SA
TX
25-27.JULY
2
0
1
9
OUR MOVEMENT. OUR TIME.
60th Constitutional
CONVENTION
SAN ANTONIO HYATT REGENCY
CONVENTION
2019
BUILDING A WORKERS MOVEMENT IN TEXAS
We are at a moment when a fighting union organization could kindle the imagination of millions of workers and inspire a new labor movement. Now more than ever, we need rank-and-file activism, workers rising up to demand increased protection of workers rights, higher wages, and better working conditions. In the working class at large, we need a movement to fight anti-worker policies and to organize unions throughout the increasingly fissured labor market.
We have to build organizations that are democratic, multiracial, and ready to act, with a foundation in solidarity. “Solidarity” meaning that even if you don’t experience a particular oppression, it doesn’t matter, because you understand that as ordinary people, our fates are tied together and that one group’s liberation is dependent upon the liberation of all the oppressed and exploited. The time is NOW.
Welcome to San Antonio, TX. ¡Si Se Puede!
SPEAKERS
LIZ
SHULER
Secretary-Treasurer - AFL-CIO
Today, as secretary-treasurer of the AFL-CIO, the second-highest position in the labor movement, Shuler serves as the chief financial officer of the federation and oversees operations. Shuler is the first woman elected as the federation’s secretary-treasurer, holding office since 2009. Shuler’s efforts to broaden the union movement to engage young people and her work to improve the economy for all working people challenges assumptions about the “old fashioned” labor movement. Shuler looks at technological change as an opportunity to be relevant to the next generation workforce. Technology offers new opportunities and challenges to strengthen worker voice and new pathways for workers to learn skills and stay relevant in a changing economy.
KENNETH
RIGMAIDEN
President - International Union of Painters and Allied Trades
Kenneth Rigmaiden began his career with the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades (IUPAT) upon graduating from California State University in San Jose in 1977 holding various leadership positions with Local 1288. He was unanimously elected to the office of general president by the IUPAT General Executive Board in March 2013.
SARA
NELSON
President - Association of Flight Attendants - CWA
Sara Nelson took office as the International President of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, AFL-CIO on June 1, 2014, and she is currently serving her second four-year term. Sara became a United Airlines Flight Attendant in 1996 and has been a union activist since nearly the beginning of her flying career, including serving as strike chair and leading communications for nearly 10 years at AFA's United chapter. Sara is passionate about AFA's continued mission to achieve fair compensation, job security, and improved quality of life for aviation's first responders as well as a safe, healthy and secure aircraft cabin for passengers and crew alike. She believes Flight Attendants can play a pivotal role in strengthening the Labor Movement with more public contact than almost any other job and access to every corner of the earth.
KOOPER
CARAWAY
President - Sioux Falls AFL-CIO
Kooper Caraway comes from a working class family in Texas. His Mother was a retail worker and his Father worked in the Trucking Industry. Many of his Cousins and his Grandfather were Union Steelworkers in Lonestar, TX.
He began organizing in High School. When Immigration Agents, under the direction of the Bush Administration, set up camp and began raiding peoples homes in the small town of Mt. Pleasant, TX Kooper Caraway, then a High School Junior, organized a series of actions and demonstrations until the Federal Agents packed up and left town. He then went to work in Dallas for the Labor Movement. As an organizer with Jobs with Justice he was succesful at bridging the Community-Labor Gap. He has since served as a Union Rep for the American Federation of Teachers and an Organizer for the United Food and Commerical Workers Union.
In 2017 he relocated to South Dakota to serve as Lead Organizer for AFSCME Council 65 and on Jan 3rd 2018 he was elected President of the Sioux Falls AFL-CIO. At 27, he became the the Youngest CLC President in the Nation.
MARK DIMONDSTEIN
President - American Postal Workers Union
SPEAKERS
LIZ
SHULER
Secretary-Treasurer - AFL-CIO
Today, as secretary-treasurer of the AFL-CIO, the second-highest position in the labor movement, Shuler serves as the chief financial officer of the federation and oversees operations. Shuler is the first woman elected as the federation’s secretary-treasurer, holding office since 2009. Shuler’s efforts to broaden the union movement to engage young people and her work to improve the economy for all working people challenges assumptions about the “old fashioned” labor movement. Shuler looks at technological change as an opportunity to be relevant to the next generation workforce. Technology offers new opportunities and challenges to strengthen worker voice and new pathways for workers to learn skills and stay relevant in a changing economy.
KENNETH
RIGMAIDEN
President - International Union of Painters and Allied Trades
Kenneth Rigmaiden began his career with the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades (IUPAT) upon graduating from California State University in San Jose in 1977 holding various leadership positions with Local 1288. He was unanimously elected to the office of general president by the IUPAT General Executive Board in March 2013.
SARA
NELSON
President - Association of Flight Attendants - CWA
Sara Nelson took office as the International President of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, AFL-CIO on June 1, 2014, and she is currently serving her second four-year term. Sara became a United Airlines Flight Attendant in 1996 and has been a union activist since nearly the beginning of her flying career, including serving as strike chair and leading communications for nearly 10 years at AFA's United chapter. Sara is passionate about AFA's continued mission to achieve fair compensation, job security, and improved quality of life for aviation's first responders as well as a safe, healthy and secure aircraft cabin for passengers and crew alike. She believes Flight Attendants can play a pivotal role in strengthening the Labor Movement with more public contact than almost any other job and access to every corner of the earth.
KOOPER
CARAWAY
President - Sioux Falls AFL-CIO
Kooper Caraway comes from a working class family in Texas. His Mother was a retail worker and his Father worked in the Trucking Industry. Many of his Cousins and his Grandfather were Union Steelworkers in Lonestar, TX.
He began organizing in High School. When Immigration Agents, under the direction of the Bush Administration, set up camp and began raiding peoples homes in the small town of Mt. Pleasant, TX Kooper Caraway, then a High School Junior, organized a series of actions and demonstrations until the Federal Agents packed up and left town. He then went to work in Dallas for the Labor Movement. As an organizer with Jobs with Justice he was succesful at bridging the Community-Labor Gap. He has since served as a Union Rep for the American Federation of Teachers and an Organizer for the United Food and Commerical Workers Union.
In 2017 he relocated to South Dakota to serve as Lead Organizer for AFSCME Council 65 and on Jan 3rd 2018 he was elected President of the Sioux Falls AFL-CIO. At 27, he became the the Youngest CLC President in the Nation.
MARK DIMONDSTEIN
President - American Postal Workers Union
Mark Dimondstein is President of the American Postal Workers Union, which represents more than 200,000 employees of the U.S. Postal Service and approximately 1,500 employees in the private-sector mailing industry. He began his first three-year term in November 2013 and was re-elected on October 5, 2016 for another term starting in November 2016.
Since taking office, Dimondstein has transformed the APWU into a fighting, activist organization. He helped establish A Grand Alliance to Save Our Public Postal Service, strengthened the unity among the four postal unions, helped forge the Campaign for Postal Banking, and led the successful fight against a privatization scheme involving the office-supply chain, Staples.
CHERYL
ELIANO
National Vice President - AFGE
Disctrict 10
Cheryl Eliano is the National Vice President of the American Federation of Government Employees in District 10, having assumed that post in 2014. Eliano’s mission for District 10 is to provide exceptional leadership and service at all levels and locations within Texas, New Mexico, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Panama. When federal employees were shut out of their jobs – or forced to work without paychecks – late last year, Cheryl helped place the general public squarely on the side of federal workers. The bruising battle to get federal employees back on the job and our government reopened lasted an outrageous 35 days.
AGENDA
THURSDAY
8:30 AM
New Attendees Orientation
10:00 AM
Call to Order
11:05 AM
Speaker - Liz Shuler, AFL-CIO
11:25 AM
Speaker - Ken Rigmaiden, IUPAT
NOON
Announcements
Deadline for Submitting Resolutions
1:15 PM
Call to Order
1:20 PM
Speaker: Will Attig, Union Veterans Council
1:30 PM
Speaker: Leonard Aguilar, SWPTA
​
1:50 PM
Speaker - Sara Nelson, AFA-CWA
2:15 PM
Speaker - Kooper Caraway, Sioux Falls AFL-CIO
2:30 PM
Panel: Broadening Our Movement
3:30 PM
Adjournment
3:45 PM
Committee Meetings
4:00 PM
Caucuses
7:00 PM
Union Open Mic/Karaoke
FRIDAY
9:00 AM
Call to Order
9:10 AM
Speaker - Mark Dimondstein, APWU
9:20 AM
Speaker - Cheryl Eliano, AFGE
9:40 AM
Texas AFL-CIO Citizenship Campaign
10:00 AM
Fighting for Our Fair Shot Agenda
10:15 AM
Building Labor's Political Muscle for 2020
10:30 AM
Awards
11:00 AM
Nominations for President and Secretary-Treasurer
11:45 AM
District and International Union Caucuses and VP Elections
Lunch
1:15 PM
Call to Order
1:20 PM
Lee Medley - USW 13-1
1:30 PM
Panel: Organizing Our Movement
2:30 PM
Adjournment
​
2:45 PM
Workshops
​
4:45 PM
Joint Constituency Group Meeting
​
6:30 PM
Cocktails/Reception