Showtime: Convention 2004
By Gerald W. McEntee, President, and William Lucy, Secretary-Treasurer
In June 2002, thousands of delegates representing 1.6 million AFSCME members and retirees met in Las Vegas for the union's 35th International Convention. Together we marked our union's great victories and great causes.
We celebrated the organizing victories of thousands of new members — from Maryland, Kentucky, Puerto Rico, Wisconsin, California, New York, Washington state and lots of places in between.
We paid tribute to our political power, honoring affiliates who scored wins at the ballot box despite the efforts of right-wing conservatives determined to turn back the clock and make labor's gains into losses. And we charted a path for the future. We reaffirmed our commitment to organizing and growing the union's power, and to formulating a plan that will defeat George W. Bush in November 2004 and elect pro-worker candidates to political offices across the nation.
HARD KNOCKS IN '02. Our resolve certainly showed. In the fall of that year, some 7,500 AFSCME volunteers worked in 1,800 precincts in 20 cities. One million pieces of direct mail were distributed in targeted districts, and 4.2 million persuasion and get-out-the-vote phone calls were made. Five hundred staff participated in the AFL-CIO's Labor 2002 program. We made gains through hard work: AFSCME members in New Mexico, Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, Oregon and Nevada led the fight to take back their states by helping to elect pro-worker, pro-union candidates. All told, AFSCME spent $34.8 million on political activities and raised $9 million in political action funds, making us one of the country's top five political action committees.
Although we worked hard, right-wing conservatives worked hard, too. When the polls closed on Nov. 5, our adversaries had control not only of the White House and the U.S. Supreme Court, but of both houses of Congress as well. As a result, the 2004 election offers working families the most important political opportunity in our lifetimes. We all know why.
Nearly 1.5 million jobs have been lost since George W. Bush took up residence in the White House. Pensions are under attack. Millions of Americans have no health care, and scores of state and local budgets remain in the red. Bush has turned his back on the needs of everyday Americans, preferring to hand three unnecessary tax cuts to the already-wealthy. It is time to put an end to Bush's pandering to rich friends. And our great union is prepared to lead that fight, too.
VICTORY IN 2004. From June 21 to 25, 5,000 AFSCME delegates and guests will gather in Anaheim, Calif., for one of the most important conventions in the history of our union. We will put the finishing touches on our plan to defeat George Bush, elect John F. Kerry and other pro-worker candidates, and get our country back on track.
To reach those goals, we will do more phone banking, send more mailings and conduct more one-on-one member visits than ever before. We will also intensify our Take Back America program, support the activities of other organizations that share our political goals, and expand our voluntary PEOPLE program in order to reach out to undecided voters in "swing" districts.
With Election Day 2004 only five months away, the success of these efforts will depend on us all. When the gavel sounds and the 2004 International Convention comes to a close, it will be show time. And every AFSCME member must play a part.
Tune in to the Webcast of Senator Kerry's address to our Convention: June 24 at 3:30 p.m. PDT; enter the pass code found in your print copy of Public Employee magazine.
This portion of the website is posted in full compliance with FEC regulations (11C.F.R. Sect.11 4.5(i)). It is paid for by the AFSCME PEOPLE Committee, with voluntary contributions from union members and their families, and is not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee.
