Over 200 delegates and guests gathered on October 17 and 18 for the Biennial Convention of the Massachusetts AFL-CIO. The Convention theme of unity was reflected throughout the proceedings, from the resolutions that were passed to the Convention Lobby Day, in which dozens of unions and hundreds of union members from every sector lobbied their elected officials around a shared pro-working family agenda.
“The top goal of our 2017 strategic plan was unity,” declared President Steven Tolman, “and this past year we came together like few times in our history.”
President Tolman went on to applaud how every union from every sector joined the teachers in 2016 to defeat Question 2 and protect public education. Delegates also honored former Mass. AFL-CIO President Arthur Osborn, who in 1988 led the mobilization around another Question 2. In that campaign unions from every sector rallied in support of the building trades to protect prevailing wage standards.
Many of the resolutions addressed the theme of unity, as well. Resolutions on immigrant rights and racial justice spoke to the fact that race and immigration status have historically been used to divide the working class and weaken our power to protect the rights and freedoms that level the playing field for working families. Several resolutions called for continuing our efforts as a movement to forge a common understanding of the ways in which hate and intolerance harms all of society – impacting not only our union brothers and sisters and co-workers, but our friends, neighbors and families. Other resolutions reaffirmed the shared Mass. AFL-CIO legislative agenda and laid the groundwork for the Convention Lobby Day. To see all of the resolutions click below.
