One of the agenda items during a recent AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer’s conference
was a report on the success of the Solidarity Affiliation Campaign that
was initiated by the AFL-CIO Executive Council in early 2006. The goal of the
campaign was to increase the affiliation levels of local unions with both their
State Federations and Central Labor Councils.
Of the fifty-four affiliates in the AFL-CIO, the I.A.T.S.E. was ranked second
in terms of the percentage of total members that our local unions had
affiliated with the various State Federations. The final percentages of affiliated
members at the Central Labor Council level have not yet been made
available, but I have no doubt that I.A.T.S.E. local unions will once again
be leading the way when those numbers are released.
When the campaign first began, President Short assigned International
Representative Dan Mahoney to act as a liaison between the AFL-CIO, the
office of the General Secretary-Treasurer and our local unions with the
goal of achieving one hundred percent affiliation.
Article Nineteen, Section 22 of the International Constitution and
Bylaws mandates that all local unions, with the exception of Special
Department local unions, “shall secure and maintain affiliation with their
respective State, Provincial and Central Labor bodies of the American Federation
of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations or the Canadian
Labour Congress”. Based on our initial review of the affiliation rates at the
launch of the campaign, most of our local unions were already aware of
their constitutional obligations and were affiliated. However, some local
unions were not affiliated with one or more of the required bodies and
rectified the situation once the International contacted them.
Being in compliance with the International Constitution and Bylaws is
of course a very good thing, but affiliation with these bodies also makes a
positive impact on the lives of our members and their communities. Affiliation
at the State, Provincial and Central Labor Council level is an
extremely effective way to build influence in the communities in which
our members live and work. These bodies bring different unions together
to assist each other with job actions, participate in political and working
family issue campaigns, lead lobbying efforts with local and
State/Provincial governments, and finally, they often coordinate assistance
campaigns in communities in times of crisis.
While affiliation is an important first step, it is only when the affiliates
become active that State, Provincial and Central Labor bodies can be truly
effective. Many of these bodies will be holding important summer meetings
over the next couple of months and I encourage you to attend.
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