Mike Cerbo, executive director of the Colorado AFL-CIO, reports on the elections for Colorado AFL-CIO leadership and the state federation’s Labor 2008 Kick Off event. Cerbo will continue to serve as the executive director for the Colorado AFL-CIO.
More than 200 delegates taking part in last week’s Colorado AFL-CIO Convention unanimously elected Sheet Metal Workers (SMWIA) member Dwayne Stephens as president and Dave Atkinson as secretary-treasurer. AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Richard Trumka participated in the swearing-in of the new officers.
The next day, more than 350 union activists participated in the Colorado Labor 2008 Kick-Off meeting in Denver. We were joined by Trumka, AFT President Edward McElroy and Postal Workers (APWU) Secretary-Treasurer Terry Stapleton.
More than four dozen local elected leaders joined candidate Joan Fitz-Gerald, who’s running for Congress in the state’s 2nd Congressional District, to publicly sign a series of core principles that include support for the Employee Free Choice Act, health care reform and opposition to so-called “right to work” for less and paycheck deception laws. Fitz-Gerald, a former Colorado state Senate president, came out swinging in support for passage of the Employee Free Choice Act, federal legislation that would level the playing field for workers seeking to join unions. To a cheering crowd of union members, Fitz-Gerald emphasized her support for the Employee Free Choice Act (see video above):
There is a world for us to change. And we need to make that change happens for working families. We need to start with the Employee Free Choice Act because the right to unionize is a fundamental American right and it has been curtailed….Working families do better when more people are in unions.
Unions participating in the convention and/or the Labor 2008 Kick-Off meeting included: AFGE, AFSCME, ALPA, AFTRA, APWU, ATU, BAC, BLE-IBT, CEA, Cement Masons, Colorado Federation of Teachers, CWA, IAFF, IAM, IATSE, IBB, IBEW, IBT, Iron Workers, IUEC, IUOE, IUPAT, LIUNA, NALC, OPEIU, Roofers and Waterproofers, SAG, SEIU, SMWIA, Sprinkler Fitters, UA, UAW, UNITE HERE, UFCW and USW.