Day 1

Sorry I haven’t blogged again sooner but my time has been filled with studying the various resolutions and procedures. There is a lot to know and you really need to be prepared, and clearly experience really matters when you are dealing with Parliamentary Procedures. Regarding day 1 of the convention, after the formalities, including the convention call, pledge of allegiance and the singing of the nation anthem, John P. Ryan, GMP International President, gave the keynote address. His speech focused on the need for a dues increase of six dollars per month. I do not want to get into details here about the reasons he was asking for a dues increase, but his comments did give me pause for thought. His core message was that to remain viable and independent the GMP needed the dues increase. I will talk more about this issue later.

The guest speaker was Jim Hightower, the populist Texan who gave a fantastic speech. One thing that he said that I loved was when talking about how the powers that be make that pejorative overview that union members are agitators. Hightower said, “It’s agitation that built America…And now, when they say to you, “Well, you’re just a union agitator,” you can say right back to them, “Your damn right. The agitator is the center post in the washing machine that gets the dirt out.” Brilliant stuff.

The Rules of Order report concluded the morning session. I had to pay close attention to the rules, which in general were Robert’s Rules of Order. I will get to the very heated afternoon session in my next post. Suffice it to say that the union dues increase was approved, so your union dues will increase 6 dollars a month starting on September 1st of this year. I spoke at the podium against the increase, but to no avail. I will write more about it in my next post.

One final note, on the second day of the convention, there was a resolution to disband the death benefit. It went down to a resounding defeat, so your death benefit is safe for now.