dAily proceediNgs oF The AFT NATioNAl coNveNTioN Monday chicAgo, illiNois | july 14, 2008 Weingarten: The union is the solution New AFT president vows to fight for national reform agenda In her first address as the newly elected AFT president, Randi Weingarten on Monday, July 14, promised to fight for a national reform agenda that protects and improves the institutions where AFT members work while bettering the lives and prospects of those they serve, particularly children and those in need. Weingarten picked up on the common theme in this election year, change: "The society that we serve, the institutions where we work and the workforce that we represent all are changing at speeds we never envisioned," she said. "Yet the AFT has always been about making change work." The new AFT president introduced her parents and told delegates about her roots: Raised in Rockland County, N.Y., she is the daughter of a teacher and trade unionistturnedelectrical engineer. Her views on teaching and trade unionism were sharpened while she witnessed her mother's union go through a sevenweek strike. From that, she said, she understood that "while teaching will never get you a penthouse, it shouldn't put you in the poorhouse." She also learned that teachers have to stand up and fight for their profession. The 10year president of the United Federation of Teachers delivered fighting words to those who would demonize public servants as "Public Enemy Number One": "We have often been called a `special interest.' I will never apologize for that because our `special interests' are the students we teach, the patients we care for and all the people we serve." Weingarten outlined the reform agenda she together will push with newly Newly elected AFT president Randi Weingarten, center, elected officers execuflanked by Lorretta Johnson, tive vice president left, and Antonia Cortese at Lorretta Johnson and Monday's convention. secretarytreasurer Antonia Cortese. At the same time, Weingarten made it clear that every local leader and member has a crucial role to play in strengthening the organization. "This union isn't an ATMwhere you deposit your dues and get your gains. Nor is it an insurance company that we pay in good times and don't think about until we need it in bad times." Delegates frequently erupted in applause as Weingarten spoke, but the AFT president elicited the strongest chorus of support when she spoke about the union's most urgent priority"overhauling the federal education law that, for many AFT members, has become a fourletter word." NCLB has made education's focus testing, not teaching, and it has slammed the door "on much of what makes up modern civilization Continued on page 3 Resolutions address concerns of support personnel Delegates to the 2008 AFT national convention approved several resolutions on Saturday, July 13, of particular interest to paraprofessionals and schoolrelated personnel. The resolution on fundamental support services in education calls on government at all levels to collect adequate data reflecting the true work of service staff, using benchmarks ensuring that the data will reflect employees' changing roles in coming years. It also directs the AFT to educate members on best practices in school support, and to work with affiliates and other organizations to raise public awareness about the nature of support staff work in schools and colleges. "For too long, the importance and essential work of our support staff has been invisible to administrators and legislators," said Jackie Ervolina, president of the school secretaries chapter of the United Federation of Teachers. "As a result, our members feel underappreciated and undercompensated." Their work often is outsourced, she added. "It's time that stopped." Along similar lines, delegates passed a resolution directing the AFT to join other groups in strategizing and training advocates to fight for a living wage, and calling on the AFT to support legislation that responds to the need for a living wage and access to affordable healthcare. Sarah Carner, who works in an inschool suspension classroom at a high school in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., stood in support of the resolution "with a full heart and an empty paycheck." To rousing applause from the delegates, she called it deplorable that school workers have to choose between putting milk on the table and gas in the car. The resolution passed overwhelmingly. Deteriorating school facilities spurred delegates to pass a resolution calling on the union to urge state federations to advocate for statewide "green" school legislation that provides a premium of 1 percent to 2 percent for school districts to design, build, renovate and operate schools in line with green standards such as LEED (Leadership in Environmental and Energy Design) certification or Collaborative for HighPerforming Schools (CHPS) standards. The delegates also voiced approval for federal legislation that will accelerate school construction and renovation to meet LEED or CHPS standards, and directed the union to work with locals on creating sustainability programs, providing environmental education and working with other labor unions to advocate for the unionized trades to build green. "Of course, we all want to be green, right? But we can't do it alone," said Joan Greenbaum of the Professional Staff Congress at the City University of New York, noting that environmental advocates have had to fight the Bush administration every step of the way. "This resolution puts AFT on track for getting it all done together." Art Foeste of Wisconsin warns of the attacks on public services by both corporations and elected officials. The value of public services AFT Public Employees welcomed the adoption of several resolutions on Saturday, July 12, that address important issues for the local, state and federal employee division. A resolution on "Government and the Common Good" is an important reminder in this time of tight budgets at all levels of government that quality public services are the measure of a democratic society; and to have quality, the services must be adequately funded. "There are corporations and politicians that believe smaller government is better government," said Art Foeste of the Wisconsin Professional Employees Council in supporting the resolution. This has resulted in downsizing, outsourcing and taxlimitations policies, he added. To counter that pressure, the AFT and its affiliates must work to inform and educate members "on the direct link between government downsizing, taxlimitation measures and the devastating impact these measures can have on the services to the public," says the resolution. Another resolution targets outsourcing and the contracting out of design, inspection and construction work at departments of transportation. The resolution calls on the AFT to press for federal legislation requiring state transportation departments to conduct costbenefit studies before outsourcing engineering work on federally funded projects. The resolution also calls on the union to craft legislation for introduction in state legislatures "that would hold private contractors accountable for the cost and quality of their work." A third resolution raises issues of privacy concerns related to the release of Emergency 911 voice tapes to the media without consent of the caller or the caller's legal guardian or representative. The resolution calls on the union to work toward enactment of legislation that would prohibit this practice. 2 Monday Women's rights breakfast honors equal pay activist Lilly Ledbetter hasn't broken the glass ceiling, but she has managed to put some serious cracks in it. Ledbetter, the 2008 AFT Women's Rights Award recipient, shared the story of her quest for equal pay for equal work at the women's rights breakfast on Monday, July 14. Ledbetter began working at Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. in Gadsen, Ala., in 1979. "As they say in Alabama, I didn't just fall off of a turnip truck in front of the plant," said Ledbetter. "I was wellqualified. There was no reason I couldn't have been paid the same as my peers." When she learned that she was earning less than three of her male coworkers, "I was never so shocked," Ledbetter recalled. "The difference [in pay] was drastic. I was being paid 60 to 70 percent less than the men." Ledbetter filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in 1998 and then filed a lawsuit. Her case went to trial in 2003. The case was "not so much about the money" but about doing the right thing and not letting Goodyear get away with what it did, explained Ledbetter. The jury awarded Ledbetter $3.8 million, which was later reduced to $300,000. Ledbetter's case landed in the U.S. Supreme Court and was overturned by a 54 ruling. The court's majority said Ledbetter waited too long to initiate her lawsuit. It should never collect what I should in have been done within a retirement. That has a tremendous sixmonth period. impact on my life." "I had no way of knowing," During the breakfast, the AFT about the company's discriminawomen's rights committee tion, however, said Ledbetter. awarded 76 AFT members with the "Justice [Ruth Bader] Ginsburg Living Legacy Award for 30, 40 or hit the nail on the head when she 50 years of providing leadership said that the majority's rule just and showing an abiding interest in doesn't make sense in the real Ledbetter women's rights. Two members world." were presented with the diamond recognition Ledbetter, who is now 70, added, "What happened to me was not only an insult to my award for 50 years of labor service: Claudette Jean, Nashua (N.H.) Teachers Union and D. dignity, it has real and meaningful conseJo Schaffer, United University Professions at quences for my ability to care for my family. the State University of New York. My retirement depends on my salary. I will Weingarten calls for NCLB overhaul Continued from page 1 and replaces it with multiplechoice questions." "How will kids who have spent 12 years learning to keep their pencil marks inside the bubbles ever be able to think outside the box?" Delegates responded with a roar of applause. She provided an alternative viewa vision that encompasses a broader role for community schools, putting them at the heart of improving the lives of children and their families. These schools bring together a full range of services and activities from before and afterschool activities to medical clinics, from GED programs to providing legal assistance. But teachers cannot do all of this alone, she said, turning to the importance of electing a U.S. president who shares our vision and values. "Sen. Obama will make history not only because of who he is, but because of where he will lead America," she said. In closing, she challenged her colleagues to proudly present a new vision for America to those who say public service workers are part of this country's problems. "We need to put forth the simple but powerful truth that, far from being the problem, a progressive and innovative union like the AFT is part of the solution." Cortese and Johnson thank delegates CLoCkwatChers, unIte BeTTy silverrAppAporT has no problem telling people when it's time to sit down and shut up. in fact, she's been doing just that for the past 13 AFT conventions. As the convention's official timekeeper, silverrappaport is responsible for letting delegates speaking from the floor know how much time they have left to talk and when their time is up. she does that by keeping a close eye on her stopwatch and holding up a sign when a speaker has one minute left and another when time is up. silverrappaport assumed the role of timekeeper in 1984 after the death of her husband, Bernard silver, who had held the post for many years. ThenAFT secretarytreasurer robert porter asked her if she knew how to work the timepieces. "i told him i could work them in my sleep," she recalls. A retired member of the united Federation of Teachers, silverrappaport was an early childhood educator for more than 27 years at an elementary school in Queens, N.y., where she was the uFT chapter chair. silverrappaport on sunday, july 13, was recognized by AFT president edward j. Mcelroy and the convention for her many years of service as the official timekeeper. she received, appropriately enough, a Waterford clock. her job as timekeeper has been fulfilling, she said. "i feel like i'm really doing something for my union." Newly elected secretarytreasurer Antonia Cortese and executive vice president Lorretta Johnson both thanked AFT convention delegates for putting their faith in them to serve as part of the national union's new leadership team. "I am so proud to have been a member of the AFT, a vice president of the AFT and an officer of the AFT," said Cortese, who has served for the past four years as executive vice president. Johnson, a longtime AFT vice president who is president of AFTMaryland and of the Baltimore Teachers Union's paraprofessional chapter, promised to "work hard to push the policies and programs of the AFT." Monday 3 Resolution addresses academic staffing crisis the aFt is throwing its full support behind a campaign to preserve quality in higher education by expanding the proportion of fulltime tenure and tenuretrack positions while also improving compensation and working conditions of contingent faculty and staff. Those are the goals behind the Faculty and College Excellence campaign (FACE), launched by the union in 2007. AFT delegates adopted a resolution on Monday, July 14, to expand the campaign, which has already led to the introduction of legislation in 11 states and will soon debut in others. The resolution directs the union to help affiliates develop FACErelated legislation and collective bargaining language tailored to their states. "Less than 30 percent of faculty jobs are full time with job security," said AFT vice president Barbara Bowen, who is also president of the Professional Staff Congress. The percentage continues to fall, she said, in a "dysfunctional" trend, fed by "budget cuts that degrade the quality of the job and require incredible heroics from the people who work in underpaid positions." Convention delegates also adopted a resolution promoting academic freedom in higher educationa vital underpinning of the nation's colleges and universities that is under attack as evidenced by a number of disturbing trends, including corporatestyle management practices in higher education, the loss of fulltime tenured positions, and the financial and professional mistreatment of faculty members. "Academic freedom is a fundamental principle of excellence in higher education," and it will be a priority of the union to preserve it "and to extend it to cover all faculty and staff," the resolution pledges. There is no way the attack on academic freedom can be separated from the erosion of tenured positions in higher education, said Arthur Hochner, president of the Temple Association of University Professionals/AFT. With tenure comes the power to select materials, shape curriculum and discuss controversial subjects, said Hochner. Faculty diversity also was a major consideration at the Monday general session. AFT delegates adopted a resolution "reaffirming the union's strong support for the principle of affirmative action and its commitment to the need for diverse faculty in the country's colleges and universities." Recent disturbing initiatives, such as the misnamed American Civil Rights Initiative headed by Ward Connerly, have threatened diversity in higher education by bankrolling state referenda to overturn affirmative action in hiring and admissions. The AFT resolution pledges mobilization and cooperation with other groups to halt antidiversity legislation and referenda. FACE has already checked attacks in Missouri and Oklahoma, and the campaign is more important than ever now that attacks are spreading across states, said Derryn Moten, president of the Alabama State University FacultyStaff Alliance, who spoke in favor of the resolution. A major component of the campaign involves contract language tied to FACE, and "we can see results immediately through collective bargaining" by supporting the resolution, said Perry Buckley, president of the Cook County (Ill.) College Teachers union. Action on Resolutions resolution 19Faculty and college excellence campaign, adopted as recommended by committee. resolution 25promoting Academic Freedom in the 21st century college and university, adopted as recommended by committee. resolution 26promoting Faculty diversity in higher education, adopted as recommended by committee. resolution 28A Teachers' campaign Against racism and in defense of "jena 6," adopted as amended by committee. resolution 32education and environmental sustainability, adopted as amended by committee. resolution 35support immigrants, adopted as amended by committee. All remaining resolutions were referred to the AFT executive council. CreDentIaLs rePort #3 chAirBruce sMiTh NeW yorK sTATe uNiTed TeAchers reTiree couNcil locAl 9502r REGISTRATION AS OF 3:00 P.M. SuNdAy, JuLy 13, 2008 TOTAL dELEGATES...........................3,557 locals represented551 state federations27 councils1 executive council exofficio3 TOTAL ELECTION vOTES ..............801,249 (includes 49,351 sequestered votes) TOTAL ALTERNATES ..............................37 AFT vice president Barbara Bowen and Alabama delegate derryn Moten speak on higher education resolutions. The daily summary is prepared by the AFT communications department: kris kemmerer, director; trish Gorman, consulting editor; Laura Baker and Jane Feller, copy editors; adrienne Coles, roger Glass, Daniel Gursky, annette Licitra, Barbara Mckenna, Mike rose and kathy walsh, staff writers; Dave Berver and Barbara tobias, AFT online staff; Charles Glendinning, art director; Pam wolfe, graphic designer, sharon Francour and sharon wright, production coordinators; shawnitra hawkins, production assistant. photography by Lee Balgemann, Michael Campbell and russ Curtis. illustrations by william Coulter. 4 Monday
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