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Unions Take the Lead at Democratic National Convention |
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Next week, the presidential race will kick into high gear as the 2008 Democratic National Convention begins in Denver. The union movement will take the lead in defining the race and making sure Barack Obama can win this fall.
Of the more than 4,200 delegates at the convention, a quarter will be active and retired union members. From rank-and-file workers to national leaders, the full spectrum of the union movement will be represented.
The week kicks off Sunday, when hundreds of union delegates and local labor activists will gather for a caucus and rally. Members attending the convention from any union are invited, as are local union activists and their families in Colorado. Some 2,000 people are expected to attend the labor caucus and rally.
National labor leaders will charge up delegates for the convention and a hard-fought election season. They’ll discuss the Labor 2008 grassroots political program and key issues in the election, including the Employee Free Choice Act.
Union delegates will carry out a major outreach program on the Employee Free Choice Act. They’ll be talking to their state delegations about the importance of the law—which would restore workers’ freedom to form unions and bargain for a better life—to rebuilding America’s economy and the middle class.
Delegates will gather signatures for the Million-Member Mobilization (you can sign here), a push to present the new president and Congress with 1 million signatures supporting the Employee Free Choice Act. Big Business sees defeating the legislation as a top priority and has spent millions of dollars this year on shadowy front groups and misleading ads opposing the bill—which Sen. Barack Obama co-sponsored and Sen. John McCain opposes.
On Tuesday morning, AFL-CIO President John Sweeney and Secretary-Treasurer Richard Trumka will join political leaders and economic experts for “All Boats Rising: Transforming the American Economy,” a panel discussion on the key economic issues we must address to turn around America. Co-sponsored by The American Prospect, this forum will lay out a new agenda for creating an economy that works for all.
In addition to Sweeney and Trumka, panelists will include Sens. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) and Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Rep. Donna Edwards (D-Md.), Bennett College President Julianne Malveaux and journalists Robert Kuttner and Paul Krugman. Ezra Klein and Harold Meyerson will moderate the discussion. (If you will be in Denver and would like to attend the forum, call 202-637-5297 or e-mail DNCinfo@aflcio.org .)
On Tuesday night, Sweeney will address the convention in a high-profile speech, scheduled for between 7 p.m. and 8 p.m. Mountain Time.
Other AFL-CIO leaders also will have key roles at the convention. On Monday, the newly elected president of AFT, Randi Weingarten, will address the convention, as will NEA President Reg Weaver. On Wednesday, Mark Ayers, president of the AFL-CIO Building and Construction Trades Department (BCTD) and chairman of the Union Veterans Council, will speak at a reception for union members and veterans attending the convention.
The convention starts the presidential election season in earnest, and the issues that matter most to working families need to be at the forefront. Every vote will matter, and union members across the country will be working hard this fall to make sure workers are educated and energized to vote. Sweeney, Trumka and AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Arlene Holt Baker, as well as and the hundreds of union members taking part in the convention, will help kick off the largest grassroots political mobilization in history to elect Obama in November.
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