Local Voices at the Convention: Energy, Diversity, Next Generation
Thursday, September 12, 2013(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)
"The energy in the room was just wonderful," said Doris Reed (ASASP, at
right in photo), who took time off from her vacation to stop by the AFL-CIO
convention in Los Angeles on Tuesday. "People were really feeling it. We came
out of the room knowing that we're all in the same movement, we know where we
need to go and what we need to do, and I think people realize that if we don't
come together, the labor movement is not going to survive." Reed also pointed
out that "it's mainly the leadership that comes to these conventions and we need
to involve more of the rank and file back home to get people fired up and
enthusiastic, to give people something to look forward to and something to fight
for." AFSCME MD Council 67's Glen Middleton said the convention was "about
building for the future, and I'm so glad that President Trumka talked about the
next generation and how important it is for us to build this labor movement with
young workers." Mark Dudzic, National Coordinator for the Labor Campaign for
Single Payer -- and Co-Chair of the DC Labor Filmfest -- said that he's "really
excited at the promise this convention shows towards bringing in a broad
and diverse constituency to ensure that the AFL-CIO is a movement of all working
people, so I'm really very hopeful that we're going to come out of this with a
bigger and more organic movement." The IBEW's Jim Spellane agreed, saying that
"The movement is really opening itself up and building the way for future
strength. It's great that we're going to have more energy and more participants
to get that done."
- Chris Garlock
- Chris Garlock