NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS | November 3 , 2017 | PAGE 11
...National AFL-CIO convention in St. Louis
From Page 1
who chained the doors shut
when he showed up accompa-
nied by a large crowd of sup-
porters carrying Black Lives
Matter signs. Hearing what hap-
pened, convention-goers led by
former AFL-CIO Executive
Vice-President Arlene Holt-
Baker marched out to join
Franks and his group and escort
them back inside.
St. Louis, Missouri, is where
the Black Lives Matter move-
ment began in nearby Ferguson,
and the city is also on the front
lines of labor’s fight for sur-
vival. Missouri’s Republican-
led Legislature passed a so-
called “right to work” law
earlier this year, making it ille-
gal for any union contract to re-
quire represented workers to
pay dues or fees to the union.
But unions collected over
300,000 signatures to refer the
right-to-work law to Missouri
voters, which means the law is
suspended until it goes on the
ballot in November 2018.
Most of the convention was
taken up with discussion and
passage of resolutions. Forty-
two resolutions were adopted,
including:
“This wasn’t a a convention about celebrities,” says Oregon AFL-CIO President Tom Chamberlain, above, who at-
tended as a delegate. “This was a convention about workers, about struggles, and about what our priorities are.” On
Day 3 of the convention, Chamberlain took part in a panel to showcase the Oregon AFL-CIO’s efforts to help affiliates
organize internally in order to get ready for an anti-union Supreme Court decision in a case called Janus v AFSCME.
■ Health Care For All Support legislation
to guarantee health care as a human right
through an improved Medicare for All.
■ Climate Change Support
comprehensive energy and climate
legislation to create good jobs and address
the threat of climate change; urge the
United States to remain in the Paris
Agreement; and support robust funding of
research to bring new energy technologies
to market, including renewables, carbon
capture and advanced nuclear
technologies.
■ Prioritize Rehabilitation Support
criminal justice reform, including efforts to
reduce mandatory minimum sentencing
laws, support “ban the box” laws and
restore rights of the formerly incarcerated.
■ War Is Not the Answer Promote a
foreign policy based on international
solidarity, bring the war dollars home and
prioritize rebuilding this country’s
crumbling infrastructure
■ Immigration and Citizenship
Encourage union-led programs to help
immigrant members become citizens
■ Postal Financial Services Support
efforts to compel the Postal Service to
provide basic financial services such as
paycheck cashing and electronic funds
transfer, as a step toward establishing
nonprofit, public postal banking.
All the resolutions that made
it to the convention floor passed
on a voice vote. The only one to
spark controversy was the reso-
lution on climate change. It was
a compromise forged from reso-
lutions brought forward by
Postal Workers, National Nurses
United and CWA, and modified
in committee for the sake of con-
sensus. But Mark McManus,
general president of United As-
sociation of Plumbers and Pip-
efitter, faulted the process and
complained that the sponsoring
unions didn’t have jobs at stake.
“Unicorns and Easter bunnies
are more real than the U.S. being
powered by renewables alone,”
McManus said.
But others, including dele-
gates from other building trades
unions, rose to speak for the res-
olution, and it passed without
opposing votes.
ONLINE EXTRA
You can see the full text of all resolu-
tions, and watch floor proceedings
from any part of the four-day conven-
tion at www.aflcio2017.org
Union presidents join
Trump task force on
apprenticeship
Jill Alcantar
360.787.6975
12/31/17
2017
Three labor union officials have
agreed to serve on President
Trump’s Task Force on Appren-
ticeship Expansion, the U.S. De-
partment of Labor announced
Oct. 16. Joseph Sellers, presi-
dent of the International Associ-
ation of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail
and Transportation Workers
(SMART); Douglas J. McCar-
ron, president of United Broth-
erhood of Carpenters and Join-
ers of America; and Sean
McGarvey, president of North
America’s Building Trades
Unions (NABTU) will serve
alongside 17 other appointees,
including the heads of the U.S.
Chamber of Commerce, Na-
tional Restaurant Association,
and the president of the Associ-
ated Builders and Contractors,
an anti-union organization of
open shop contractors.
The mission of the task force
is to identify strategies and pro-
posals to promote apprentice-
ships, especially in sectors
where apprenticeship programs
are insufficient.