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Building the union and expanding its ability to advocate for healthcare and public employees was the focus of the 2007 joint conference of AFT's healthcare and public employee divisions, held in Las Vegas on June 14-17. A record crowd of 460 members attended the three-day conference, which explored the theme "Work That Matters."
AFT president Edward J. McElroy kicked off the conference by outlining the areas that the union must focus on to strengthen the institutions in which AFT members work: organizing, political action and communication. President McElroy connected the political and legislative attacks on workers' rights, job security, healthcare benefits and retirement security, to the overall decline nationwide in unionized workers. "We can't continue to be a dwindling part of the population and be effective," McElroy said. "And you can't only be concerned about your own organizing. You have to be concerned about others being members of unions, as well as about people being able to stand up for what they believe in."
While expanding the ranks of unionized workers is essential for the well-being of the middle and working classes, so is electing candidates to public office who "support the values, principles and ideals that we have as trade union members," McElroy said. One of those principles-universal healthcare-played a prominent role at the conference. Conference participants and their guests were treated to a screening of Michael Moore's new film, "Sicko." In addition, doctors Ole Thienhaus, of the University of Nevada School of Medicine, and Quentin Young, of Physicians for a National Health Program, spoke to participants about the need for healthcare reform.
"No system that allows corporate competition for insurance dollars will work, because the incentives of insurers are at odds with the concept of a social good such as the right to access to healthcare," said Thienhaus.
Young called on labor activists to get involved in the effort to reform healthcare. "Labor's priority must be to establish universal healthcare with a single-payer system," said Young. "Simply expanding the existing private policy system is not a solution."
"This is the time to make change," said Candice Owley, chair of the AFT Healthcare program and policy council and an AFT vice president. "We need to change because our healthcare system is so broken. We have to do everything in our power to get universal healthcare. We, the labor movement, have to be the passion and the power that pushes this issue over the tipping point and I believe we can do it. And we are going to begin some our efforts at this conference."
The conference also included featured speakers Danny Thompson, the executive secretary-treasurer of the Nevada AFL-CIO, and Dylan Reneau, president of the Public Service Union in Belize. In addition to a host of workshops ranging from legal issues for nurses to stress management, there was a Work and Health Fair that focused on health problems associated with work. [Adrienne Coles, Kathy Walsh]
July 3, 2007
