From Memphis to Madison to Minneapolis

June 17, 2011

AFSCME’s New Media Director Tracey Conaty delivered the following remarks to kick off the Netroots Nation opening keynote session Thursday night in Minneapolis.

From the school bus driver in Portland, Maine, who gets kids to school safely while getting by on $25,000 a year. From the environmental scientist in Portland, Oregon, making sure the drinking water is safe. From the home care workers in Baltimore barely making a living wage while caring for the elderly and disabled so that they can live at home with dignity and independence. From the retired human services worker in Florida surviving on a $19,000 a year pension, all while watching Bill O'Reilly, Chris Christie and Rick Scott — to name a few — vilify and scapegoat them as fat cat pensioners.

From all AFSCME's 1.6 million members and our President Gerald McEntee and Secretary-Treasurer Lee Saunders, I say: Hello Netroots Nation!

My name is Tracey Conaty, I am the Director of New Media for AFSCME, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. This is our third year proudly sponsoring Netroots Nation.

What a year it's been. There will be much talk in the next few days about the brazen and extreme attacks on workers this year. Make no mistake, we at AFSCME are clear: We would not have been able to push back as hard and effectively as we have without the power of the netroots.

In Wisconsin for example, the Cheddarsphere, including Blue Cheddar, Illusory Tenant, Dane 101, Uppity Wisconsin — and AFSCME members Cognitive Dissonance and Blogging Blue — were telling the story of these attacks long before anyone else -- and in turn helping to galvanize the uprising that is now in 122nd day.

In Ohio, the fight back is just as vibrant. Indeed, the folks at We Are Ohio want you to know that they will be making a major announcement tomorrow. They want you to text OH to 225568 so you can hear the news first. [Update: The campaign announced this morning that 714,137 total signatures have been collected in just two months.]

This is not a new struggle. In 1968 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. traveled to Memphis to march in solidarity with AFSCME sanitation workers who were striking to win recognition of their union — and as human beings. Their protest signs said it simply: "I am a man." These workers had no benefits, no vacation, no pensions, no overtime.

The following is a short video — with a special performance by Aaron Neville — about how that struggle continues today. A Main Street Movement in Wisconsin, Ohio, Florida, New Hampshire, Michigan and across the country is underway as working people fight back against attacks on their rights — and for jobs that provide a living wage and decent quality of life.

We are proud and honored to be joined together as allies with you in this struggle. Thank you.