AFT Convention Delegates To Elect New Leadership
Convention Also Will Focus on Politics

WASHINGTON, D.C.–New leadership will be the highlight of the American Federation of Teachers convention in Chicago this month, with delegates voting for new officers to lead the union through the challenges that lie ahead. Delegates also will vote on a recommendation to endorse Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.).

More than 3,000 delegates will elect new union leadership at the convention, which will be held July 11-14 at Navy Pier. Randi Weingarten—president of New York City’s United Federation of Teachers, America’s largest union local—is, to date, the only announced candidate for the union’s presidency. Election results will be announced on Monday morning, July 14, with a speech by the new president. Weingarten’s slate includes Antonia Cortese for secretary-treasurer (currently AFT executive vice president) and Lorretta Johnson for executive vice president (currently president of AFT-Maryland, president of the Baltimore Teachers Union’s paraprofessional chapter and an AFT vice president).

Weingarten, a reform-minded advocate who represents the next generation of labor leader, is known for her commitment to improving schools, hospitals and public institutions for children, families and communities.

The delegates also will vote on a resolution, recommended by the AFT executive council on June 23, to endorse Obama, which would give him the AFT’s full support for the general election. Obama will address the convention via satellite video on July 13. Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) will address convention delegates on July 12.

Convention delegates will hear from retiring AFT President Edward J. McElroy; debate and vote on policy resolutions, including one on peer assistance and review programs that help struggling teachers improve their skills; and rally at a Chicago-area hospital on behalf of hospital employees and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, who have faced years of anti-union resistance.

Prior to the AFT convention, on July 10 there will be a health fair for the Englewood community on Chicago’s South Side. To avert a potential crisis of students returning to school without required health screenings, the fair—sponsored by the Chicago Teachers Union, the Illinois Federation of Teachers and the AFT—will provide free school physicals and immunizations, free vision and hearing screenings, as well as free adult screenings for blood pressure, diabetes and cholesterol.

Reporters covering the convention should stop first for press credentials and information at the AFT Press Office, located in Navy Pier, Festival Hall A.

Highlights of the AFT convention:

Thursday, July 10
“Fresh Start Festival” health and fun fair
10 a.m.-1 p.m.  Bass Elementary School
1140 W. 66th St., Chicago

Friday, July 11
2:30 p.m. Opening Session
Special Olympics tribute with athlete (AFT is a national sponsor.)
Keynote speech by AFT President Edward J. McElroy

Saturday, July 12
9:30 a.m. Business session
Address by Sen. Hillary Clinton

12:30 p.m. Human Rights Award luncheon
Speaker: Min Zin, a Burmese journalist and democracy activist, will receive the AFT President’s International Freedom and Democracy Award.

2:30 p.m. Celebration of AFT organizing victories

4:30 p.m. Rally at Resurrection Health Care’s Saint Joseph Hospital, supporting hospital workers and AFSCME, who have faced fierce resistance to their five-year effort to unionize

Sunday, July 13
10 a.m.  Business session
Satellite video address by Sen. Barack Obama

2:30 p.m. Business session
Remarks by retiring AFT President Edward J. McElroy and Secretary-Treasurer Nat LaCour

4:30 p.m. Voting begins for new AFT leadership

Monday, July 14
8 a.m.  Women’s Rights Award Breakfast
Speaker: Lilly Ledbetter, who took her wage discrimination lawsuit against Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, will be honored.
 
9:30 a.m. Election results
    Acceptance speech by the new AFT president
    Press availability with new AFT leaders to follow session

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