By JEFF KLATKE
Council 75 President
I am proud to issue this report as President of Oregon AFSCME for April 2015.
Last weekend, April 24-26, 186 delegates and alternates were in attendance at the Salem Convention Center for the 2015 Oregon AFSCME Convention. In my opinion, and based on comments that I have received, it was an exceptionally good convention. But there were dozens of locals and over 2,000 votes not present at this convention. If folks are not aware, Oregon AFSCME has a Travel Fund which reimburses locals for sending one delegate to AFSCME sponsored events, such as our conventions, because our union believes that participation is the key to a democratically run union.
The convention inspired new delegates to get involved in Oregon AFSCME, as is evidenced by the number of new members elected onto the Executive Committee (5) and the Board. All but one of the proposed items of business were adopted by the delegates, and the debate on these items was robust, respectful, and efficient, finishing well ahead of schedule. This efficiency was in great part due to the efforts of three committees that did a fantastic job of refining and revising the original proposals, based partially on board input at its February meeting, before they went to the convention floor for consideration. These committees were so successful that we will most likely continue to use them for future conventions as well.
All of the key events and all of the results of the convention debates will be updated and posted on the convention website. The constitutional amendments and resolutions that were adopted will be posted in their final form, the election results have already been posted, links to the videos shown at the convention will be posted, audio files of all six speeches will be posted, and the website will stay up for future reference.
The next Oregon AFSCME convention will be April 27-30, 2017 at the Salem Convention Center. I look forward to seeing even more locals represented at that convention.
The next meetings of the Executive Committee are May 30 in Salem at 10 a.m., June 27 in Portland at 10 a.m., and the Board meets next on July 25 in Salem at 11 a.m. I mention these dates for everyone because I would like to encourage all members to attend these meetings to observe, to participate in the conversation, and see what your elected decision-makers are up to. As I mentioned in the opening paragraph, participation is the key to a democratically run union.
I plan to send a president’s report like this every month to local presidents, members of the Oregon AFSCME board, and any member who requests it and gives the Council Secretary a home email address. If you are a local president, please share this information with the members of your local.
If you ever have any questions or wish to send me a comment, you can reach me at president@OregonAFSCME.com.
Thank you for being active in your union.
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