The Convention is over

Day five, the final day of the convention, was today. To say that the Quadrennial was a good learning experience is an understatement. My guess is that all of the delegates that you sent to the convention will return with more knowledge and better leadership skills then when they left. I know for my part the education I received at the Quadrennial will not only benefit me as a relief Shop Stewart and Safety Representative at Gallo Glass, but it has made me a better informed citizen. I am looking forward to sharing what I learned with any of my brothers and sisters at GMP #17 who are willing to listen, and I hope to begin that conversation when I get back to work.

I know a lot of you want to know why you are going to have a dues increase. As I mentioned previously, I spoke against the dues increase to the 373 delegates in attendance. Several of my fellow delegates from GMP #17 expressed to me that they also voted against the increase. I will explain in more detail later about why the International got the needed ⅔ majority vote of the delegates to pass the increase. I will say that the International had some compelling reasons why they needed the increase, and after reading them you might disagree with my reasoning for a NO vote and agree with the GMP leadership that the dues increase was necessary. As I mentioned, the reasons for the dues increase will be the subject of my next blog when I return.

I also wrote pages and pages of notes, and I will have some motions to bring to the floor at our next union meeting. There were several things I didn’t like about the lack of preparation that the delegates of GMP #17 had entering the convention and I am determined to fix this before the next Quadrennial in 2012. We were also tasked by our International to create committees for GMP #17, such as an Organizing Committee and Educational Committee, committees which currently don’t exist in our local. There are many other things that we will need to discuss in the coming weeks and months, and I plan to discuss them in this blog, at work, and in the monthly Union Meetings. Stay tuned and I’ll see you soon.