WHEREAS:

AFSCME council and local union staff are an extremely valuable resource to the officers, stewards and members for whom they provide service; and

WHEREAS:

Those services involve all of the aspects of labor-management relations including leadership development, organizing, preparation for bargaining, contract negotiations and arbitration skills; and

WHEREAS:

To meet these challenges by management, AFSCME councils and locals need a staff that is highly trained to counter management's attempts to weaken unions and to protect and defend the rights and benefits AFSCME members have struggled for and gained through the years.

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED:

That the International Union Department of Education and Leadership Training continue to provide councils and locals with the best and most comprehensive training available for fulltime council and local staff, and that this training include the organizing, preparation for bargaining, negotiation techniques and arbitration programs conducted at the George Meany Center for Labor Studies and regionally throughout the country, as well as additional programs on current issues designed to help council and local staff to obtain the skills necessary to provide AFSCME members with the best representation possible.

SUBMITTED BY:

Martin Beil, Executive Director
Leonard Cody, President
Council 24
Madison, Wisconsin