Purpose, Policy and a Living Lesson
Every AFSCME Convention brims with purpose. Top officers are elected, resolutions and amendments debated, appeals heard, speeches pondered. Convention 2000, in historic and hospitable Philadelphia, was no exception.
Pres. Gerald W. McEntee and Sec.-Treas. William Lucy were returned to office for a fifth term together. Resolutions, amendments and appeals made their way through committees and floor debate, and eventual passage or defeat. A dozen speakers praised, denounced, reasoned, implored, and inspired. In the end, all the necessary work of this great union was accomplished, and more than 6,000 people — delegates, alternates, guests — had lots of fun, too.
But three circumstances gave this Convention a higher profile and, you might say, more importance. One was the matter of sheer timing: In June of this year, the world — and AFSCME — were six months into a new millennium.
Another was the heating up of the 2000 Presidential and congressional elections. Both, of course, occur regularly. But it's by no means hype to say, as McEntee did, that "Much of the battle for America's future will be determined by the November elections." The differences between candidates and parties, especially on issues critical to working families, have seldom been so stark, so full of potential benefit for or detriment to our members.
The third circumstance stared us right in the face: the rancorous end-of-contract negotiations between two AFSCME district councils plus our NUHHCE affiliate on one side and numerous hospitals plus the City of Philadelphia on the other. Here was a chance for AFSCME members from across the country to come directly to the aid of beleaguered brothers and sisters in a local situation, to conduct a sort of living workshop in negotiating contracts.
The delegates responded handsomely. A sea of green and white flowed from the convention center to city hall to join Philly members in telling Mayor John Street, "Share your big budget surplus with us — or watch out!" By early August, all of the bargaining units had won advantageous new contracts, and the mayor felt relieved as the sea of green subsided. — R.M.W.
