For me to come together behind Lee (I can not get behind McEntee ever) he would need to come out and say that he will not run for President of AFSCME in 2012. I heard a number of sisters this week who I felt showed leadership qualities. I would like to see folks who have come up through the rank and file to take leadership rolls in our union.
I was thrilled to see the rank and file on the floor show our strength when we were witness to obviously corrupt electioneering. We showed our power when the nominations were about to begin and the microphones were surrounded by legions of yellow shirts. “The Yellow Shirts are coming.” I heard my roommate proclaim. This was McEntee’s theatre, his anointing of the heir apparent. When we raised that ruckus we put McEntee on notice and pissed him off. His treatment of the delegates never improved after that.
He treats each delegate with disrespect when they rise to speak and the little light is toggled by the Sergeant at Arms. “The delegate at Mic 12. Is this a Point of Order or are you Speaking to the Question?” The disdain for the membership is evident every time he calls on a delegate to speak.
This Convention is the place where delegates, elected and trusted by their coworkers and Local members to spend the Local’s money to send the delegation to represent in the arena where the policy of the Union is to be set. We debate resolutions, and craft the policy and empower the leadership we elect can go about doing the business that we directed them to do.
But it is not working that way and I am pissed. Because this Union is the last hope I harbor for democracy in this country. I was so honored to be sent to Boston all the way from Tacoma, WA with an awesome delegation of 12 committed union activists. I really feel that the membership at large was represented on the floor but was not represented on the stage. The diversity on the floor looked like the diversity in my office and at my local meetings but not like what I saw on the stage at the Convention Center in Boston.
The Obama wave is overtaking AFSCME. The delegations on the floor were largely made up of folks who got fired up and active during the Obama campaign two years ago and have kept their activism going by organizing, and other union activities. Now we have seen the ugly face of corruption and we do not cower from it. Just like AFSCME’s initial endorsement of Hillary in 2008 created waves in the union for a little while and then the local activists just moved past it and left Hillary and the AFSCME power brokers in the dirt. And we will do so again.
See you in L.A 2012, Remember Boston.
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Friday: Immigration Again and the End of Democracy
The final Resolution taken up by the delegates was Resolution 70 which was also combined with #55. The gist of the resolution was that AFSCME will push the Congress and President to adopt immigration reform as soon as possible. The resolution had a couple lines at the end that called on AFSCME to boycott Arizona and work with other labor organizations to do the same thing. The CBTU-the Black Trade Unionist organization has already taken up the Arizona boycott as our delegate Paulette Thompson reminded us at the table.
Many delegates spoke in favor of the boycott language. Some reminded us of the success of the international boycott against South Africa which resulted in the end of the Apartheid policies which had been tearing that country apart.
We were reminded of how Arizona under Governor Evan Meech in the early 80s had refused to recognize the Martin Luther King Holiday. A boycott at the time had cost Arizona millions of dollars in tourist and convention money and was finally successful when the NFL Players Association pressured the league to move the Super Bowl out of Arizona. Union Solidarity Strong!
Now almost 30 years later the travesty of Arizona’s anti-immigration laws make the MLK Holiday issue seem small. The current Arizona Boycott is gaining steam and will hopefully be successful in forcing the Legislature and un-elected Governor to repeal the stupid racist laws recently enacted in that state.
I prepared a friendly amendment to the resolution that would exempt Tribal businesses in Arizona from the boycott. The various tribes that have been living since time immemorial in what is now Arizona are sovereign entities and have no representation in the state legislature. Many of the people targeted by racial profiling are also indigenous, whether they come from a Pueblo in Arizona or a farming community in Honduras. Before I could stand and offer my amendment the Chair called on the Arizona delegation.
The Arizona delegation stepped to the microphone and proposed removing the boycott language from the resolution. They pointed out that our union members in Arizona would be negatively affected by the boycott at a time when we are all looking at furloughs, layoffs and wage freezes.
The debate raged for a while and then someone called the question. A voice vote on whether to remove the boycott language from the resolution was taken and it was not clear which side had prevailed so Division was called. From the floor the Division vote looked pretty even thought the Chair called it for the Ayes and the boycott language was stricken from the resolution.
A member flashed the light at one of the microphones and he was called upon by the acting chair. The delegate on the floor called for a Roll Call vote and the question of whether to have a roll call vote was put to the body. The number of people, including the Local 53 delegation, standing looked to be at least 25% but the chair ruled that there was not enough support to warrant a Roll Call vote.
Then another member called for a re-vote on the Roll Call proposal. At this point our Supreme Leader ambled up the podium to scold the delegates on the floor who were miring the day with process when he just wanted to swear-in Lee Saunders as Secretary-Treasurer and go home.
Gerry said, “The last time there was a Roll Call vote in this union was..a..few, a number of years ago..and it took seven hours. This is the last day of Convention and there is not time to do a Roll Call.”
When the delegates on the floor began to boo that decision Mr McEntee got nasty and yelled that he had made the final decision, that it was his decision to make and everybody should just shut up.
Our Council Executive Director came to our table at that point shaking his head and looking as upset as I was feeling, trying to stifle my cursing. Everybody was looking around dumbfounded and making noise but then Gerry moved quickly to vote on the resolution without the boycott language, it passed and then to a presentation and video about health care.
How did this union ever get such a mean and nasty old man as our president? He reminds me of John McCain and you remember what we did when he wanted to be President.
When the Chair invited a motion from the floor to close the Convention he was greeted instead with a call to continue on with the business of the resolutions that had yet to be read and voted on by the delegates. He was reminded of a resolution that failed to pass on Monday that would have mandated completing 90% of the business before closing the convention. As it is I don’t know if we had gotten through 2/3rds of the business.
The motion to close the Convention was passed by the delegates and newly minted Secretary Treasurer (Kim Jung) Lee Saunders gave the closing remarks of the Convention.
Then all that was left was a meeting of the International Executive Board.
Many delegates spoke in favor of the boycott language. Some reminded us of the success of the international boycott against South Africa which resulted in the end of the Apartheid policies which had been tearing that country apart.
We were reminded of how Arizona under Governor Evan Meech in the early 80s had refused to recognize the Martin Luther King Holiday. A boycott at the time had cost Arizona millions of dollars in tourist and convention money and was finally successful when the NFL Players Association pressured the league to move the Super Bowl out of Arizona. Union Solidarity Strong!
Now almost 30 years later the travesty of Arizona’s anti-immigration laws make the MLK Holiday issue seem small. The current Arizona Boycott is gaining steam and will hopefully be successful in forcing the Legislature and un-elected Governor to repeal the stupid racist laws recently enacted in that state.
I prepared a friendly amendment to the resolution that would exempt Tribal businesses in Arizona from the boycott. The various tribes that have been living since time immemorial in what is now Arizona are sovereign entities and have no representation in the state legislature. Many of the people targeted by racial profiling are also indigenous, whether they come from a Pueblo in Arizona or a farming community in Honduras. Before I could stand and offer my amendment the Chair called on the Arizona delegation.
The Arizona delegation stepped to the microphone and proposed removing the boycott language from the resolution. They pointed out that our union members in Arizona would be negatively affected by the boycott at a time when we are all looking at furloughs, layoffs and wage freezes.
The debate raged for a while and then someone called the question. A voice vote on whether to remove the boycott language from the resolution was taken and it was not clear which side had prevailed so Division was called. From the floor the Division vote looked pretty even thought the Chair called it for the Ayes and the boycott language was stricken from the resolution.
A member flashed the light at one of the microphones and he was called upon by the acting chair. The delegate on the floor called for a Roll Call vote and the question of whether to have a roll call vote was put to the body. The number of people, including the Local 53 delegation, standing looked to be at least 25% but the chair ruled that there was not enough support to warrant a Roll Call vote.
Then another member called for a re-vote on the Roll Call proposal. At this point our Supreme Leader ambled up the podium to scold the delegates on the floor who were miring the day with process when he just wanted to swear-in Lee Saunders as Secretary-Treasurer and go home.
Gerry said, “The last time there was a Roll Call vote in this union was..a..few, a number of years ago..and it took seven hours. This is the last day of Convention and there is not time to do a Roll Call.”
When the delegates on the floor began to boo that decision Mr McEntee got nasty and yelled that he had made the final decision, that it was his decision to make and everybody should just shut up.
Our Council Executive Director came to our table at that point shaking his head and looking as upset as I was feeling, trying to stifle my cursing. Everybody was looking around dumbfounded and making noise but then Gerry moved quickly to vote on the resolution without the boycott language, it passed and then to a presentation and video about health care.
How did this union ever get such a mean and nasty old man as our president? He reminds me of John McCain and you remember what we did when he wanted to be President.
When the Chair invited a motion from the floor to close the Convention he was greeted instead with a call to continue on with the business of the resolutions that had yet to be read and voted on by the delegates. He was reminded of a resolution that failed to pass on Monday that would have mandated completing 90% of the business before closing the convention. As it is I don’t know if we had gotten through 2/3rds of the business.
The motion to close the Convention was passed by the delegates and newly minted Secretary Treasurer (Kim Jung) Lee Saunders gave the closing remarks of the Convention.
Then all that was left was a meeting of the International Executive Board.
Good Things: Part Two
March and Rally on Wednesday
I have to admit that I enjoyed the rally and march on Wednesday, June 30. We started at Boston Common in our green shirts with our green signs and after a few obligatory speeches we marched to City Hall to yell at the big concrete monstrosity and at the Mayor as well who had just signed a bill that will end up instituting cuts to city services including libraries, at least that is what I got out of the speeches.
Though I thought the march was rather tame it was great when we finally took the street for the last block before City Hall. We sure were a polite protest group. No arrests, no confrontation, no media. If I had not been there I would not have known that a few thousand people rallied and marched through the streets of Boston on the eve of the celebration of the country’s 234th birthday.
Next time we could partner with The Ruckus Society, the Wobblies, Earth First!, Longshoremen and pull off a banner hang and some kind of symbolic arrest action. Two or three members in green shirts rappelling off of City Hall with a big banner “Senator Brown Votes Against Jobs”, as we all came marching around the corner would send a stronger message. It would also provide a nice image for the front page of the local paper. AFSCME is here and we mean business!
Collective Witness and Solidarity
The other thing I really like is that there were so many folks who were taking part in their first AFSCME International Convention, myself included. We saw Big Boss Man Corruption first hand and even though the nasty taste is still in our mouths we will get our act together for 2012 and send Gerry into retirement with a sea change of Union Leadership.
Just like the Bushies’ stolen elections got us riled up this will do the same. Time to start writing the songs, slogans and speeches we will bring to L.A. in 2012. Time to start solidifying those relationships we made in Boston and keep organizing the campaigns that will elevate the new leadership this union deserves.
Remember Boston! It was the Boston Democracy Massacre!
I have to admit that I enjoyed the rally and march on Wednesday, June 30. We started at Boston Common in our green shirts with our green signs and after a few obligatory speeches we marched to City Hall to yell at the big concrete monstrosity and at the Mayor as well who had just signed a bill that will end up instituting cuts to city services including libraries, at least that is what I got out of the speeches.
Though I thought the march was rather tame it was great when we finally took the street for the last block before City Hall. We sure were a polite protest group. No arrests, no confrontation, no media. If I had not been there I would not have known that a few thousand people rallied and marched through the streets of Boston on the eve of the celebration of the country’s 234th birthday.
Next time we could partner with The Ruckus Society, the Wobblies, Earth First!, Longshoremen and pull off a banner hang and some kind of symbolic arrest action. Two or three members in green shirts rappelling off of City Hall with a big banner “Senator Brown Votes Against Jobs”, as we all came marching around the corner would send a stronger message. It would also provide a nice image for the front page of the local paper. AFSCME is here and we mean business!
Collective Witness and Solidarity
The other thing I really like is that there were so many folks who were taking part in their first AFSCME International Convention, myself included. We saw Big Boss Man Corruption first hand and even though the nasty taste is still in our mouths we will get our act together for 2012 and send Gerry into retirement with a sea change of Union Leadership.
Just like the Bushies’ stolen elections got us riled up this will do the same. Time to start writing the songs, slogans and speeches we will bring to L.A. in 2012. Time to start solidifying those relationships we made in Boston and keep organizing the campaigns that will elevate the new leadership this union deserves.
Remember Boston! It was the Boston Democracy Massacre!
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Focus on the Positive: Good Things About the Convention: Part One
It is not fair to just complain about the Convention so I had better find a thing or two to I liked about it to justify the Local sending me all this way.
Firstly Boston is an awesome city for walking. I only took the shuttle bus between the hotel and the Convention a couple times. Many times I got there faster than my sisters and brothers who took the bus. Those of us walking would head out the hotel door in the general direction of the event and just explore the city as we passed through. This is how we “discovered” Boston Common, Quincy Market, the docks; Best to avoid the financial district. Banks and Suits you know. I always got where I was going and had a good time getting there. I probably learned a thing or two along the way as well.
The Whisky Priest is a great pub on the water near the convention center with fresh fish and chips and the Bean Town serves the same purpose closer to the hotel. I never had to walk very far to find what I was looking for whether I needed food or technical support. There were more freakin’ Starbucks in downtown Boston than in Olympia, but we liked to walk down to the Seattle’s Best coffee stand in the book store.
The cupcake fanatics in my family would go wild at Mike’s in Little Italy. I saw many of their take-home boxes at the airport on the way out. The two bites I had of their product I had definitely rivaled anything in Seattle or Tacoma.
Boston is fantastic people, riding the subway to Fenway Park was a blast. Mass is the first state to embrace marriage equality, lots of awesome folks living their lives the way they feel in their hearts. I met a couple guys at the Red Sox game who are getting married in February. When Scott heard that we were with a union he proclaimed that he wishes he could get into a union. He is a nurse at a hospital that is predominantly a union shop but his unit is contracted out to a company and he gets paid less and has less favorable benefits than the folks he works with that are in a union. Since Mass is down with marriage equality then at least Scott can get Thom’s benefit package.
I can’t help thinking about these four women I sat near on the plane on the way home. I think they spoke German or some other closely related European language. They were sitting next to me and every time they would hold hands they would put something over their hands so no one could see them publicly showing affection. I thought about nicely letting them know that they did not have to hide themselves here. But I didn’t. I think about all the states we flew over where they would be considered targets for expressing their affection openly in public. I did show them six volcanoes that we could see from the plane.
A six volcano day is a very good day. Mt. Adams, Mt Hood, Mt St. Helens, Mt Rainier, Glacier Peak, and Mt.Baker, all without leaving my seat.
Firstly Boston is an awesome city for walking. I only took the shuttle bus between the hotel and the Convention a couple times. Many times I got there faster than my sisters and brothers who took the bus. Those of us walking would head out the hotel door in the general direction of the event and just explore the city as we passed through. This is how we “discovered” Boston Common, Quincy Market, the docks; Best to avoid the financial district. Banks and Suits you know. I always got where I was going and had a good time getting there. I probably learned a thing or two along the way as well.
The Whisky Priest is a great pub on the water near the convention center with fresh fish and chips and the Bean Town serves the same purpose closer to the hotel. I never had to walk very far to find what I was looking for whether I needed food or technical support. There were more freakin’ Starbucks in downtown Boston than in Olympia, but we liked to walk down to the Seattle’s Best coffee stand in the book store.
The cupcake fanatics in my family would go wild at Mike’s in Little Italy. I saw many of their take-home boxes at the airport on the way out. The two bites I had of their product I had definitely rivaled anything in Seattle or Tacoma.
Boston is fantastic people, riding the subway to Fenway Park was a blast. Mass is the first state to embrace marriage equality, lots of awesome folks living their lives the way they feel in their hearts. I met a couple guys at the Red Sox game who are getting married in February. When Scott heard that we were with a union he proclaimed that he wishes he could get into a union. He is a nurse at a hospital that is predominantly a union shop but his unit is contracted out to a company and he gets paid less and has less favorable benefits than the folks he works with that are in a union. Since Mass is down with marriage equality then at least Scott can get Thom’s benefit package.
I can’t help thinking about these four women I sat near on the plane on the way home. I think they spoke German or some other closely related European language. They were sitting next to me and every time they would hold hands they would put something over their hands so no one could see them publicly showing affection. I thought about nicely letting them know that they did not have to hide themselves here. But I didn’t. I think about all the states we flew over where they would be considered targets for expressing their affection openly in public. I did show them six volcanoes that we could see from the plane.
A six volcano day is a very good day. Mt. Adams, Mt Hood, Mt St. Helens, Mt Rainier, Glacier Peak, and Mt.Baker, all without leaving my seat.
Sunday, July 4, 2010
The Voting Process and Results of the Secretary Treasurer Election
Voting for the Secretary Treasurer position was an anonymous vote, not the voice vote or the standing vote on the Convention floor.
Delegates are issued “Monopoly Money” ballots in different denominations representing the number of member votes they are casting. Each of the six delegates from Local 53 had around 324 votes. The delegate uses their standard issue #2 pencil to mark the ballots for their candidate of choice.
Local 53 Delegates refused to use the pencils and instead voted with pens. The issue of the use of pencils would come up on the floor later in the day. It was a secret ballot but based on conversations I had with all the Local 53 delegates I believe our 1944 votes all went for Danny Donohue, from Long Island, NY, President of Local 1000.
The numbers for the entire Convention as of Tuesday morning June 30 were as follows:
38 Councils, 34 Retiree Councils, 2509 Locals, 3569 Delegates representing 1,302,480 in 50 states and Puerto Rico. There were more than 1.3 million votes cast in the Secretary Treasurer election.
Late on Thursday the election results were announced by the Elections Committee. There were some where in the neighborhood of 4000 disqualified ballots, these were ones marked for more than one candidate or left blank. There were around 1500 votes for the 3rd candidate, Mark Foley from California, President of Local 2019. Mark indicated that he would run for the position again in 2012.
.
The Co-Chair of the Elections Committee announced that the election had gone to Lee by approximately 4300 votes. Let’s do the math together. Over 1.3 million ballots cast, 4300 votes different between the top two candidates.
That is a difference of 4/10ths of 1%. If an election for public office were to come out so close then an automatic recount would be triggered. Not so for our Union election.
To Danny’s credit he congratulated Lee on his victory and pledged unity in the Union.
The following day Danny Donohue issued a letter that included the following;
“I also know that many of you have profound doubts about the conduct of this election. I did not believe that any purpose would be served by contesting its outcome here at the convention. But I do want you to know that I intend to immediately call on the International Executive Board to have and independent review conducted of the entire election.”
The IEB meet immediately after the close of the Convention.
Stay Tuned
Delegates are issued “Monopoly Money” ballots in different denominations representing the number of member votes they are casting. Each of the six delegates from Local 53 had around 324 votes. The delegate uses their standard issue #2 pencil to mark the ballots for their candidate of choice.
Local 53 Delegates refused to use the pencils and instead voted with pens. The issue of the use of pencils would come up on the floor later in the day. It was a secret ballot but based on conversations I had with all the Local 53 delegates I believe our 1944 votes all went for Danny Donohue, from Long Island, NY, President of Local 1000.
The numbers for the entire Convention as of Tuesday morning June 30 were as follows:
38 Councils, 34 Retiree Councils, 2509 Locals, 3569 Delegates representing 1,302,480 in 50 states and Puerto Rico. There were more than 1.3 million votes cast in the Secretary Treasurer election.
Late on Thursday the election results were announced by the Elections Committee. There were some where in the neighborhood of 4000 disqualified ballots, these were ones marked for more than one candidate or left blank. There were around 1500 votes for the 3rd candidate, Mark Foley from California, President of Local 2019. Mark indicated that he would run for the position again in 2012.
.
The Co-Chair of the Elections Committee announced that the election had gone to Lee by approximately 4300 votes. Let’s do the math together. Over 1.3 million ballots cast, 4300 votes different between the top two candidates.
That is a difference of 4/10ths of 1%. If an election for public office were to come out so close then an automatic recount would be triggered. Not so for our Union election.
To Danny’s credit he congratulated Lee on his victory and pledged unity in the Union.
The following day Danny Donohue issued a letter that included the following;
“I also know that many of you have profound doubts about the conduct of this election. I did not believe that any purpose would be served by contesting its outcome here at the convention. But I do want you to know that I intend to immediately call on the International Executive Board to have and independent review conducted of the entire election.”
The IEB meet immediately after the close of the Convention.
Stay Tuned
AFSCME People Fun Run Boston 2010
The final day of the Convention began early when participants in the annual AFSCME People Fun Run gathered at Castle Island, a park next to the bay.
We boarded the bus at 5:30 with many folks acknowledging that they were having trouble waking up after the dance party at the hotel the night before. I never did catch the name of the band but they were hot and kept everyone hopping until late.
While waiting for the bus many folks commented on the pasta dish that they had eaten at the party the night before. “That was not pasta, that was calamari.”, someone said. You should have seen the faces of the people standing there drop when they realized that they had not been eating pasta, but in fact some strange arrangement of squid. I'm glad that I avoided the pasta/squid dish.
It was pretty cold at the park but someone had been up even earlier than the Fun Runners and there was hot coffee, fruit, juice and water to help energize us. I was not a runner but was there to support the five folks from Council 28 who committed to participate in the annual fund raiser for People, the union’s political action program.
Each runner had to raise at least $100 for People in order to participate. I don’t know how much money was raised this year but every little bit helps when we are competing with the corporate class who throw money at politicians like its water.
The runners took part in a group warm-up and then it was time to start. Bang and away they go. Down the hill, around the lake, around the park, back up the hill for a total of 5 kilometers. That’s about 3 miles.
There were about 40-50 participants and everyone who started the event also finished. The youngest participant was 14 years old. There were many elders also participating, some of whom walked and some who did the course as a relay team. One brother missed the bus and took a cab to the park, arriving a few minutes after the run had begun. He took of running and finished in the top ten. Each participant received a medal upon completion. I was pressed into service as a finish line marshal so I got a medal as well.
Congrats to everyone who participated, especially our Council 28 staffer Daniel who finished first at 21 minutes and some-odd seconds. We need a lot more participation in this event next year! It was lots of fun and for an important cause.
After the run we went back to the hotel where we could rest awhile before the Convention reconvened later in the morning. My roommate had been so infuriated by the election shenanigans that he refused any further participation in the Convention and gave his Delegate Credentials to me so I could participate on the final day.
I was honored to represent Local 53 on the Convention floor but that was quickly dampened by the behavior of our Supreme Leader as he presided over the final aspects of the Convention.
Stay Tuned
We boarded the bus at 5:30 with many folks acknowledging that they were having trouble waking up after the dance party at the hotel the night before. I never did catch the name of the band but they were hot and kept everyone hopping until late.
While waiting for the bus many folks commented on the pasta dish that they had eaten at the party the night before. “That was not pasta, that was calamari.”, someone said. You should have seen the faces of the people standing there drop when they realized that they had not been eating pasta, but in fact some strange arrangement of squid. I'm glad that I avoided the pasta/squid dish.
It was pretty cold at the park but someone had been up even earlier than the Fun Runners and there was hot coffee, fruit, juice and water to help energize us. I was not a runner but was there to support the five folks from Council 28 who committed to participate in the annual fund raiser for People, the union’s political action program.
Each runner had to raise at least $100 for People in order to participate. I don’t know how much money was raised this year but every little bit helps when we are competing with the corporate class who throw money at politicians like its water.
The runners took part in a group warm-up and then it was time to start. Bang and away they go. Down the hill, around the lake, around the park, back up the hill for a total of 5 kilometers. That’s about 3 miles.
There were about 40-50 participants and everyone who started the event also finished. The youngest participant was 14 years old. There were many elders also participating, some of whom walked and some who did the course as a relay team. One brother missed the bus and took a cab to the park, arriving a few minutes after the run had begun. He took of running and finished in the top ten. Each participant received a medal upon completion. I was pressed into service as a finish line marshal so I got a medal as well.
Congrats to everyone who participated, especially our Council 28 staffer Daniel who finished first at 21 minutes and some-odd seconds. We need a lot more participation in this event next year! It was lots of fun and for an important cause.
After the run we went back to the hotel where we could rest awhile before the Convention reconvened later in the morning. My roommate had been so infuriated by the election shenanigans that he refused any further participation in the Convention and gave his Delegate Credentials to me so I could participate on the final day.
I was honored to represent Local 53 on the Convention floor but that was quickly dampened by the behavior of our Supreme Leader as he presided over the final aspects of the Convention.
Stay Tuned
Saturday, July 3, 2010
The Immigration Debate and Roll Call
Where to begin and where to end? Will it ever end?
Some of the most inspiring and thought provoking speakers on the floor this week have been young women of color. Some of the most frustrating and disrespectful speakers from the podium have been old white men, especially the Glorious Leader. As a white man who aspires to become old one day I must say I am ready to elect some of the youthful talent I saw in Boston this week to leadership roles in our Union.
The election took place early on Thursday morning so you could vote, then go out to breakfast and be back in time for the convention to re-convene at about 10:30.
After the speakers (Ed and Donna) we moved through a number of Resolutions. When we got to one resolution that concerned “illegal” immigration and health care for all, or not. Things got quite contentious. It seems that many members have forgotten that unless we are card-carrying tribal members we are all immigrants, most voluntary some not at all voluntary.
The rights that apple pickers, drywall hangers, linen launderers, child care providers, and every other worker who came here out of a sense of survival is currently fighting for are the same rights that were denied many of our Italian, Irish, Polish, Russian, Chinese, Japanese, African……ancestors when they first arrived here.
Targeting immigrants is about divide and conquer. Brown vs White, Mexican vs Black, Muslim vs Jew, Straight vs Gay, Private vs Public sector……These tactics have been used for thousands of years to pit one faction of working people against another.
The clear winner is the owning class, the investor class, the sit-on-their-ass class. They sit by and watch us “little people” snipe and pick at each other while their bank accounts get fatter and everyone else works harder to make ends meet.
I’m about to the point of calling on all white folks who don’t want to share the country with the immigrants from Mexico, Central and South America (who for the most part are Indigenous people, meaning they were here first) to just pack up and go back to Europe. Take whatever you can carry just like your ancestors did when they came here and get your ass back across the pond. Those of us willing to share will stay behind and work with our non-Euro-American brothers and sisters to build a more equitable society here on Turtle Island. It is about survival.
As the debate dragged on one member stepped forward and “called the question.” This is a procedural maneuver done when a member feels there has been enough discussion already and the issue should be put to a vote. Now before the question can be called both sides of an issue must be heard from, unless one side has no supporters, which often happens when the Resolution calls for supporting something all members agree upon, like supporting the Employee Free Choice Act. After both sides have been heard from the members can vote to close discussion/debate and move the issue to a vote.
The first round is an oral vote with a yeah or a nay. Generally this is all that is needed to get the sense of the room and determine if a resolution is adopted or not. If this determines the outcome we can move on to another resolution or a video or a speaker or whatever.
If the voice vote is too close to call then “Division” can be called. Even if the Chair had made a decision from the podium any member can call from the floor for division and if it is seconded it will take place. At this point all those who want to vote Yeah are called upon to stand. After they have been reseated the Nay votes are called upon to stand. The Chair then decides which group was larger and whether the Resolution or Amendment has passed or failed.
Should any member feel that the estimate during the Division process was insufficiently different to warrant calling it for either side then a Role Call may be proposed. At this point the 50% plus one to pass an amendment, changes to 25%.
If 25% of the body stands to vote for a Roll Call vote then the Roll Call process should kick in. Each Local in attendance at the International Convention must be individually polled on the matter. As you can imagine this must be a long and tedious process. I say must be because I have never seen it in action. But this is how Union Democracy is supposed to work.
Back to the debate on the Resolution regarding the rights of immigrants. The original proposal had been about healthcare for all and included language that recognized health care as a right for everybody including people without legal permission to be here. After all an injury to one is an injury to all.
Some wise member stood to call for the language recognizing the rights of non-citizens to be removed from the resolution. This sparked a debate and voice vote, which was inconclusive. Division was called and when members were asked to stand to support Yeah or Nay it was still not clear which side had prevailed. A member then proposed that a Roll Call vote be taken. The chair then called for the members who wanted to proceed to a Roll Call vote to stand. Many hundreds of delegates stood to support the call for a Roll Call vote but the Chair ruled that it did not meet the 25% threshold and there would be no roll call vote. The matter was decided by Mr McEntee as chair of the Convention.
This issue would come up again on Friday and again a Roll Call would be called upon from the floor. Stay Tuned.
21st Century Fix- instead of giving us a new T-Shirt every day at Convention they could give every delegate a FOB with which we could vote on a resolution or an amendment. Electronic readers on each table would pick up the votes from the member’s FOBs and relay it to a computer where it would be tabulated. One vote, no question of the results. This way there would never be a time when the Chair is calling a vote one way but many members are seeing or hearing it go another way. This way of voice voting is a hold over from when he Declaration of Independence was first read from the balcony down the street from the hotel here in Boston. “All yeah who be in favor of severing all ties from the Crown signify forth with by hollering Ay!” “All ye Pilgrims and Journeymen against signify by muttering no.”
Some of the most inspiring and thought provoking speakers on the floor this week have been young women of color. Some of the most frustrating and disrespectful speakers from the podium have been old white men, especially the Glorious Leader. As a white man who aspires to become old one day I must say I am ready to elect some of the youthful talent I saw in Boston this week to leadership roles in our Union.
The election took place early on Thursday morning so you could vote, then go out to breakfast and be back in time for the convention to re-convene at about 10:30.
After the speakers (Ed and Donna) we moved through a number of Resolutions. When we got to one resolution that concerned “illegal” immigration and health care for all, or not. Things got quite contentious. It seems that many members have forgotten that unless we are card-carrying tribal members we are all immigrants, most voluntary some not at all voluntary.
The rights that apple pickers, drywall hangers, linen launderers, child care providers, and every other worker who came here out of a sense of survival is currently fighting for are the same rights that were denied many of our Italian, Irish, Polish, Russian, Chinese, Japanese, African……ancestors when they first arrived here.
Targeting immigrants is about divide and conquer. Brown vs White, Mexican vs Black, Muslim vs Jew, Straight vs Gay, Private vs Public sector……These tactics have been used for thousands of years to pit one faction of working people against another.
The clear winner is the owning class, the investor class, the sit-on-their-ass class. They sit by and watch us “little people” snipe and pick at each other while their bank accounts get fatter and everyone else works harder to make ends meet.
I’m about to the point of calling on all white folks who don’t want to share the country with the immigrants from Mexico, Central and South America (who for the most part are Indigenous people, meaning they were here first) to just pack up and go back to Europe. Take whatever you can carry just like your ancestors did when they came here and get your ass back across the pond. Those of us willing to share will stay behind and work with our non-Euro-American brothers and sisters to build a more equitable society here on Turtle Island. It is about survival.
As the debate dragged on one member stepped forward and “called the question.” This is a procedural maneuver done when a member feels there has been enough discussion already and the issue should be put to a vote. Now before the question can be called both sides of an issue must be heard from, unless one side has no supporters, which often happens when the Resolution calls for supporting something all members agree upon, like supporting the Employee Free Choice Act. After both sides have been heard from the members can vote to close discussion/debate and move the issue to a vote.
The first round is an oral vote with a yeah or a nay. Generally this is all that is needed to get the sense of the room and determine if a resolution is adopted or not. If this determines the outcome we can move on to another resolution or a video or a speaker or whatever.
If the voice vote is too close to call then “Division” can be called. Even if the Chair had made a decision from the podium any member can call from the floor for division and if it is seconded it will take place. At this point all those who want to vote Yeah are called upon to stand. After they have been reseated the Nay votes are called upon to stand. The Chair then decides which group was larger and whether the Resolution or Amendment has passed or failed.
Should any member feel that the estimate during the Division process was insufficiently different to warrant calling it for either side then a Role Call may be proposed. At this point the 50% plus one to pass an amendment, changes to 25%.
If 25% of the body stands to vote for a Roll Call vote then the Roll Call process should kick in. Each Local in attendance at the International Convention must be individually polled on the matter. As you can imagine this must be a long and tedious process. I say must be because I have never seen it in action. But this is how Union Democracy is supposed to work.
Back to the debate on the Resolution regarding the rights of immigrants. The original proposal had been about healthcare for all and included language that recognized health care as a right for everybody including people without legal permission to be here. After all an injury to one is an injury to all.
Some wise member stood to call for the language recognizing the rights of non-citizens to be removed from the resolution. This sparked a debate and voice vote, which was inconclusive. Division was called and when members were asked to stand to support Yeah or Nay it was still not clear which side had prevailed. A member then proposed that a Roll Call vote be taken. The chair then called for the members who wanted to proceed to a Roll Call vote to stand. Many hundreds of delegates stood to support the call for a Roll Call vote but the Chair ruled that it did not meet the 25% threshold and there would be no roll call vote. The matter was decided by Mr McEntee as chair of the Convention.
This issue would come up again on Friday and again a Roll Call would be called upon from the floor. Stay Tuned.
21st Century Fix- instead of giving us a new T-Shirt every day at Convention they could give every delegate a FOB with which we could vote on a resolution or an amendment. Electronic readers on each table would pick up the votes from the member’s FOBs and relay it to a computer where it would be tabulated. One vote, no question of the results. This way there would never be a time when the Chair is calling a vote one way but many members are seeing or hearing it go another way. This way of voice voting is a hold over from when he Declaration of Independence was first read from the balcony down the street from the hotel here in Boston. “All yeah who be in favor of severing all ties from the Crown signify forth with by hollering Ay!” “All ye Pilgrims and Journeymen against signify by muttering no.”
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Donna Brazile and Ed Shultz
Day four featured two dynamic speakers Donna Brazile and Ed Shultz.
It took speakers who are not President’s of Unions to get this crowd really fired up.
Democratic Strategist Donna Brazile took the microphone and encouraged us to “Take names and kick ass.”
“There is a war going on against service employees, we need to get tough and stand up. Hell no we won’t let those jobs go.”
She affirmed that she is a Democrat. But she was very clear that she is “not the happy talk person of the party.” She is the person to speak truth to power. “We have more toppings and flavors in the Democratic Party than Papa John’s and Ben n’ Jerry’s”
“We are not going to apologize to BP or to anyone.”
We have the power to put a black man in the White House and any man or woman in the state house.”
Progressive Radio and Cable TV host Ed Shultz was the next to take the stage.
Recognized AFSCME as the organization of 1.6 million members who care about America”
We need to remind Congress and the White House who put them there!
We just lived through the most selfish years in America.
The road we are on now is one of the filthy rich and the dirt poor.
To change that we must stick with organized labor.
We don’t like how the Employee Free Choice Act has been thrown under the bus by the Democrats.
All of a sudden the Repugs are concerned about deficits. Dick Cheney said “Deficits don’t matter.” When we were cruising toward the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan.
Bush had a successful presidency because he was able to appoint two conservative members to the Supreme Court and cut taxes for the top 2%.
Ed went on, we need to ask Democratic Candidates for local, state and federal office, “Are you for labor or are you gonna run from labor?”
“Are you for the EFCA as it is written?”
“We must have the guts to find that moment to do a little more.”
“This is the generational and ideological fight for America.”
The working folks of America did not cause the problems but it is up to us to fix it.
During Ed’s presentation he showed videos of there members. One of them had this great quote to add to the day. “It takes a village to raise a child, but it takes a Union to save the village.”
I wonder what Ed thought when he gave big praises and thanks to Gerry McEntee and the hall was pretty much quiet in response.
It took speakers who are not President’s of Unions to get this crowd really fired up.
Democratic Strategist Donna Brazile took the microphone and encouraged us to “Take names and kick ass.”
“There is a war going on against service employees, we need to get tough and stand up. Hell no we won’t let those jobs go.”
She affirmed that she is a Democrat. But she was very clear that she is “not the happy talk person of the party.” She is the person to speak truth to power. “We have more toppings and flavors in the Democratic Party than Papa John’s and Ben n’ Jerry’s”
“We are not going to apologize to BP or to anyone.”
We have the power to put a black man in the White House and any man or woman in the state house.”
Progressive Radio and Cable TV host Ed Shultz was the next to take the stage.
Recognized AFSCME as the organization of 1.6 million members who care about America”
We need to remind Congress and the White House who put them there!
We just lived through the most selfish years in America.
The road we are on now is one of the filthy rich and the dirt poor.
To change that we must stick with organized labor.
We don’t like how the Employee Free Choice Act has been thrown under the bus by the Democrats.
All of a sudden the Repugs are concerned about deficits. Dick Cheney said “Deficits don’t matter.” When we were cruising toward the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan.
Bush had a successful presidency because he was able to appoint two conservative members to the Supreme Court and cut taxes for the top 2%.
Ed went on, we need to ask Democratic Candidates for local, state and federal office, “Are you for labor or are you gonna run from labor?”
“Are you for the EFCA as it is written?”
“We must have the guts to find that moment to do a little more.”
“This is the generational and ideological fight for America.”
The working folks of America did not cause the problems but it is up to us to fix it.
During Ed’s presentation he showed videos of there members. One of them had this great quote to add to the day. “It takes a village to raise a child, but it takes a Union to save the village.”
I wonder what Ed thought when he gave big praises and thanks to Gerry McEntee and the hall was pretty much quiet in response.
Day Four: Election Day
The cast has been introduced and their roles are clear,
We’ve got McEntee, the Ayatollah of AFSCME, Kim Jung Lee (Saunders), the heir apparent, and our man from the grassroots, Danny “Braveheart” Donohue.
The ballots have all been cast, and then some, and we are patiently waiting for the gavel to fall to start Day Four on the Convention Floor.
First Order of business is the video footage from yesterday’s rally. “NO more Bullshit!” was the theme of the rally.
Great images and McEntee says that Senator Scott Brown has introduced legislation to preserve public sector jobs. Could that be because we came to his town and let him know how important Public Employees are.
Stay Tuned
The cast has been introduced and their roles are clear,
We’ve got McEntee, the Ayatollah of AFSCME, Kim Jung Lee (Saunders), the heir apparent, and our man from the grassroots, Danny “Braveheart” Donohue.
The ballots have all been cast, and then some, and we are patiently waiting for the gavel to fall to start Day Four on the Convention Floor.
First Order of business is the video footage from yesterday’s rally. “NO more Bullshit!” was the theme of the rally.
Great images and McEntee says that Senator Scott Brown has introduced legislation to preserve public sector jobs. Could that be because we came to his town and let him know how important Public Employees are.
Stay Tuned
Wednesday; Day Three of Convention.
I wish I could say that the day was all about the coalescing of factions which had, just a day earlier been at each others throats into a unified group ready to take on the business of the members. But that was not the case. We did take on a number of Resolutions put forth by the members, many of them designed to prod the Inter into funding putting staff onto issues that.
Many resolutions are generated in the Locals and come up through the Councils. If the resolutions have merit they pass the Council and onto the Resolution Committee which make the recccomndation to the voting delegates; thumbs up or thumbs down. Many resolutions get voted on the way of the committee recommendation. At the highest levels member representation or expression is not tolerated or allowed for.
From my vantage point in the bleachers it seems that 1/3 to ½ of the delegates and alternates are participating in their first International Convention. Many like this blogger and his roommate are disenchanted by the leadership and its antics around this election.
To catch up on the case of the Juvenile Corrections worker from Nevada who had decided he wanted to change his previously pledged block vote for Lee Saunders for Secretary-Treasurer to his individual vote for Donohue. He had made that pledge before leaving Nevada. Lee Saunders had been the only candidate invited to the Nevada state convention so he was the only candidate they had heard from.
There is tons of money being spent on the Lee campaign; including rumor has it many drinks poured last night at the Beantown Pub. Yellow T-Shirts, posters, noise makers, buttons. I hope the member from Nevada does not have too many of those free beers tonight. He will have to get up early and get to voting before the block votes are cast for his whole Local.
The elections committee moved the start time for voting up from 7 a.m to 6 a.m. since it is such an important election. This means that our Nevada member must get to the convention center before 6 a.m. in order to wrest his vote back from the Local block vote.
More about the Rally on Wednesday and the voting Thursday coming up shortly.
Stay Tuned.
Many resolutions are generated in the Locals and come up through the Councils. If the resolutions have merit they pass the Council and onto the Resolution Committee which make the recccomndation to the voting delegates; thumbs up or thumbs down. Many resolutions get voted on the way of the committee recommendation. At the highest levels member representation or expression is not tolerated or allowed for.
From my vantage point in the bleachers it seems that 1/3 to ½ of the delegates and alternates are participating in their first International Convention. Many like this blogger and his roommate are disenchanted by the leadership and its antics around this election.
To catch up on the case of the Juvenile Corrections worker from Nevada who had decided he wanted to change his previously pledged block vote for Lee Saunders for Secretary-Treasurer to his individual vote for Donohue. He had made that pledge before leaving Nevada. Lee Saunders had been the only candidate invited to the Nevada state convention so he was the only candidate they had heard from.
There is tons of money being spent on the Lee campaign; including rumor has it many drinks poured last night at the Beantown Pub. Yellow T-Shirts, posters, noise makers, buttons. I hope the member from Nevada does not have too many of those free beers tonight. He will have to get up early and get to voting before the block votes are cast for his whole Local.
The elections committee moved the start time for voting up from 7 a.m to 6 a.m. since it is such an important election. This means that our Nevada member must get to the convention center before 6 a.m. in order to wrest his vote back from the Local block vote.
More about the Rally on Wednesday and the voting Thursday coming up shortly.
Stay Tuned.
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Is t
Is There a Problem Over at Mic #5?
That was one of the many questions asked during today’s Special Nominating Session.
The answer to this question was that a brawl was almost taking place at microphone 5. Most of the central microphones on the floor had been surrounded by the Yellow Shirts and all access to other delegates was affectively blocked. At Microphone 5 a member who was not wearing a yellow United for Lee T-shirt had managed to beat the Yellows to the mic and was holding her own while waiting to be heard. When she was finally allowed to be heard by President Gerry McEntee she told a story of being threatened, disrespected and even handled by the Yellow Shirts because she had risen to nominate Danny Donohue for Secretary Treasurer. She had to threaten back that if anyone else laid a hand on her she “was going to #%$& them up.”
So what could have led to a near brawl around one of the 15 or so microphones dispersed throughout the convention floor? It was nothing short of a political maneuver to present Secretary-Treasurer Candidate Lee Saunders in the best light and the other candidate Danny Donohue less dramatically.
Mr. Saunders is currently Mr. McEntee’s right hand man at the International in D.C. and Gerry is determined that Saunders is the one to replace him when the President decides to retire, perhaps as soon as the next International in 2012, during the U.S. Presidential Primary Election Season.
While hand picking one’s successor in office has been quite popular with monarchs the world over our AFSCME International Union is intended to be a democratic organization that works for and by the members themselves. Our leaders earn the respect and support of the membership and are then elected to positions of greater and greater responsibility as they prove themselves capable of truly democratic leadership.
Earlier in the day many members had brought up that it seemed unfair that the Convention’s daily newsletter today was yellow. Members brought up that this was inconsistent with the traditional color scheme of AFSCME which is of course green.
Gerry answered this by holding up a newsletter from some prior convention that had been printed in red. Even that red had a green streak through it. And how is it that an International staffer happens to have a newsletter from some bygone convention just handy at the podium?
Well the yellow newsletter was just the beginning of the unfair practices employed today by McEntee and his followers to try and get their man, Saunders elected to the powerful Secretary-Treasurer office recently vacated by the retirement of Bill Luce.
With legions of Yellow Shirts surrounding most of the microphones and the Donohue for AFSCME supporters trying to get to microphones to nominate their candidate the crowd began a cacophonous yelling and banging that the chair could not be heard and the nominations could not proceed. This went on for 15 solid minutes and was almost about to subside when the chair yelled out that he could go on like this all day. At that point the noise increased again and caused even more frustration with the chair and other folks on the stage. The sound out was a show of the power of the membership that we could shut the whole show down if the dirty politics was going to be the order of the day.
Finally after the tension at microphone 5 was relaxed some we could get on with nominations. And who is first called upon but Gerry McEntee, this time not wearing his Presidential hat but acting as a member, down on the floor to give a less than inspiring speech about the great qualities of Lee Saunders. Now I don’t know Lee but I do know that I would not want to be represented in the International by someone who would stand by and allow the kind of political antics on the convention floor that we saw today.
Throughout the nomination of Saunders the Yellow Shirts dominated the microphones and gave testimonial after testimonial regarding Saunders. When they were finally through talking about Saunders they all went up in front of the stage and clapped and cheered for him while some groovy tune played.
No sooner had this wrapped up and the Yellow Shirts returned to their seat than there is McEntee again back on the stage, still wearing his yellow shirt and calling for any other nominations for the open position. Members subsequently nominated and seconded Danny Donohue for the position. A number of members took the microphone to call for a point of Order that the President remove the yellow United for Lee T-shirt he was wearing on the stage in front of all the delegates.
He refused to take off the shirt, claiming that he can do whatever he wants and even threatening a member who was blowing a whistle.
Another important question asked on the floor today was whether a member who had earlier agreed to add their vote along with all the members of their Local delegation to vote as a block for the same candidate, could back out of that agreement and cast his or her own ballot for the candidate of their choice.
This question was never answered to the satisfaction of the member who asked it or the rest of the body. It seems that some delegates signed a page before coming to the convention that they would add their vote to a block vote for Saunders. A member in Juvenile Corrections from Nevada I met today at the Red Sox game told me that he had signed a page pledging to block vote but after seeing the shenanigans on the convention floor today He wanted to switch his vote to Donohue but was not sure how to do it. Again it was not adequately explained by the Elections Committee Co-Chair.
After Danny’s nomination the question of the Yellow Shirts on the stage and the return of McEntee to the role of Chair even after he had gone to the floor to nominate Saunders. It was heard around the convention by me that Mr McEntee should have remained on the floor until after all the nominations had been completed and the Special Nomination Session had ended. He took control once again and cut short Donohue supporters who wished to speak on his behalf.
So where does this go from here? Firstly there had better be a blue newsletter tomorrow. Blue is the color of the Danny Donohue campaign.
Ed Shultz is rumored to be joining us tomorrow. Perhaps we can get word to him of the improprieties going on at the AFSCME Convention and he can share it with his radio listeners on progressive stations across the country and on his MSNBC cable show.
We must make sure that delegates who have pledged to vote as a block are allowed to be released from that pledge and vote their own conscience. I have heard from more than one member who wants to change their voted based on what they saw Tuesday on the convention floor.
I think that the President has shot his buddy’s campaign in the foot by trying to show Saunders down the memberships throat because he wants to work with someone hwo knows how to be his subordinant. AFSCME is a last bastion of democracy in America and the members are determined to keep it that way and come out of convention strong and able to build and grow the membership. We can not allow an attempt to unduly influence the election of Bill Luce’s successor as Secretary-Treasurer. Mr Luce has said the he supports Danny Donohue, now McEntee needs to lead a fair and clean election or get out of the way and let us do it.
More tomorrow from the convention floor.
That was one of the many questions asked during today’s Special Nominating Session.
The answer to this question was that a brawl was almost taking place at microphone 5. Most of the central microphones on the floor had been surrounded by the Yellow Shirts and all access to other delegates was affectively blocked. At Microphone 5 a member who was not wearing a yellow United for Lee T-shirt had managed to beat the Yellows to the mic and was holding her own while waiting to be heard. When she was finally allowed to be heard by President Gerry McEntee she told a story of being threatened, disrespected and even handled by the Yellow Shirts because she had risen to nominate Danny Donohue for Secretary Treasurer. She had to threaten back that if anyone else laid a hand on her she “was going to #%$& them up.”
So what could have led to a near brawl around one of the 15 or so microphones dispersed throughout the convention floor? It was nothing short of a political maneuver to present Secretary-Treasurer Candidate Lee Saunders in the best light and the other candidate Danny Donohue less dramatically.
Mr. Saunders is currently Mr. McEntee’s right hand man at the International in D.C. and Gerry is determined that Saunders is the one to replace him when the President decides to retire, perhaps as soon as the next International in 2012, during the U.S. Presidential Primary Election Season.
While hand picking one’s successor in office has been quite popular with monarchs the world over our AFSCME International Union is intended to be a democratic organization that works for and by the members themselves. Our leaders earn the respect and support of the membership and are then elected to positions of greater and greater responsibility as they prove themselves capable of truly democratic leadership.
Earlier in the day many members had brought up that it seemed unfair that the Convention’s daily newsletter today was yellow. Members brought up that this was inconsistent with the traditional color scheme of AFSCME which is of course green.
Gerry answered this by holding up a newsletter from some prior convention that had been printed in red. Even that red had a green streak through it. And how is it that an International staffer happens to have a newsletter from some bygone convention just handy at the podium?
Well the yellow newsletter was just the beginning of the unfair practices employed today by McEntee and his followers to try and get their man, Saunders elected to the powerful Secretary-Treasurer office recently vacated by the retirement of Bill Luce.
With legions of Yellow Shirts surrounding most of the microphones and the Donohue for AFSCME supporters trying to get to microphones to nominate their candidate the crowd began a cacophonous yelling and banging that the chair could not be heard and the nominations could not proceed. This went on for 15 solid minutes and was almost about to subside when the chair yelled out that he could go on like this all day. At that point the noise increased again and caused even more frustration with the chair and other folks on the stage. The sound out was a show of the power of the membership that we could shut the whole show down if the dirty politics was going to be the order of the day.
Finally after the tension at microphone 5 was relaxed some we could get on with nominations. And who is first called upon but Gerry McEntee, this time not wearing his Presidential hat but acting as a member, down on the floor to give a less than inspiring speech about the great qualities of Lee Saunders. Now I don’t know Lee but I do know that I would not want to be represented in the International by someone who would stand by and allow the kind of political antics on the convention floor that we saw today.
Throughout the nomination of Saunders the Yellow Shirts dominated the microphones and gave testimonial after testimonial regarding Saunders. When they were finally through talking about Saunders they all went up in front of the stage and clapped and cheered for him while some groovy tune played.
No sooner had this wrapped up and the Yellow Shirts returned to their seat than there is McEntee again back on the stage, still wearing his yellow shirt and calling for any other nominations for the open position. Members subsequently nominated and seconded Danny Donohue for the position. A number of members took the microphone to call for a point of Order that the President remove the yellow United for Lee T-shirt he was wearing on the stage in front of all the delegates.
He refused to take off the shirt, claiming that he can do whatever he wants and even threatening a member who was blowing a whistle.
Another important question asked on the floor today was whether a member who had earlier agreed to add their vote along with all the members of their Local delegation to vote as a block for the same candidate, could back out of that agreement and cast his or her own ballot for the candidate of their choice.
This question was never answered to the satisfaction of the member who asked it or the rest of the body. It seems that some delegates signed a page before coming to the convention that they would add their vote to a block vote for Saunders. A member in Juvenile Corrections from Nevada I met today at the Red Sox game told me that he had signed a page pledging to block vote but after seeing the shenanigans on the convention floor today He wanted to switch his vote to Donohue but was not sure how to do it. Again it was not adequately explained by the Elections Committee Co-Chair.
After Danny’s nomination the question of the Yellow Shirts on the stage and the return of McEntee to the role of Chair even after he had gone to the floor to nominate Saunders. It was heard around the convention by me that Mr McEntee should have remained on the floor until after all the nominations had been completed and the Special Nomination Session had ended. He took control once again and cut short Donohue supporters who wished to speak on his behalf.
So where does this go from here? Firstly there had better be a blue newsletter tomorrow. Blue is the color of the Danny Donohue campaign.
Ed Shultz is rumored to be joining us tomorrow. Perhaps we can get word to him of the improprieties going on at the AFSCME Convention and he can share it with his radio listeners on progressive stations across the country and on his MSNBC cable show.
We must make sure that delegates who have pledged to vote as a block are allowed to be released from that pledge and vote their own conscience. I have heard from more than one member who wants to change their voted based on what they saw Tuesday on the convention floor.
I think that the President has shot his buddy’s campaign in the foot by trying to show Saunders down the memberships throat because he wants to work with someone hwo knows how to be his subordinant. AFSCME is a last bastion of democracy in America and the members are determined to keep it that way and come out of convention strong and able to build and grow the membership. We can not allow an attempt to unduly influence the election of Bill Luce’s successor as Secretary-Treasurer. Mr Luce has said the he supports Danny Donohue, now McEntee needs to lead a fair and clean election or get out of the way and let us do it.
More tomorrow from the convention floor.
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Vicki Kennedy In The House!
We jsut saw a short tribute video of Ted Kennedy. He spelt Kennedy...L-A-B-O-R!
Now Vicki has welcomed us to Teddy's home town, BOSTON!
She is reminding us of the Kennedy family committment to Labor, John, Bobby, Teddy, Patrick...91 years of Kennedys standing for Labor in the Congress.
There are still over 100 Kennedy children and grandchildren. There will be more Kennedys in Government advocating for Labor.
She acknowledges Teddy's gratitude for AFSCME's members working so hard for health care reform when we already have health care. We stood up and continue to stand for those who have less than we do.
Vicki has plrdged that she will always stand with us as her husband did during his life.
Standing Ovation and Hugs on the stage.
Stay Tuned--we are back to resolutions.
Now Vicki has welcomed us to Teddy's home town, BOSTON!
She is reminding us of the Kennedy family committment to Labor, John, Bobby, Teddy, Patrick...91 years of Kennedys standing for Labor in the Congress.
There are still over 100 Kennedy children and grandchildren. There will be more Kennedys in Government advocating for Labor.
She acknowledges Teddy's gratitude for AFSCME's members working so hard for health care reform when we already have health care. We stood up and continue to stand for those who have less than we do.
Vicki has plrdged that she will always stand with us as her husband did during his life.
Standing Ovation and Hugs on the stage.
Stay Tuned--we are back to resolutions.
Resolutions Resolutions Resolutions
Mid-Day Update from the Floor.
Many Local 53 Alternates have been invited to the floor while the delegates are out having lunch or a smoke break. We are grateful for the opportunity to take part in the proceedings, adding our yeah's or nay's to the collective voice of the Convention.
There are three books full of 70 Resolutions. Will we get to all of them? Probably not. Will we get to most of them? Probably not.
Most of the Resolutions coming to the floor right now involve reaffirming our commitment to workers in child care, corrections, Head Start, and the myriad of other important jobs and programs AFSCME members do every day. These resolutions are all passing with no opposition.
Now we are into the "Special Order of Business", honoring Ted Kennedy. McEntee calls him "Labor's True Champion".
Stay Tuned.
Many Local 53 Alternates have been invited to the floor while the delegates are out having lunch or a smoke break. We are grateful for the opportunity to take part in the proceedings, adding our yeah's or nay's to the collective voice of the Convention.
There are three books full of 70 Resolutions. Will we get to all of them? Probably not. Will we get to most of them? Probably not.
Most of the Resolutions coming to the floor right now involve reaffirming our commitment to workers in child care, corrections, Head Start, and the myriad of other important jobs and programs AFSCME members do every day. These resolutions are all passing with no opposition.
Now we are into the "Special Order of Business", honoring Ted Kennedy. McEntee calls him "Labor's True Champion".
Stay Tuned.
Day Two:Live from the Convention Hall
I'm up here in the nosebleed section of the bleechers where Alternate Delegates are relegated.
The other 53 Alternates are up here with me flattening our asses on the metal bleechers.
The Donohue supporters in their blue shirts and the Saunders supporters in their yellow shirts are marching around the hall making tons of noise. They have been called to shut up and sit down as McEntee gavels the group to order.
The Minnesota Delegation is still at it screaming, "We want Danny" but everybody else seems to have quieted down. No that's not it they are screaming for more tables and chairs because they don't have enough to seat their deleates from the Great State of Minnesota.
Council 28 delegates are currently behaving themselves as McEntee begins to honor the Retirees and the Next Wave members.
Stay tuned for updates all week.
The other 53 Alternates are up here with me flattening our asses on the metal bleechers.
The Donohue supporters in their blue shirts and the Saunders supporters in their yellow shirts are marching around the hall making tons of noise. They have been called to shut up and sit down as McEntee gavels the group to order.
The Minnesota Delegation is still at it screaming, "We want Danny" but everybody else seems to have quieted down. No that's not it they are screaming for more tables and chairs because they don't have enough to seat their deleates from the Great State of Minnesota.
Council 28 delegates are currently behaving themselves as McEntee begins to honor the Retirees and the Next Wave members.
Stay tuned for updates all week.
Monday, June 28, 2010
Convention Day One
It was a hot and humid day in Boston as the 39th AFSCME International Convention officially got under way with the banging of the gavel by President Gerry McEntee. The theme of the convention is Ready to Fight, Ready to Lead and there is quite a fight brewing in the campaign to replace recently retired Secretary Treasurer Bill Luce.
The politicking is everywhere, from the silly yellow noise sticks the supporter of Lee Saunders are littering the floor with, to the “Thank You Bill Lucy” signs everyone was waving that were provided by the Danny Donohue supporters. One Local 443 Delegate remarked to this blogger that even the placement of the delegates from the different states appeared to her to be very political. Nominations are tomorrow with voting on Thursday and again on Friday if there needs to be a run-off vote.
The delegates from Local 53 are Sue Hendrickson, Brad Samples, Karen McElroy, Paulette Thompson, Reidoon Inman and Angie Simpson.
The Alternate Delegates are Marvin Rife, Cynthia English, Ken Blair, Rosie Barnard, Steve Fossum and Brett Clubbe.
About an hour into the event we listened to a speech by recently retired Secretary Treasurer Bill Lucy. Mr Lucy spoke about his hopes that AFSCME will remain a union that works for its members rather than an organization whose members feel are working for it.
This was followed by committee reports and a couple of resolutions. One Resolution was put forth by Council 28 which proposed changing the rules of the convention to require that 90% of business be completed before the convention can close. Apparently in the past only 74% of business was attended to during the convention, in between the speeches and the back patting.
When it looked like the resolution was doomed to fail the membership voted to send it back to the resolutions committee, who had just recommended that the body vote to kill the resolution. Round and Round it goes on the convention floor. We will see what the Resolutions Committee does with it.
Then we broke for the rest of the day so more committees could meet and prepare for nominations for Secretary-Treasurer. Tomorrow we will also here from AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka.
More from the floor tomorrow and hopefully I will get the photo shortcoming solved and be posting images as well.
It was a hot and humid day in Boston as the 39th AFSCME International Convention officially got under way with the banging of the gavel by President Gerry McEntee. The theme of the convention is Ready to Fight, Ready to Lead and there is quite a fight brewing in the campaign to replace recently retired Secretary Treasurer Bill Luce.
The politicking is everywhere, from the silly yellow noise sticks the supporter of Lee Saunders are littering the floor with, to the “Thank You Bill Lucy” signs everyone was waving that were provided by the Danny Donohue supporters. One Local 443 Delegate remarked to this blogger that even the placement of the delegates from the different states appeared to her to be very political. Nominations are tomorrow with voting on Thursday and again on Friday if there needs to be a run-off vote.
The delegates from Local 53 are Sue Hendrickson, Brad Samples, Karen McElroy, Paulette Thompson, Reidoon Inman and Angie Simpson.
The Alternate Delegates are Marvin Rife, Cynthia English, Ken Blair, Rosie Barnard, Steve Fossum and Brett Clubbe.
About an hour into the event we listened to a speech by recently retired Secretary Treasurer Bill Lucy. Mr Lucy spoke about his hopes that AFSCME will remain a union that works for its members rather than an organization whose members feel are working for it.
This was followed by committee reports and a couple of resolutions. One Resolution was put forth by Council 28 which proposed changing the rules of the convention to require that 90% of business be completed before the convention can close. Apparently in the past only 74% of business was attended to during the convention, in between the speeches and the back patting.
When it looked like the resolution was doomed to fail the membership voted to send it back to the resolutions committee, who had just recommended that the body vote to kill the resolution. Round and Round it goes on the convention floor. We will see what the Resolutions Committee does with it.
Then we broke for the rest of the day so more committees could meet and prepare for nominations for Secretary-Treasurer. Tomorrow we will also here from AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka.
More from the floor tomorrow and hopefully I will get the photo shortcoming solved and be posting images as well.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)