The 55th Convention reconvened at 9 a.m. on Tuesday, September 18, 2007. International Secretary-Treasurer Oscar Owens introduced Rev. Reynaldo Crespin from the New Horizon Christian Fellowship who gave the invocation.
Sea-Change
International President Warren S. George, next, introduced Michael Roschlau, president and CEO of the Canadian Urban Transit Association.
Roschlau addressed the “sea-change” in Canadian transit funding that has taken place since the ATU’s last Convention at which he spoke in 2004.
The CUTA head listed nine major federal and provincial sources of transit funding which have been created in the last three years, and declared that it was the partnership between CUTA and the ATU which made that funding possible.
Roschlau reviewed the work that the two organizations have done to counter the rising tide of violence against transit workers in Canada, including the development of a database of violent acts against transit workers. That database will be used to convince legislators to take further action against this new, personal form of terrorism.
New Labor, New Technology
International President George introduced Jim Little, president of the Transport Workers Union.Little’s speech concerned “New Labor” – a term gaining currency which applies to labor unions which excercise all of the political and technological tools available today to advance their members’ interests. Little warned that if Labor does not “put its arms around technology” it may get stuck in a “virtual sweatshop” in the future.
“The future will be what we make it,” asserted Little, “TWU and ATU will work together, and in solidarity we will prevail.”
Rules Committee Report Adopted
The Report of the Rules and Order Committee presented by Chair Martha Stevens was unanimously adopted.
Credentials Committee - Second Supplemental Report
Seven additional voting delegates were seated, and two additional non-voting delegates from Local 1181 were seated along with the other 23 non-voting delegates from that local. Committee Chair Omega Robinson’s motion to adopt the report was seconded and passed unanimously.
Next, a video presentation by Democratic presidential candidate Chris Dodd was viewed by the delegates, followed by the continued reading of the International President’s Report by International President George.
Mass Transit a Priority for Obama
Nevada Democratic State Senator Steven Horsford addressed the delegates on behalf of Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama. Horsford told the delegates that mass transit would be a priority in an Obama administration, and that he would work to eliminate the disparities in mass transit service provided to the rich and the poor.
Initial Report of the Laws Committee
Laws Committee Chair Anthony Withington presented an initial report of the Laws Committee.
No proposals were made for a change in the current Ritual adopted by the 52nd Convention in Chicago, IL, and no conflicts of law were found by the Committee. Withington’s motion to adopt the current ritual was seconded and passed unanimously.
The Committee also recommended concurrence with a recommendation by the International President to reduce the number of ATU delegates to Conventions of the AFL-CIO.
It was subsequently moved and seconded to amend Section 7.1 of the Constitution and General Laws to send “one alternate for every two” delegates to the AFL-CIO convention “elected at the [ATU] Convention. The motion passed unanimously.
The Committee recommended nonconcurrence with Resolution 2, submitted by Local 616-Windsor, ON, which proposed that the Convention timing and terms of office for all International, intermediate council, and local union officers be extended from three to four years through a series of amendments to the Constitution and General Laws, each of which the measure called for becoming effective upon passage.
The Committee’s recommendation of nonconcurrence was moved and seconded. The motion passed.
Bigger, Better, Stronger
John Sweeney, president of the AFL-CIO, spoke next to the delegates, saying that few unions could boast a history like the ATU’s that covered three centuries. However, Sweeney declared that the ATU wasn’t just getting older; it was getting “bigger, better and stronger.”
The AFL-CIO president saluted International President George for creating the Organizing Department and thanked the ATU for showing other federation affiliates “how its done.”
The U.S. Labor leader listed health care, good jobs, and the freedom to form and join unions as the three priorities that unions will pursue in the months preceding the 2008 elections.
Sweeney challenged the delegates to work, not just to change “change the channel” from the nightmare show of the Bush administration, but to “restore the hope, promise and optimism of the American dream.”
Sweeney Organizing Awards
International Executive Vice President, Michael Siano presented the ATU Organizing Award named after the federation president to the following locals:
Local 256-Sacramento, CA
Local 1001-Denver, CO
Local 1577-W. Palm Beach, FL
Local 1587-Toronto, ON
Local 1764-Washington, DC
