be proud of and even to celebrate. Although largely unheralded and unseen, most workers contribute to their workplaces and communities. AFSCME members in particular can take pride in doing the work that makes America happen.
Every day, in towns, cities, suburbs and exurbs across our nation, AFSCME members are driving school buses, working in hospitals, caring for children, staffing 911 call centers, fixing bridges and roads, repairing tunnels, providing food stamps and other emergency assistance to families, and doing many other jobs that protect and strengthen communities.

Our nation’s economy has faltered during these last eight years and from time to time, so have our spirits. But we have an opportunity to regain what we’ve lost. We all are ready for change. And what’s more, we are ready to create it. In 2006, union workers voted for change in overwhelming numbers, taking back the U.S. Congress and putting worker-friendly governors and state legislators in office across the country. This year, we’re going to do everything we can to build on that success. We need a new President who will stand with workers.

We need a president who supports public services and the workers who provide them, and opposes the privatization of public service jobs. We need a president who will work to protect Social Security, not privatize it. We need a President who will sign the Employee Free Choice Act so that workers can join unions to negotiate for better wages and benefits, not one who opposes efforts of workers to organize. We need a President who will work to enact quality, affordable health care for all Americans, not one who supports taxing employee health benefits. This year, the choice for working families is clear.

Although we can’t hit the rewind button and undo the last eight years, we can move forward by electing a new president who will be a champion for working families. With this election, we can restart our economy and regain workers’ rights. We can restore food safety and environmental protection laws. We can create good jobs and revive public services and people’s faith in them. And we can end the war in Iraq that’s robbed our nation — and families — of too many working men and women, and is costing us $12 billion a month.

Now’s the time for us to reclaim America — and to reclaim the values that built America’s middle class. Now’s the time for us to elect candidates who truly value workers and understand the needs of the nation’s working families.

It’s been proven time and time again that employers can have a productive relationship with their employees’ unions. See for yourself in the fourth annual Labor Day List:Partnerships that Work, a current snapshot of the most innovative and productive ways in which management and employees are working together across the country.

The partnership between the state of Kansas and the Kansas Organization of State Employees (KOSE), a joint union of AFSCME and the American Federation of Teachers is featured in the Labor Day List report as a recent example of how workers and employers can collaborate as equal partners.

As the Labor Day List states:

Thanks to the strong partnership between the state and KOSE, employees are now positioned to address their own workplace issues through their union and provide better agency services. Workers in thousands of job titles—correctional officers, social workers, transportation employees, and mental health facility staff—can now bargain over issues including increased security, training, pay equity, and hours of work.

The report was released by Americans Right at Work, a nonpartisan organization dedicated to educating the American public about the obstacles workers face when attempting to form a union.

From the Economic Policy Institute (EPI): Fears about the future of Social Security were allayed on Friday by a new report issued by the independent Congressional Budget Office. The report finds that not only can future beneficiaries keep counting on receiving benefits in retirement, they can expect those benefits to be larger – even after adjusting for inflation – than those being paid to today’s retirees.

Bush and company in 2005 failed miserably to convince the American public that Social Security privatization was the holy grail of retirement security. Doomsayers will continue to claim the sky is falling, but the facts tell a different story.

EPI outlines the CBO’s findings in a new Policy Memo.

Day 4 of AFSCME’s 38th International Convention: Activism was celebrated on day 4 with an inspiring program emceed by Lamont Wilkerson of New Jersey Council 1, Local 2209), and a Volunteer Member Educator since 2002.

Things got cooking when Deborah Jeffers, the head cook for a school in Salem, MA told how she helped build a partnership of parents, workers, principals, teachers, school committee members, and students to fight to keep freshly cooked meals prepared by skilled AFSCME workers. Not only did they win, they’ve now been selected to run the food service program in 2008-2009, and Jeffers is taking a year leave of absence to become interim Director of the program.

Natasha Pranger, a Forensic Scientist and a member of Local 304, Council 28 in Washington State went from fee payer to Next Waver. And now she’s helping organize the Next Wave of AFSCME members 35 and under.

And Janet Ramsey (Wisconsin Council 24), a Medical Lab Tech for almost 30 years at the University of Wisconsin Hospital, attended an AFSCME women’s leadership training in San Jose, California where she learned how to organize – and hasn’t stopped organizing since.

Watch these inspiring AFSCME activists here:

From AFSCME’s 38th International Convention: Congratulations to International President Gerald W. McEntee and International Secretary-Treasurer William Lucy who were both re-elected by delegates to another four-year term.

The following International Vice Presidents were elected by Convention delegates:

California – George Popyack and Lakesha Harrison
Capital – Glenard Middleton
Central – Dave Warrick
CSEA – Danny Donohue, Mary Sullivan and George Boncoraglio
Eastern – Sherryl Gordon
Hawaii – Randolph Perreira
Illinois – Henry Bayer and Roberta Lynch
Michigan – Albert Garrett
Midwestern – Danny Homan
New York City – Eddie Rodriguez and Veronica Montgomery-Costa
New York State – Raglan George Jr.
North-Central – Eliot Seide
Northern New England – Anthony Caso
Northwestern – Greg Devereux and Ken Allen
NUHHCE/1199 – Henry Nicholas and Kathy Sackman
Ohio – John Lyall
OAPSE – Joe Rugola
OCSEA – Eddie Parks
Pennsylvania – David Fillman and Mike Fox
Puerto Rico – Braulio Torres
Southeastern – Jeanette Wynn
Southern New England – Salvatore Luciano
Southwestern – Greg Powell
United Domestic Workers – Douglas Moore
Wisconsin – Michael D. Murphy

Resolutions
Delegates to AFSCME’s 38th International Convention adopted several resolutions, among them were these calling on AFSCME to:

• provide each council and large, unaffiliated local with assistance to facilitate strategic planning work and implementation (#12)
• enhance member communications and activism through the use of new media (#24)
• reform government contracting to protect against privatization problems (#51)
• promote public service workers and the public services that keep our families safe and make our communities strong (#84)
• protect deserving homeowners from bank foreclosures (#87)
• fight for passage of the Employee Free Choice Act (#7)
• seek neutrality agreements during organizing campaigns (#16)
• provide resources to develop the union’s “Next Wave” program(#59)
• lead the fight to defeat Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s (R) efforts to slash the salaries of California’s state workers (#98)
• fight for universal health care (#19 and #81)
• build member activism (#77)
• redouble efforts to raise PEOPLE dollars (#83)
• and support our troops and veterans, and urge the quickest possible withdrawal consistent with troop safety (#84)

New Legislative District
On Wednesday, delegates adopted Amendment Number 7, establishing the United Domestic Workers District, consisting of California Locals 3930 and 4034, formerly of the NUHHCE/1199 District. The 57,000 members of the newly created UDW District are home care workers throughout the state of California.

Day 4 of AFSCME’s 38th International Convention: This day was about activism, so, fittingly, we also honored the 40th anniversary of AFSCME Memphis sanitation workers’ strike and the tragic assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Ruth Davis, proud President of Local 1733, introduced a special video saying, “The video honors Local 1733’s fight, determination and their victory that underlies not only Local 1733, but all of AFSCME and the House of Labor.”

See the video below: