Delegates to the 70th UE National Convention in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, have debated and passed unanimously a new Policy Action Resolution for the coming two year period. This resolution – the product of the UE Convention Policy Action Committee – sets the political action priorities of our union for the coming two year period, until the convening of the 71st Convention in 2009. The Policy Action Committee and its Policy Action Resolution were first introduced in 1993 as a tool to help assist in better achieving some of the high priority political action goals of our union.
The 2007-2009 Policy Action Resolution just adopted mandates several areas of political action concentration for our union in the period ahead. Among these are; expanded UE work to address the health care crisis through agitation for passage of H.R. 676, the U.S. National Health Insurance Act; expanded involvement of UE members in the looming presidential primary elections and caucuses; a union-wide mobilization for attendance at the April 27-30, 2008, national UE Political Action Conference in Washington, D.C.; an all-out campaign of voter registration, education, and activation to remove from office as many anti-labor politicians as possible in the November, 2008, elections; renewed efforts to build Jobs with Justice chapters where possible; and a reaffirmation of our union-wide Mobilization for Health Care and Retirement Security with a particular emphasis on the need to inject into the political debate the need for a single-payer solution to the pension crisis.
Commenting on the Convention action, UE General Secretary-Treasurer Bruce Klipple said, “This Policy Action Resolution provides our leadership and membership with a political action roadmap for the coming two years. We have picked issues that need immediate attention, and issues that the rank-and-file membership agree are in dire need of attention. We arrived at it through extensive and democratic debate and comment, and I am proud of the unified end result. Copies of the Policy Action Resolution and related information are now being prepared for distribution to all locals, so that UE members will be able to hit the ground running this fall on these key political issues.”