As this issue’s cover story indicates, that activism can take many forms. It might mean getting involved in the local union’s political activities, working to organize potential AFT members in other districts or even across the country, becoming more active in union-sponsored professional issues training or even donating money to help fellow members in need after a disaster such as Hurricane Katrina. “You and your colleagues who do this work each and every day, you are the power of this union,” McElroy told the delegates. “You fight the fight, you win the victories. We all need to go out and enlist more members into your kind of activism because so much depends on the members of their union saying, ‘Count me in!’ ”

McElroy—who was re-elected to another two-year term, along with secretary-treasurer Nat LaCour and executive vice president Antonia Cortese—also detailed many of the threats AFT members in each of the five divisions face. He drew particular attention to the problems that have arisen with No Child Left Behind. “From the beginning, the AFT has worked to improve this law,” he said. “We have been able to get through a number of significant changes made to NCLB, but it is not anywhere near enough. We have given this law a four-year test—and NCLB is not making the grade.”

50 years of service
Among the speakers who picked up on the “Count Me In!” theme was home state hero Sen. Edward Kennedy, who was presented with a lifetime AFT membership card for almost 50 years of progressive public service fighting for excellent schools, decent healthcare and a minimum wage that lifts hard-working Americans out of poverty. “It’s an honor to be here with you as you embark upon a new chapter to organize, mobilize, make your voice heard and make a difference in the nation,” Kennedy said. “It’s essential that you make your voices heard.” In presenting Kennedy with his membership card, McElroy told him, “It’s an honor to count you as one of us.”

The convention also featured three politicians seeking national or state office this fall. Another Massachusetts candidate, Deval Patrick, is running for governor, while Diane Farrell in Connecticut and Angie Paccione in Colorado are seeking seats in the U.S. House of Representatives. Paccione is an AFT member and former high school teacher who described that job as “the most personally rewarding thing I have ever done.” Farrell, who called the “Count Me In!” theme “so appropriate” in an election year, said, “this election is about taking back the country” for working families.

Among the official business at this year’s convention was the passage of a per capita increase and the approval of resolutions on a broad range of issues. After a spirited debate, delegates voted to raise the per capita to $13.95 per member per month effective in September and to $14.70 in September 2007. In addition, more money from those dues will go to the AFT Solidarity Fund, which state federations can tap into for increasingly expensive political battles, such as state ballot initiatives.

The AFT also will continue to devote substantial resources to ensure the ongoing success of the union’s organizing efforts. LaCour urged AFT leaders and activists to use every activity of a local—from preparing for contract negotiations to working during political races—as an opportunity to get members involved. “We seek an ‘organizing way’ to do everything,” he said, so that members begin to talk about the union as “we” and “us” and not “it” and “them.”

Everyday heroes
A special exhibit at the convention featured many of the AFT members who have been making a difference over the years. The Everyday Heroes exhibit included more than 200 photos highlighting the essential professional contributions made by AFT members across the different constituencies, among them many PSRPs.

This year’s convention featured a number of resolutions that address priority issues that affect school support workers and the broader AFT membership. AFT vice president David Gray spoke in favor of a resolution on “AFT Communities” submitted by the union he leads, the Oklahoma City Federation of Classified Employees. AFT affiliates have a record of building coalitions with groups in their community on such issues as fighting privatization, budget cuts and efforts to increase the number of part-time workers without benefits, Gray said. The resolution “calls for us to expand that work” in coalition building and also “maximize cooperation” among all the AFT divisions, he added. No Child Left Behind, retirement security, English language learners and immigrant workers were among the other resolution topics.

Maria Portalatin, the long-time leader of the United Federation of Teachers paraprofessional chapter in New York City and an AFT vice president for more than 25 years before she retired earlier this year, was honored with the 2006 Women’s Rights Award during the convention. “The AFT is enormously proud of her involvement in education and trade unionism,” said president McElroy, who presented the award. “The union has provided me with respect, dignity and a decent standard of living,” Portalatin said. “I encourage women, now more than ever, to work toward a common goal in order to defeat those who seek to destroy us…. We must say that we are ready and to count me in.”

AFT PSRP leader Lorretta Johnson, who is also an AFT vice president, gave her traditional “state of the division” report during the convention’s well-
attended PSRP divisional meeting. She reported on the division’s continued organizing success and growth as well as discussing a number of initiatives the PSRP division has undertaken in the past two years on everything from politics to paraprofessional standards to health and safety. The divisional meeting also featured a presentation on a student photojournalism-advocacy program called Critical Exposure, which is designed to highlight the alarming state of disrepair of many urban school systems. Unique Robinson, a college student and graduate of the Baltimore City public schools, said the project allowed her and her classmates to “transfer their complaints into action and solutions.”

More coverage of the AFT’s 2006 convention is available online at www.aft.org/convention.