Welcome Letter From President Phil Neuenfeldt and Secretary-Treasurer Stephanie Bloomingdale
Welcome Convention Delegates!
Thank you for joining us in the great city of Milwaukee, a city full of rich labor history and invigorating labor action. This week, we come together for the 30th Biennial Convention of the Wisconsin State AFL-CIO. Working people from all corners of Wisconsin, from all different sectors and job sites, gather this week to build for our future, set the agenda of our movement and continue to grow solidarity among working people. We are ready to join, fight, win together.
At this Convention we will build power for workers through the state federation by engaging union leaders and union members on issues that matter most to working families. Issues of economic opportunity, higher wages, safe jobs, a secure retirement and a fair return on our hard work. We’ll organize our brothers and sisters, worksite by worksite and person by person. We’ll strengthen the grassroots energy that’s already rallying young workers and surging membership across our movement. We are working to ensure that every job is a good job. We join, fight, win together!
At this 2018 Convention, we will elect new officers of the Wisconsin State AFL-CIO. This will be the last convention with Phil Neuenfeldt as our President. Nominations and election of officers and Executive Board will take place. Our democratically elected officers and new board will lead our organization and movement into the future.
Your voice and insight are an essential component of this convention. You have the important opportunity to set the agenda and direction of the Wisconsin State AFL-CIO. Your active participation and engagement with our democratic process is the backbone of creating a smart, nimble and diverse labor movement. Please take this charge in earnest as we together forge a new and innovative path to advance the rights of Wisconsin workers.
As we look ahead to November, we prepare to mount a large Labor 2018 political mobilization campaign to unseat Gov. Scott Walker, replace Representative Paul Ryan with union brother Ironworker Local 8 member Randy Bryce, re-elect Tammy Baldwin to the U.S. Senate and elect labor endorsed candidates up and down the ballot. We’re ready to win campaigns at all levels to put a check on growing corporate control of our politics.
That’s our job at this convention, to represent our members while positioning our unions and our movement to grow in order to give millions more the freedom to come together and bargain for good jobs and fairness. In Milwaukee, at this 30th biennial convention of the Wisconsin State AFL-CIO in 2018, we will chart the path forward toward a thriving labor movement with a renewed commitment and a bold agenda to improve the lives of all Wisconsin working families.
