WHEREAS:
The Union’s power to promote the interests of the members — both in bargaining strength and political influence — is a function of our numbers, our unity and activism, and our relative strength in the particular public services, occupations and employers in which our members work; and
WHEREAS:
That relative strength is best measured by “union density” — the proportion of a workforce that is unionized; and
WHEREAS:
Union density has fallen in the economy as a whole, to 14.5% from twice that in two decades, and has stagnated in the public services and started to fall in some of them; and
WHEREAS:
We are under attack, simultaneously, on two fronts, the privatization movement and the “paycheck protection” movement; both aimed at undermining the Union’s ability to defend the membership; and
WHEREAS:
The anti-labor political forces which fostered “paycheck protection”, have also focused on opposition to public employee collective bargaining legislation in the states, and with their recently achieved legislative majorities, have largely cut off what was the historic engine of AFSCME growth — new bargaining laws; and
WHEREAS:
AFSCME’s membership growth has halted since 1995, and, in recognition of these trends, the 1996 Convention mandated the establishment of a Task Force on the Future to review the union’s overall strategy; and
WHEREAS:
The Task Force has met and is recommending a new strategy for AFSCME growth.
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED:
That AFSCME establish a Cooperative Strategic Organizing Program, with the following major points: