WHEREAS:

AFSCME members face an era of sweeping change in the way the public and elected officials want government services organized and delivered; and

WHEREAS:

Advancing technological changes, privatization, eroding federal funds, and public sentiment threaten to reshape the public infrastructure as we have fundamentally known it; and

WHEREAS:

Unions are being challenged about what they stand for and about their right to exist; and

WHEREAS:

Leaders and members want the union to develop creative strategies to proactively deal with the challenges they now face rather than simply reacting to them; and

WHEREAS:

The union will never have all the resources it needs to fully accomplish its mission and it must think strategically about its goals and how to marshal its resources; and

WHEREAS:

AFSCME recognizes that the best offense is careful planning and execution of plans to focus activities and resources in the areas of organizing, education, technology, staffing, legislation and political action, member services, and marketing; and

WHEREAS:

Every major organization today uses strategic planning to adapt to an ever changing external environment, and

WHEREAS:

It is unlikely that union goals can become reality without vision and careful planning.

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED:

That AFSCME will use strategic planning as a tool to evaluate and update the union's goals each year and focus its resources on fulfillment of AFSCME's mission; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED:

That AFSCME will establish a Strategic Planning Steering Committee that will collect information, benchmark with other unions, and develop a process for input and dialogue with all AFSCME councils and locals that will develop a strategic plan for the 21st century; and

BE IF FINALLY RESOLVED:

That AFSCME will commit itself to an ongoing effort through strategic planning to broaden the scope and support of the strategic plan among all AFSCME members.

SUBMITTED BY:

Ronald C. Alexander, President and Delegate 
Vanessa Tolliver, Secretary/Treasurer and Delegate 
OCSEA/AFSCME Local 11
Ohio