By JEFF KLATKE
Council 75 President
I am proud to issue this report as President of Oregon AFSCME for September 2015. Please share this report with the members of your local.
A key to a high-functioning union is communication. This month I want to introduce everyone to the Regional District Vice-Presidents on the Executive Committee, the members of which are a great resource for political information specific to your local. Our Executive Committee is comprised of 20 elected decision-makers, some of which represent specific geographical parts of Oregon-our regional districts. For the full roster of the Executive Committee see this link. The regional districts currently coincide with the Oregon Congressional Districts (CD1-Suzane Bonamici; CD2-Greg Walden; CD3-Earl Blumenauer; CD4-Peter DeFazio; CD5-Kurt Schrader). Each of the elected Vice-Presidents representing these regional districts has an email address and is available to tell you about the work of Oregon AFSCME as it relates to the politics in your area. The regional district VPs can be reached at RD1VP@OregonAFSCME.com, RD2VP@OregonAFSCME.com, RD3VP@OregonAFSCME.com, RD4VP@OregonAFSCME.com, and RD5VP@OregonAFSCME.com. Feel free to reach out to these Vice Presidents in your region for information. The president of your local should also be receiving periodic updates from the VP representing that region on the executive committee.
In December and January in particular you will receive information from your regional district VP regarding candidate interviews. Oregon AFSCME does more than most unions in Oregon when it comes to connecting members to candidates running for Senate and House of Representatives, as well as City and County commissions. We always invite every candidate from all political parties to be interviewed by our members and we are tentatively planning to interview candidates in the early months of 2016. Interviews typically take place at AFSCME offices, but may be scheduled at other venues as appropriate for the members or the candidate. Every seat in the Oregon House of Representatives is up for election in 2016 as well as half of the Oregon Senate, so there will be lots of interviews for you to participate in and meet the candidates. If you wish to attend only the interviews for the candidates in whose district you live, that is fine too.
Also up for election in 2016 are the Governor, the Secretary of State, the Treasurer, the Labor Commissioner, and at least one Supreme Court Justice. The Oregon AFSCME Political Action Committee (PAC) is scheduling interviews for these statewide offices and will publish those interview dates, times and locations as soon as they are known; typically interviews are scheduled in the evening so as many members can attend as possible and food is always available. All candidate interviews are open to any member in good standing.
So far the PAC has scheduled an interview for Governor candidate Kate Brown (D) for Friday, Nov. 20 at the Portland AFSCME office (6025 E Burnside) at 6 p.m. Food will be available for those who attend.
As I wrote to you last month, AFSCME International has greatly expanded their member engagement for selecting which candidate for President of the U.S. to endorse. The International Executive Board was expected to endorse a candidate at its Sep. 22 meeting, but chose to wait and make the endorsement later. You may have read news about other International unions making endorsements, some for Bernie Sanders and Some for Hillary Clinton. Just this week the National Education Association, the largest union in the country, endorsed Hillary Clinton. But AFSCME, SEIU and the International Association of Fire Fighters are the endorsements that most people are waiting to see, and all three are waiting to make their decisions at a more appropriate time.
The next Oregon AFSCME Executive Board meeting is on Saturday, Nov. 21 at 10 a.m. at the Salem AFSCME office. All members in good standing are welcome and encouraged to attend.
Oct. 22-25 is the Oregon AFL-CIO Convention. Taking place during this convention will be elections for the Federation President and Secretary-Treasurer, as well as elections for the Executive Committee and Executive Board. There have already been several resolutions submitted by other Oregon unions, mostly regarding potential ballot measures or legislation in 2016. You can follow the convention on the Oregon AFSCME Facebook page. You can visit and “like” our Facebook page here.
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 or other local officer, 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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