Day 2 of AFSCME’s 38th International Convention: In addition to a stirring speech by Secretary-Treasurer William Lucy, the important work of public service workers across the nation was featured during a special “We Make America Happen” program on Tuesday. The program was led by Jim Howell, executive director of Connecticut Council 15.

Through a blend of video and live member testimonies, delegates learned about the different ways AFSCME members make America happen as workers in the public sector, and as activists in politics and grassroots organizing. Watch an excerpt from Yolanda Gonzales, senior food service worker at the University of California, Local 3299:

Visit the AFSCME.org Convention site for more video from Tuesday, including testimony from Michelle Mason, direct care worker at the Bellefontaine Habilitation Center, Local 2370 (Missouri Council 72); Mike McGuire, house inspector in the City of Langley, Local 1896 (Pennsylvania Council 13); and Mike Flaherty, equipment mechanic for the City of San Diego, Local 127 (California Council 36).

AFL-CIO Exec. Vice Pres. Arlene Holt Baker, a former AFSCME International Union area director in California, also addressed the Convention. Today, delegates heard from former Vice President Al Gore.

For photos and more convention coverage, go to www.afscme.org/convention.

Day 2 of AFSCME’s 38th International Convention: AFSCME Secretary-Treasurer William Lucy delivered the main address to delegates today. In his speech, Lucy called the fight against privatization nothing less than a fight to save our nation.

Lucy also spoke movingly of the long history that led up to June 3rd, the day Barack Obama won enough votes to secure the nomination of the Democratic Party for President of the United States. Said Lucy:

“To understand Tuesday night, June 3rd, you have to understand the journey from Goree Island to Charleston, South Carolina, crossing over five thousand miles of ocean chained in the bottom of a ship… To understand Tuesday night, June 3rd, you have to understand the sacrifice of Fannie Lou Hamer, Viola Liuzzo, Rosa Parks, James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner, Jimmy Lee Jackson, Medgar Evers, E.D. Nixon, the walkers in Montgomery and the marchers in Selma, and the four little girls in a church in Birmingham… And as we look toward the future we do so understanding that nothing is certain but all things are possible.”

Watch an excerpt below:

Day 1 of AFSCME’s 38th International Convention: Unity and Victory was the theme as Alice Goff, president of California Council 36 and an International vice president welcomed the nearly 6,000 delegates, alternates and guests to her home state, reminding us of the great importance of the November 2008 elections. “We must come together,” she declared.

President McEntee, in his keynote address, called for members to work together to meet our biggest challenges: to elect pro-worker candidates across the country and build public support for the vital public services that make our communities a better place to live, work and raise a family.

“The stakes are too high – too high – for our nation to elect another President who doesn’t respect our work, doesn’t respect our families and doesn’t respect the public services that America depends on and that our members provide,” McEntee said.

The day’s program, which was chaired by former International Vice Pres. Russell Okata and included testimonials from members from CA, HI, NY, OH, OR and IL, underscored our common commitment to make this country a better place for working families.

“You know something is wrong when Big Business is getting their bailout packages handed to them from the government but all working people seem to be getting are foreclosure notices. I want a President who will do the right thing,” declared Davida Russell, a school bus driver in Cuyahoga County, OH, and state vice president of the Ohio Association of Public School Employees/AFSCME Local 4.

Russell was joined at the podium by Lorraine Guest, president of Local 215 (New York’s DC 1707); Michael Hanna, vice president of Local 88 (Oregon Council 75); Margarita Jaramillo, member of United Domestic Workers (UDW/NUHHCE Local 1199); Lori Laidlaw, member of Local 817 (Illinois Council 31); and Kim Wallace, member of New York’s Civil Service Employees Association/AFSCME Local 1000.

For pictures, videos and more of the AFSCME 38th International Convention, check out www.afscme.org.

Day 1 of AFSCME’s 38th International Convention: President Gerald W. McEntee got delegates jumping to their feet when he asked them to, “stand up if you’re ready to make a better America happen!”

In his keynote address, McEntee told the crowd of nearly 6,000 that, “Together we will build an even more powerful union! Together we will reach out and organize the unorganized! We will negotiate contracts that make our families strong! Together we will fight for a new America!” Watch an excerpt below:

When they get to rewrite the rules that decide who receives health coverage and who doesn’t, the insurance companies win every time. A new video from Health Care for America NOW asks: what would happen if we all got to live by insurance company rules?

The video is funny, but these are serious issues – our health care system is broken, and we need to fix it now. For more information on AFSCME’s campaign for quality, affordable health care we can all count on, visit www.afscme.org/healthcare.

Former Sen. Phil Gramm of Texas, the co-chair of John McCain’s presidential campaign and his top economic advisor, says America has “become a nation of whiners” and the only downturn facing our country is a “mental recession.” AFSCME President Gerald McEntee says McCain and his campaign haven’t got a clue about the real problems facing America’s working families.

Every time you look around lately, John McCain and friends are spouting off about important issues like the economy, globalization and Social Security. And with each passing day, they give Americans a clearer sign of just how out of touch they really are.

Read more at the Huffington Post.

On Monday, July 7, Senator John McCain told a Denver town hall meeting that Social Security, as originally conceived more than 70 years ago, is an “absolute disgrace.” In his latest entry on the Huffington Post, AFSCME President Gerald McEntee says the real disgrace is how little Sen. McCain understands about Social Security and the U.S. economy.

Just like George W. Bush, McCain’s out to destroy something he knows nothing about. When they combine ignorance with power, they leave it to the rest of us to pick up the pieces from the damage they cause. Bush tried to destroy Social Security and we fought him tooth and nail.

If John McCain thinks he can do what we kept Bush from doing, he’s got another thing coming. The American people won’t let him destroy Social Security.

Read the full post.

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

Our health care system is broken and it’s hurting American families and businesses. That’s why AFSCME is co-chairing “Health Care for America Now,” an unprecedented coalition of major organizations including labor unions, community-based membership groups, women’s groups, health professionals, businesses and leading netroots activists working together to push for quality, affordable health care for all.

For decades, we have been working to expand the American Dream to include health care for all. Year in and year out, we hear promises and pledges from politicians. But still, nothing gets done.

Meanwhile, millions of Americans live without health care. Millions more are routinely denied the health care they need by insurance companies that put profits over the needs of patients. Our businesses can’t compete in the world economy because of escalating health care costs. The middle class is being choked. State and local government budgets are squeezed by skyrocketing costs. We have a broken system that leaves too many people on their own at the mercy of insurance companies.

This is wrong. It’s immoral. It’s got to stop. We don’t need more needless delays, idle discussions or political posturing.

We need action. Fixing America’s health care system must be a priority for all of us - especially union members. As health care costs rise, American workers are being forced to sacrifice wage increases at the bargaining table just to maintain health care. Health insurance premiums are going up three times faster than pay, and many working families are shouldering a growing share of the costs. They are paying more and getting less - while being forced to fight with the insurance companies to get the care they need and get their bills paid.

The scores of organizations joining “Health Care for America Now” are committed to building on the greatness of our nation by giving every American access to the finest medical care available anywhere in the world.

We know this won’t be easy. We know the odds are great. But the odds were great when Americans cured polio, when we built the Hoover Dam, when we conquered the atom, when we put a man on the moon.

All we need is the political will. There is nothing we can’t achieve if we put our minds and our hearts and our votes together. That’s why we’ll be organizing and lobbying, building a grassroots army to make 2009 the year we get health care that works for all of us - providing people care they can afford with a doctor of their choice.

As we build a massive grassroots movement to solve our health care crisis once and for all, we’ve got a message for our elected officials: If you put profits ahead of patients, get out of the way. Don’t tell us about reforms that lack a guarantee of coverage. Don’t tell us about taxing the health care benefit employees receive on the job. Don’t tell us that insurance company practices don’t need to be regulated. Don’t tell us that $10,000 deductibles are okay.

Those ideas won’t work because they don’t address two critical things we need to do: control escalating health care costs and guarantee access to everyone.

We don’t have time to waste. We’ve got work to do. If you support quality, affordable health care for all, it is time to roll up your sleeves, get ready for work, and get on board.

Tickets to a recent fundraising luncheon for Senator John McCain’s campaign went for $1,000 – but for a $2,300 contribution, attendees were promised a campaign lapel pin in addition to their meal. In his latest entry on the Huffington Post, AFSCME President Gerald McEntee says we shouldn’t be surprised by wealthy Republican donors paying $1,300 for lapel pins. What’s really shocking is the failure of the press to cover Sen. McCain’s hypocrisy on campaign finance reform:

In February, he was told by the chairman of the Federal Elections Commission that he could not bow out of the federal financing system during the primaries because he had agreed to participate and had secured a bank loan predicated on his agreement to accept public funds. But once McCain began to win some primaries and the money started to flow in, he went back on his commitment. He and the corporate lobbyists who run his campaign decided to go out and start collecting big bucks from the big spenders who could afford $1,300 lapel pins.

Read the full post.

On Tuesday, Americans United for Change kicked off its national Bush Legacy Bus Tour, a nearly 150-stop cross-country trip to remind Americans of the last eight years of failed policies put forth by the Bush administration and its allies in Congress.

As Lee Saunders, Executive Assistant to the AFSCME International President, said at the rally:

“[L]ike John F. Kennedy once said, ‘The great enemy of the truth is very often not the lie… but the myth.’ Well, we’re making sure that there are no myths about George Bush’s greatness or tall tales about his achievements. There will only be honesty about who he is and what he’s done.”

His words were echoed by Americans United for Change President Brad Woodhouse, who pointed out how the Bush legacy:

“has left an economy in recession, the costs for healthcare, college tuition, food and gas skyrocketing and out of reach for most Americans. Bush and his allies have left an environment hurling towards potential disaster, unemployment on the rise, a mortgage and housing crisis and historic lows in consumer confidence and in the number of Americans who think the country is headed in the right direction.”

The 28-ton, 45-foot long, bio-diesel-powered museum on wheels will roll on throughout the summer and fall stopping in the hometowns of Bush’s allies in Congress as well as both national political conventions and symbolic locations like New Orleans and Crawford, TX.

Watch for the Bush Legacy Bus as it tours the country, take a look at its interactive exhibits, and see video from Tuesday’s rally here: