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• ABOUT AFSCME

For IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Monday, July 28, 2008

AFSCME Convention to Mobilize 40,000 Activists for November Election

Nation’s largest public service union unveils plans for political campaigns, growth and advocacy.

Washington, DC — The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), AFL-CIO, kicked off their 38th Biennial International Convention with plans to build a powerful army of 40,000 activists to win victories for pro-worker candidates at every level of government.

Nearly 6,000 activists are gathered this week in San Francisco to develop the union’s plans on priority issues, including: securing public support for the vital services our communities depend on; providing states and localities with needed fiscal relief; and guaranteeing quality, affordable health care for all.

“The stakes are too high – too high – for our nation to elect another President who doesn’t respect our work, doesn’t respect our families, and doesn’t respect the public services that America depends on and that our members provide,” AFSCME International President Gerald W. McEntee told the delegates.

Organizing Successes

McEntee also spelled out AFSCME’s continuing successes in organizing. “We’ve organized more workers than any other union in the whole AFL-CIO,” he told the convention. “Since 2006, 145,000 women and men have changed their lives by forming a union with AFSCME,” including:

• State employees in Colorado, Delaware and Kansas who won new and expanded bargaining rights.
• State employees in Kentucky who won back their right to have a union.
• Family child care providers who won the right to bargain in Kansas, New York, Ohio and Pennsylvania, and won first contracts in Michigan, New Jersey and Wisconsin.
• Maryland home care providers who won the right to bargain.

Among the victories, McEntee also cited home care providers who won their first contract in Iowa; school bus drivers and dispatchers in Indiana, Maine, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Wisconsin who chose AFSCME as their union; and private-sector health care workers in Minnesota, New Mexico and California who organized with AFSCME.

Building Support for Public Services

McEntee outlined two key goals for delegates: to elect pro-worker candidates across the country, and build public support for the vital public services that make our communities a better place to live, work and raise a family. “We have to tell our story,” McEntee said. “It’s a story about the tremendous value of the services we provide across this great country. We keep families safe and make communities strong. You know it and I know it: America works because we do.”

The union launched an extensive message training program to help delegates change the way the public views government and public services. It will be rolled out to AFSCME’s 3,500 local unions in the weeks and months ahead.

Additional Highlights

Several prominent national leaders will address the Convention throughout the week:

• Senator Hillary Clinton will address the convention on Thursday, July 31, at 10 a.m.
• Senator Barack Obama will speak via satellite on Thursday, July 31. Information on accessing his remarks via live Internet streaming or via satellite will be made available to the media later this week.
• Former Vice President Al Gore will address the Convention on Wednesday, July 30, but his remarks will be closed to the press.

Delegates will also participate in a Wednesday afternoon march at the University of California San Francisco Medical Center in support of 20,000 University of California patient care and service workers represented by AFSCME Local 3299. The workers just ended a five day strike and are negotiating for a fair contract and an end to poverty wages.

The Convention is open to print and broadcast media who are encouraged to apply for credentials online at: http://www.afscme.org/forms/credentials.cfm.

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