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.
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