Good afternoon.  Welcome to the 79th convention of the American Federation of Teachers.  Let me ask you, isn’t it great to be in Boston—such a historic and beautiful city?  Clearly Boston is a sophisticated town.  It’s one of the rare places where people don’t think I speak with an accent. 

It is always good to be at an AFT convention.  We discuss many of the most important issues of the day.  We set the course for the union.  We see old friends and colleagues, and we meet new ones.    

Of course, we cannot help but think of our dear friend and colleague, Sandy Feldman, at this first convention since her passing.  As you know, Sandy died of cancer last September.  Sandy was a woman with a mission, and she advanced that mission through her work in public schools and trade unionism.  Sandy did the right thing, even when it wasn’t the easy thing.  And she persuaded others to do the right thing, as well, from U.S. presidents, to superintendents, to many of us right here in this room. We usually didn’t need much persuading.)  I know that the work we do here will be a tribute to Sandy— and the good times we have will be a fitting tribute to her, as well. 

These have been challenging times in the two years since our last convention.  You just heard from Nat LaCour about the devastation caused by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.  I am proud of the generosity you and so many of your fellow members have demonstrated, and I know that AFT members will continue to reach out.  It has always been a part of the AFT’s values and culture to stand with our brothers and sisters when they are in need. 

DEFINING THE AFT

Today, I want to talk about who we are and what the AFT stands for; as well as who people think we are; and then what we can and will be.  The AFT was founded almost a century ago to give voice to workers who cared about the well-being of their students, their schools, their families and their communities—yet who didn’t have a voice in these matters.  We started as teachers, and we are now also health professionals, public employees, paraprofessionals and other school employees, and higher education faculty and staff.  Our members and our leaders have used the voice for which our very first leaders fought so hard -- to strengthen public education, to press for access to high-quality healthcare, to fight for civil and human rights, to secure respectable salaries and benefits, and to promote democratic institutions—including trade unions—here and around the world. 

The AFT’s values are not bound by borders or geography—and we have always been involved in the wider world.   Today is no different.  We are rightly concerned about events from Darfur to China to North Korea and, most immediately, about the deteriorating security situation in Israel and the Middle East.  Nothing is more important to the citizens of democratic nations than peace and security. 

We strongly condemn the bombings, killings and kidnappings by Hezbollah and Hamas and back the implementation of the United Nations resolution that calls for the withdrawal of all Hezbollah forces from Southern Lebanon.  We support the right of the legitimate Lebanese government to establish control of its own borders.  The international community must take swift and decisive action in resolving this conflict and preventing its escalation and expansion.  America and our allies must stand with our friends and oppose terrorism wherever it occurs. 

Who are we, and what does the AFT stand for?  Just look at the excellent and moving display that is set up on the exhibit level.  Called “AFT’s Everyday Heroes,” this exhibit highlights the contributions AFT members make to virtually every segment of our society.  The exhibit also captures the legacy of union members who helped make the AFT what it is today.  In the early 1960s, for example, a group of about 50 AFT members, despite great risks, went to the segregated American South to teach in what became known as Freedom Schools.  These schools were set up to teach African-American children who were being denied an education by authorities who refused to integrate the public schools. 

I am pleased that two of those Freedom School volunteers are here today—AFT members Ponsie Hillman and Janice Goldsmith-Bastuni.  Please stand.  Members such as these distinguished women make clear that, as the exhibit states: “Acts of conscience built this union and continue to define it.”  I hope you will all take the opportunity to visit this exhibit.    

The AFT is a union of professionals.  AFT members hold the highest standards for ourselves and for the institutions in which we work.  We are guided by a commitment to building a society where all people have dignified work and a secure retirement; where we have freedom of association, conscience and expression; the right to an excellent, free public education; access to quality healthcare irrespective of income; and a government that promotes opportunity and democratic principles.  In order to achieve these goals, we believe it is imperative to participate actively in the political process at all levels and to promote human rights throughout the world. 

This is who we are.  It contrasts sharply with the self-interested group some people think we are or that they portray us to be.  I know you all have seen bogus “research,” news stories, books and television shows that take potshots at public schools, public services and the unions to which people who work in these institutions belong. 

And it’s not just coming from our traditional right-wing critics.  We’ve seen one-time allies voting for vouchers, despite the overwhelming evidence of their ineffectiveness as a tool to improve public education.  Tuition tax credits have passed in a number of places with the support of Democrats.  Some Democrats have even promoted privatization of education and other public services, despite the evidence that privatization often ends up being a get-less-for-more scheme.    

There’s a lot of misinformation out there about unions.  But just because a lie is repeated over and over doesn’t make it true.  We cannot—and we will not—stand aside while public schools and services, teachers unions and our members are slandered. 

I especially want to talk about what—with your help—the AFT can and will be.  The AFT is a strong union—from the strength of our convictions to our continued growth.  But we are never satisfied with standing still, and that makes us even stronger.  In order to advance our priorities, we must organize new members and further mobilize our current membership. 

ORGANIZING

The AFT is near the top of American unions in terms of growth, but we must do even better.  Growing our union takes hard work, and there are enemies of unions who spend their waking hours erecting barriers to organizing that are becoming more and more difficult to scale.  And, you know as well as I do that, once someone has joined the union, he or she is not necessarily “organized.”  We must recruit new members, and we must focus just as seriously on involving current members.  Our strength is in our members, and our union will only be strong if our members are actively engaged. 

DUES INCREASE

You are going to be asked to approve a dues increase at this convention.  I am asking you to approve this increase, and I’ll tell you why.  It comes down to challenges and opportunities—challenges we must overcome and opportunities we must seize. 

As I just mentioned, the AFT is growing, but not enough.  A side effect of last year’s devastating hurricanes is that the AFT’s membership in the Gulf Coast has plummeted.  And, despite our best efforts to keep our Puerto Rico affiliate in the fold, ultimately we had to withdraw the charter from our local there.  Since our last convention, the AFT has organized almost 68,000 new members, but with our losses in Puerto Rico and the Gulf Coast, we have added only 35,000 to our total membership.  We must do more, and these funds will help us to do so. 

We need additional resources to properly pursue a number of important organizing opportunities.  At the same time, we must continue to provide the excellent services our members need us to provide. We need resources to have an even more powerful presence in the political arena, because expanding our political influence is one of the best ways we can represent our members.  This new revenue will allow the AFT to grow even stronger.  And a strong union is best equipped to most effectively assist its affiliates and its members. 

COUNT ME IN

The theme of this year’s convention is “Count Me In.”  That applies to everything from volunteering for union political efforts, to helping our brothers and sisters affected by last year’s hurricanes, to taking part in union organizing.  There are large and small ways to get involved, but the important thing is that, in some way, every member of this union says, “Count Me In.” 

The AFT was built upon the volunteer efforts of our members.  I know many of you are doing your part.  Through your work with your union, you’re saying, “Count me in!”  And you should be recognized for this. 

• If you are the president of your local or state federation, stand up—and stay standing. 
• If you are a member of your local’s or state federation’s executive board, stand up.
• If you are a work-site representative, building rep, union steward or chapter chairperson, stand up. 
• If you serve on a committee of your local union, stand up. 
• If you are an ER&D leader or local site coordinator, stand up. 
• If you have volunteered for your local—made calls on a phone bank, walked precincts in a political campaign, distributed union fliers in your workplace, done home visits, or signed up a new member, stand up. 
• If you are the chair of a retiree chapter or a member of a retiree executive board, stand up. 
• If you have written an article for your local newsletter, stand up. 
• If you have contributed to COPE, sent a letter or e-mail or met with a politician on behalf of your local or state federation or national union, stand up. 
• You are attending an AFT convention, so stand up. 

I salute you.  I thank you.  You, and your colleagues who do this work each and every day—you are the power of this union, you fight the fights, you win the victories.  We all need to go out and enlist more members into your kind of activism because so much depends upon the members of this union saying “Count me in!” 

POLITICAL CLIMATE

It’s a good thing we have all these activists, because, at this moment in our history, we have a golden opportunity to create a sweeping change in this country—to sweep out of office those who would undermine the role of government to promote the common good, those who would destroy public education and the union movement, and those who would take away retirement and healthcare benefits—starting with this November’s congressional and gubernatorial elections and ending in two years when we put a friend of all we stand for in the White House.  It’s not going to be easy, and it’s not going to happen at all unless I can hear each and every one of you say, “Count Me In!”

Every constituency of the AFT and those we serve have suffered in recent years from wrong-headed, shortsighted, or harmful policies. 

Take healthcare, for example.  The National Labor Relations Board under the current White House is trying to take from charge nurses in the private sector their right to be union members.  And as if nurses’ excessive overtime problem couldn’t get worse, the current administration wants to deny them overtime pay for extra work—a right guaranteed by the Fair Labor Standards Act.  This gives hospitals and other healthcare providers little incentive to end mandatory overtime and to institute safe staffing levels in order to improve the quality of patient care.  I wonder if they think that will help solve the nurse shortage.  Each and every once of us has to take a stand to stop the destruction of our healthcare system.  Each of us has to say “Count me in.”

Look at higher education.  This administration’s budgets have made it harder for low- and middle-income students to attend college by making low-cost loans for higher education more expensive.  Increasingly, jobs for full-time, tenured professors are being replaced with part-time or temporary positions with inferior pay and benefits—and, usually, with little or no job security or career ladder.  Thanks to the current anti-labor NLRB, graduate research and teaching assistants at private universities have been denied the right to organize.  And free expression in colleges and universities is under attack.  In a growing number of places, proponents of the so-called Academic Bill of Rights movement are trying to impose a right-wing agenda on institutions that should be bastions of freedom of thought and expression.  “Academic Bill of Rights”—it’s a sham.  But putting a pretty face on bad ideas is something the right wing does remarkably well.  Here again, we must fight for the rights of our brothers and sisters in higher education.  We must all say “Count me in.” 

Public employees have cause for alarm, as well.  The administration’s economic policies have shifted financial responsibilities to states, leaving many states without adequate resources to properly fund essential functions.  Advocates of reducing government have introduced so-called Taxpayer Bill of Rights initiatives in several states, threatening potentially devastating decreases in public services.  Proponents of privatization continue to push contracting out public services.  And the governors of Indiana, Kentucky and Missouri have stripped state employees’ right to union representation.  We must stand with our AFT Public Employees members and say “Count me in.” 

Let’s look at preK-12 education.  Specifically, let’s focus for a minute on the facilities in which our members work and our students learn.  Too many of our schools are overcrowded, out-of-date, unsafe and simply unacceptable.  People always say that education is our nation’s most important priority, yet too many children attend schools that no adult would tolerate if given a choice.  The AFT has long called attention to these problems, and, as children and staff head back to school this fall, we will make a special push to demand that policymakers take action on these critical needs. 

All of us who care about high-quality public education should be concerned about a scheme currently making the rounds called the “65 percent solution.”  The goal of this scheme is to have states mandate that 65 percent of all school district dollars be spent “in the classroom,” as dictated by a misleading definition of what constitutes classroom instruction.  The cleverly named 65 Percent Solution would force cuts in vital school support staff whose services students and teachers rely on, such as librarians, guidance counselors, and school nurses.  This is another bad idea with a shine put on it. 

Many of these services are provided by paraprofessionals and other essential school employees.  In a number of places, school support staff also are having to deal with attempts to privatize their work, a lack of professional development and skills training, and unsafe and unhealthy working conditions (which are learning conditions for students).

EDUCATION/NCLB

Then there’s the No Child Left Behind Act.   (This may be the ultimate in deceptive sloganeering.)  No Child Left Behind has proven to be—at best—a tremendous missed opportunity and—at worst—a cynical attempt to undermine public education. 

Toni Cortese and I have traveled to AFT locals across the country for town hall meetings with AFT members to discuss NCLB.  Members have echoed many of the same major problems and concerns at these meetings.  Too much testing (leading to a loss of instructional time).  Testing that is not aligned to the curriculum.  No credit for improvements—only for meeting arbitrary goals.  Narrowing of the curriculum (a teacher from right here in Boston spoke of “sneaking in” social studies).  Low morale and high stress.  The feeling that No Child Left Behind is a set-up.  Heavy on accountability, but light on promised funding.  Many teachers said they feel sorry for the students they teach—because of the stress that has come with No Child Left Behind, the limited curriculum and the boredom from constant test preparation. 

Our members and leaders still stand for high standards and accountability, but the law in its current form falls short of these goals.  No Child Left Behind sets arbitrary benchmarks, yet the measuring formula that is the centerpiece of the law does not even measure progress toward those benchmarks.  NCLB is making a well-rounded education a thing of the past, because students and teachers are being forced to focus so much of their instructional time on math and reading—to the exclusion of other important subjects.

The AFT has a campaign in response to NCLB—called “Let’s Get It Right.”  The town hall meetings Toni and I participated in were a part of the “Let’s Get It Right” campaign.  We also have run print and radio advertising pointing out some of the most serious problems in the law and suggesting ideas for correcting them.  We have a lively, intelligent and interactive blog dedicated to issues related to NCLB.  And we have delivered to Capitol Hill a petition to fix NCLB’s flaws that has been signed by thousands of AFT members. 

From the beginning, the AFT has worked to improve this law.  We have been able to get a number of significant changes made to NCLB, but this is not anywhere near enough.  We have given this law a four-year test—and NCLB is not making the grade. 

We must make sure that—as classroom professionals—we make our voices heard.  Why is what we hear from our members so different from the version of events you hear from the president and supporters of this law on Capitol Hill?  It might come down to the experience level of the leaders and staffers in Congress who shape the laws and policies that affect our schools.  How much experience do you think most of them have in the classroom?  A big fat zero.  Most of them haven’t been in school since they were students, yet they’re drafting the laws. 

Public school teachers and staff want their students to succeed.  They want to do their job well.  The AFT and our affiliates have a history of advancing effective reforms that strengthen student achievement.  We cannot allow a law with so many flaws to derail the work that offers the best hope for reaching that goal.  The problem is that NCLB is the law of the land and it’s not going away.  The only solution is to change those responsible for making the laws and then get the laws changed.  And we’re going to do that—starting with this fall’s elections!  Our preK-12 teachers, paraprofessionals and school-related personnel—and all of us who care so deeply about the future of public education—need to say “Count me in.” 

Most of us have a powerful tool for change at our disposal—collective bargaining.  I am mindful that far too many of our members and the workers we seek to represent do not have the right to collective bargaining.  We will not rest until this fundamental right is available to all.  But make no mistake, for those of us who have achieved collective bargaining rights, these rights are under attack.  One of the best ways to protect collective bargaining is to use it boldly. 

Our ability to bargain collectively is the most effective means of advancing change in our workplaces—and of strengthening and growing the union.  We must drive a change agenda.  When a bad idea comes at you at the bargaining table, you know that you can’t fight something with nothing.  So whether it is reasonable class size provisions, or safe staffing ratios for healthcare workers, or manageable case loads for public employees, or increasing the number of full-time, tenured faculty—we’re the ones who bring a reform agenda to the bargaining table.  We can do this in our non-bargaining affiliates also.  Let’s not end up on the defensive, fighting bad ideas.  We’re the ones who advance good ideas.  That’s what unions do. 

BUSH ECONOMIC POLICIES

Working Americans need strong unions more than ever.  This administration’s economic policies have led to a widening gulf between the very rich and the very poor, and they have left many in the middle class teetering toward the latter.  This administration has lavished tax cuts on the wealthiest Americans.  The president cannot defend these tax cuts on the grounds of fairness, so he has tried to justify them as promoting a stronger, more prosperous economy.  But numerous indicators show that the president’s economic policies have failed to promote adequate business investment, job creation, wages, or overall growth in the economy.

Poor and middle-class Americans are increasingly unable to manage rising everyday costs and growing debt levels.  Inflation, higher gas prices, increases in out-of-pocket expenses for healthcare and medicine, and skyrocketing college costs are making it next to impossible for many hard-working Americans to reach—or to stay in—the middle class.

Despite these skewed economic policies, there is wealth being generated in this economy.  America is still the leader in technology and innovations. Yet the American workforce is not benefiting from its contributions to the country’s increased productivity.  Low- and middle-income workers’ wages have slumped, and even among college-educated workers the average wage has been stagnant.  The middle class has waned as the labor movement has declined, and as a result the benefits are going in only one direction—to those at the top. 

SOCIAL SECURITY AND PENSIONS

The Bush administration was thwarted in its plans to destabilize and privatize Social Security (the AFT had a significant hand in shooting that down). Now there is another threat to retirement security—the collapse of pension promises. 

Pensions are not gifts.  They are deferred compensation, workers’ share of their contribution to the wealth and well-being of their employer.  Employees earn and depend upon their pensions.   But lax government oversight and chronic mismanagement of private pension plans have resulted in the default on promises made to millions of current and future retirees. 

This administration’s economic legacy is one of staggering debt, increased inequality and astounding hubris.  Their reckless economic policies have not raised all boats; they have bought bigger boats for the wealthiest Americans at the very top of the economic ladder. 

It is no coincidence that these trends correspond to the weakening of unions, especially in the private sector.  Unions get in the way of institutionalized unfairness.  Strong unions are absolutely vital to act as a check on the decisions that affect the lives of millions of Americans who otherwise would be without a voice.   

MEMBER ACTIVISM

When I think about the arrogance and abuses perpetrated by many elected officials and their friends in high places, I am reminded of several bumper stickers.  My home base right now is in Washington, D.C., and if you’ve ever spent much time in Washington, you know that it is a terrific place, but it has terrible traffic.  (So you have plenty of opportunities to check out bumper stickers on the other cars stuck in traffic with you.) 

A bumper sticker that I have seen around town reads: “If you are not outraged, you are not paying attention.”  You name it—there is plenty for working Americans to be outraged about.  Corporations stealing their employees’ hard-earned retirement compensation.  Assaults on collective bargaining.  Infringements on civil liberties.  We should be outraged, but we should turn our anger into action. 

Let me be clear: Unions are not intended for just the disgruntled.  You can be an activist without having an ax to grind.  But there are times to act.  And there are times when a union must act.  This is one of those times.

Unions are built by activists and volunteers.  Al Shanker, Sandy Feldman and Bob Porter started as volunteers, as did many former AFT officers.  Nat LaCour, Toni Cortese and I started as volunteers.  Members get inspired by the common values we believe in, a moral center, a cause.  Frankly, we have lost some of that activism as we have relied less on members and volunteers and become bigger, more structured and dependent upon union staff.  We have to make sure that members don’t look at union membership more as a service than as a way to be part of a cause. 

After I was elected president of the AFT, I asked our staff to set up a way for AFT members and leaders to interact with members of Congress in their own congressional districts.  We call the program ACE—Activists for Congressional Education.  (We finally learned something from the right-wing wordsmiths.)  Through the ACE program, AFT activists build relationships with their representatives in the United States House and Senate, in their home districts—before they need support on key votes.  AFT members and leaders talk with these lawmakers and key staff about priority issues for the AFT, such as constructive changes to NCLB, increasing the minimum wage, protecting retirement and healthcare security, and passing the Employee Free Choice Act to protect workers’ right to organize and join a union.  Our goal is to set up ACE committees in every U.S House district in which at least 300 AFT members reside. We are well on our way to reaching that goal.  More than 110 meetings have been completed.  And 35 percent of the meetings have been with Republicans. 

We have also started something called the AFT e-Activists program as an additional way to connect our members with their legislators.    In the past year, AFT e-Activists have sent more than 50,000 letters to Capitol Hill in support of AFT’s position on key bills before Congress. 

And you are making your voices heard.  Here’s a current example:  Thousands of AFT e-Activists recently sent letters and made phone calls demanding that Congress immediately renew the Voting Rights Act.  I am pleased to tell you that today the United States Senate passed this landmark bill.  This was one of the most successful e-Activist  campaigns the AFT has run.  But the Voting Rights bill is not law yet—stop by the AFT Political Action Center to tell President Bush to sign the bill now. 

We are going to continue to develop this grass-roots political mobilization.  There is no other way to achieve what our union needs to do. 

MIDETERM AND 2008 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS

Americans cast about as many votes for any of the candidates in the last presidential election as they have cast for contestants on American Idol.  No one could blame them for engaging in some escapism from the political realities these past six years.  But, as I noted earlier, we have a golden opportunity to turn things around in the fall elections. 

We have a good shot this fall of electing to the U.S House and Senate significant numbers of people who share our goals and priorities. In addition, 36 states will elect governors this November, and shifts in state capitals could bring about dramatic changes for our members.  The key to organizing in many states rests with governors and state legislatures.  Decisions affecting our members’ workplaces and well-being are made in state houses and with the stroke of a governor’s pen.  Our allies could capture the majority of governorships this fall—and seize an early advantage in the 2008 presidential contest—and we must be a part of that. 

I saw another bumper sticker recently.  It simply asked: “Is It 2008 Yet?”  Of course it’s not, but it is time to prepare for the 2008 elections.  One way to prepare is to fill out the “Count me in” sign-up cards that have been placed on every seat.  The cards detail opportunities for you to get involved in political action, building the AFT and strengthening your local union.  I hope each of you will help in at least one area. 

Now is the time for every AFT member to say: “Count me in!”    When you leave Boston, I am counting on you to get involved and stay involved.  I am counting on you to get your fellow members involved in the union.  I am counting on you to make this union, and this country, better and stronger. 

COUNT ME IN (CALL AND RESPONSE)

Will you help us elect public officials who care about excellent public schools, high- quality public services, accessible healthcare, and world-class institutions of higher education?  Can we count you in?

Will you pledge to spend at least three hours of your time to participate in union political efforts for the November elections?  Can we count you in?

Will you call on lawmakers to change laws that hurt students and public schools?   Can we count you in?

Will you help us grow this union, so that we can expand the benefits of solidarity and enhance our ability to serve our membership?  Can we count you in?

Will you stand with our brothers and sisters whose hard-earned pensions have been stolen from them outright?  Can we count you in?

Are you going to join us in our crusade to bring relief and show solidarity to our brothers and sisters who suffered great losses from Hurricanes Rita and Katrina?  Can we count you in? 

Do you believe that one person, working with others in his or her union, can make sweeping changes?  Can we count you in?

Brothers and sisters, the AFT is committed to improving the lives of all of our members—and that is going to happen.  That is going to happen because I know that we can “Count you in.”