AFSCME International Convention in Boston - 2010!

Delegate Articles

Local 34 delgates with Bill Lucy: (L to R) John  Herzog, Sabrina Denson, Wes Volkenant, Andrea Lazo-Rice, Jean Diederich, Heather Hemmer

Convention Daily 

Read short summaries of the daily events at the convention.

Lee Saunders was sworn in July 2nd as the next Secretary-Treasurer of AFSCME International representing 1.6 million workers nationwide. With 50.1 percent support, Saunders won by 4,304 votes out of 1.3 million cast. The close election caused a rare split in our union. President Gerald McEntee backed Saunders, his longtime executive assistant.

Outgoing Secretary-Treasurer, Bill Lucy, backed Danny Donohue, who was also endorsed by Council 5 and many other reformers. We will continue to push our national union to make more aid available to state councils and their local unions, so workers can protect the gains made through decades of struggle.

Hundreds of AFSCME activists rallied on Boston Common, in solidarity with AFSCME Council 93, to prevent the loss of critical public services and to pass the jobs bill now stalled in Congress. Council 93 members are fighting to prevent the planned closure of four of the state’s six long-term residential hospitals for the developmentally disabled, to keep all branches of the city’s public libraries open and prevent layoffs of library employees. The council also wanted fair, equitable contracts for thousands of higher education workers represented by the union. After the rally, hundreds of AFSCME activists marched to City Hall to support the library workers. As the city council was deciding the municipal budget for the new fiscal year, “The sea of protesters made such a ruckus that their chants - “Stop the cuts!’’ - echoed in the fifth-floor council chamber.”