International Secretary-Treasurer Lee Saunders was sworn in this morning as AFSCME’s 39th International Convention concluded in Boston.

After the swearing-in ceremony, Saunders addressed the delegates and pledged to work for AFSCME members and workers across the country:

“Throughout our history, this has been what we do. We come together in support of those whose names may never be known, but whose work safeguards neighborhoods and strengthens communities.”

Stressing the importance of moving forward as a united union, Saunders praised Danny Donohue, his main competitor for the Secretary-Treasurer position, saying “You are my brother today, tomorrow and always. And I thank you for your grace and goodwill.”

Sec.-Treas. Saunders said he will continue to promote the Next Wave program, which recruits and trains young union leaders, and build on AFSCME’s commitment to diversity and equal pay for women. He also said he will work with councils and locals on a campaign to turn back efforts to gut defend defined pension plans.

Read the press release for more.

Hundreds of AFSCME women – and a few men – discussed ways to build leadership skills Thursday during the first-ever Women’s Leadership Café.

The readiness of existing AFSCME leaders to pass along their skills and knowledge to other members was a central theme of many stories. Philadelphia city accountant Marguerite Morgan noted, for instance, that after just seven years as an AFSCME member, “I’m already an officer” – recording secretary of Local 2187 and a trustee of DC 47. “That’s because our officers saw something in me I didn’t even see in myself.”

Confidence – based on the knowledge that you are in a powerful union – was also cited as a motivator for taking charge.

Linda Alexander, a nursing assistant at a county psychiatric nursing home and president of Local 2664 (Wisconsin Council 40), put it this way: “With AFSCME behind me, I knew I had somebody at my back.”

During the Café session, Lonetta Cook won first place in a drawing. Cook, a member of Local 1553 (Council 2), will receive a round-trip ticket to the 2011 Women’s Conference (location to be decided).

Delegates adopted several resolutions Thursday. Among them were five calling on AFSCME to:

• fight for the passage of the Public Safety Employer-Employee Cooperation Act (#23) and the Employee Free Choice Act (#60);
• hold politicians that promise – and then fail to support – AFSCME’s agenda accountable (#38);
• fight privatization of Human Services Delivery Systems (#12);
• and urge Congress to pass the Protect America’s Workers Act to extend Occupational Safety and Health Administration coverage to all public employees (#39).

Local 2414 (Council 40) Pres. Gary Mitchell is the new International Vice President for the Wisconsin District. Mitchell won the election Thursday with 31,466 votes, defeating Council 24 Assist. Dir. Jana Weaver, who obtained 30,299 votes. Mitchell will be sworn-in at the Convention on Friday morning.

“Organized labor built this country, organized labor can save this country,” progressive talk radio and television host Ed Schultz said Thursday during a program on political achievement. “The country is on your shoulders!” Schultz, as emcee, introduced three AFSCME members who related their successes, including the defeat of a ballot referendum to consolidate public services with another town.

Ken Fortier, a recycling truck driver for the Village of Johnson City, N.Y., and president of Local 3718 (District Council 66), said the union’s 39 members led a coalition that included police and firefighters to stop the measure. Their contract – and almost 100 jobs – was on the line. They succeeded: The measure was defeated by just one vote.

Robin Edwards, president of Child Care Providers Together Michigan/AFSCME Local 3051 (a joint venture between Council 25 and the United Auto Workers), told the story of 40,000 home-based child care providers who won the right to organize – and later a first contract – by helping to re-elect Gov. Jennifer Granholm (D) in 2006.

Passing the “Fair Share Act” was the goal of AFSCME Maryland, said Sheila Hill, a corrections officer at the Patuxent Institution in Jessup, Md., and president of Local 1319. Their efforts, including lobbying and a State House rally, paid off: The bill passed by overwhelming margins and became law last year. The program was preceded by political analyst Donna Brazile, who reminded AFSCME members of the battle that lies ahead in the mid-term elections.

“AFSCME is the Green Machine for a reason,” Brazile said. “You don’t wait for politicians, you lead the fight and you’re going to draw a line in November.”

Lee Saunders was elected on Thursday as the next Secretary-Treasurer by delegates to AFSCME’s 39th International Convention. Saunders will be sworn-in and address delegates on Friday, the closing day of the Convention.

Saunders, Executive Assistant to International President Gerald W. McEntee, received 652,660 votes in the election, followed by Danny Donohue, President, Civil Service Employees Association CSEA)/AFSCME Local 1000 (NY) who received 648,356 votes. A third candidate, Mark Foley, President, Local 2019, California Council 57, received 1,489 votes.

“Danny Donohue and I are both deeply committed to our members and deeply devoted to this union,” Saunders said. “Both of us waged very vigorous and energetic campaigns. I am very grateful for his words of support and look forward to working together to advance the interests of our members and the working people of this country.”

Read the press release for more.

When it comes to standing with workers who want a stronger voice at the bargaining table, no one does it better than AFSCME. Nearly 44,000 new members said “yes” to AFSCME in 2009 — making us the number one organizing union in the AFL-CIO.

On Wednesday, AFSCME members relayed stories of fighting nearly insurmountable odds to form a union and keep it strong. The program was introduced by Lakesha Harrison, President of AFSCME Local 3299 and International Vice President.

Watch those stories below:

Included in the presentations are:

• Jeanetta Caw, a home care worker from the Missouri Home Care Union (Council 72)
• Anna Anaya, whose coworkers voted by a 98% margin to join District Council 37
• Sheila Patrick, a social worker from Council 62 in Kentucky
• Irene Pletner, an interpreter from Washington state preparing for a union election with WFSE Council 28
• Eric Allen, a corrections officer from Council 18 in New Mexico

AFSCME activists rallied Wednesday on Boston Common, in solidarity with Council 93, to prevent the loss of critical public services and to pass the jobs bill now stalled in Congress. 

Today’s Boston Globe features a front page article on Massachusetts’ budget challenges and AFSCME members’ powerful demonstration.

Hundreds of members of the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, dressed in matching green T-shirts, rallied on Boston Common yesterday as Patrick was signing the budget. They chanted: “Show some guts! No more cuts!’’

“Some of the most vulnerable citizens in Massachusetts will be in danger if these budget cuts go through,’’ said Gerald W. McEntee, the union’s national president, who is in Boston for the union’s national convention. “But we won’t let the politicians balance the budget on our backs, not anymore.’’

Anthony Caso, Executive Director of Council 93 and an International Vice-President, said the union’s members “are fed up with politicians like Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA) who abandoned workers last week” by opposing the jobs bill. “Today, AFSCME makes its mark on Boston Common, and we are ready to fight and ready to lead!”

Locally, Council 93 members are fighting to prevent the planned closure of four of the state’s six long-term residential hospitals for the developmentally disabled, to keep all branches of the city’s public libraries open and prevent layoffs of library employees. The council also wants fair, equitable contracts for thousands of higher education workers represented by the union.

Four members of Council 93 also addressed the rally: Elissa Cadillic, president of Boston Public library Local 1526; Michael Thomas, president of an organization of Council 93’s human services locals; Kevin Hanley, Massachusetts State and Community Colleges Local 1067; and Francis Martin, president of University of Massachusetts – Amherst Local 1776.

After the rally, hundreds of AFSCME activists marched to City Hall to support the library workers. The Boston Globe also reported that as the city council was deciding the municipal budget for the new fiscal year, “The sea of protesters made such a ruckus that their chants — “Stop the cuts!’’ — echoed in the fifth-floor council chamber.”

AFSCME members doing similar jobs met Wednesday in 21 simultaneous sector caucuses to discuss common issues and concerns. They also examined the media onslaught against public services and strategized how to set the record straight about public employees and their jobs.

Some of the myths that were dispelled yesterday include:

• our salaries are bloated (AFSCME members earn, on average, $45,000 a year);
• we have too much influence in politics (corporations outspend unions five to one in political contributions);
• and our pensions are bankrupting governments (the average AFSCME member earns, after a career of service, approximately $18,000 a year in benefits).

From left, JoAnn Burk from Wisconsin Child Care Providers Together/Local 373 (Council 40) shares ideas with New York’s Carolyn Cox of Local 95 (DC 1707) at the Early Childhood Education caucus. (See more caucus photos in our Convention photo gallery.)

UNITE HERE! Pres. John Wilhelm

UNITE HERE! Pres. John Wilhelm addressed delegates Wednesday on the importance of labor solidarity and thanked AFSCME members for supporting his union’s fights throughout the years.

“I literally can’t begin to count the number of times AFSCME has stood with the members of UNITE HERE! in strikes, picket lines, rallies and boycotts,” Wilhelm said.

He recounted how AFSCME members rallied in favor of the strike against the New Frontier Hotel in Las Vegas in the 1990s, which lasted for more than six years and became one of the longest strikes in recent American labor history.

“Now they’re going after public employees,” Wilhelm said. “You have been with us, and UNITE HERE! and our members will always stand in solidarity with you.”