A Bold New Plan
"Every time I turn around, it's harder to make ends meet," says David Carrero from Meriden, Conn., a laborer employed at the city's housing authority. "Gas prices are up, and wages are not keeping pace with the cost of living. At the same time, I'm paying more and more for health care - even with a union contract."
Like a lot of AFSCME members from coast to coast, David Carrero (a member of Local 1303, Council 4) is talking about the fallout from Pres. George Bush's anti-worker campaign and how it hits them where they live — and work. Public employees today are under attack as never before. Big corporations and anti-worker politicians are determined to privatize our jobs, strip us of our rights and dismantle the public sector. They're going after our wages, our pensions and our health care. Whether it's about outsourcing jobs or taking away collective bargaining, we're all at risk.
Meanwhile in Washington, D.C., Bush and his allies are cooking up more massive tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans, so that the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. "What about the rest of us?" asks Leilani Soakai, of Maui, a clerical supervisor for the State of Hawaii Department of Labor and a member of the Hawaii Government Employees Association/AFSCME Local 152. "The rich and powerful are getting tax breaks and we're getting the shaft. Things have got to change."
PROACTIVE AGENDA. Change is exactly what's on AFSCME's agenda - because we have to act now, before it's too late. Unions are shrinking. Workers have less power. And the right wing is targeting us like never before.
"It's been bad before, but this time it's different," says Audra Lenzen, an information specialist from the Iron Range region of Minnesota and a member of Local 66 (Council 5). "We've got to fight back. We can't do it the same old way."
That's why AFSCME created the 21st Century Committee to examine the union from top to bottom and develop a new game plan.
NEW CENTURY, NEW INITIATIVE. During months of deliberation, the committee of elected local and state leaders from across the country met and developed a bold, new plan. And on Feb. 22, the International Executive Board endorsed it — the 21st Century Initiative.
This plan will increase member involvement at the workplace and in the community; make AFSCME stronger by organizing new members; reform health care; increase our clout at the bargaining table; promote AFSCME as an aggressive fighting union; and back up these ideas with new resources.
The 21st Century Initiative will be taken to the 37th International Convention in Chicago for consideration by the delegates. If approved, it will make AFSCME bigger, bolder and better in the tough times ahead.
Look for more details as we head to the Convention.
