WHEREAS:

            Jerry LaPoint is a longtime AFSCME leader in Wisconsin – a  school custodian, now retired,  who served as Vice-President and then President of Eau Claire Local 560, as well as two terms as Council 40 Vice-President; and

WHEREAS:

            LaPoint negotiated numerous  contracts with the Board of Education that established many protections for his members, including a prohibition on contracting-out and a provision for health care coverage for early retirees; and

WHEREAS:

            Following his retirement in 1992,  LaPoint continued as a delegate to AFSCME’s statewide PEOPLE committee and was elected President of Wisconsin AFSCME Retiree Chapter 7 – two positions he holds to this day; and

WHEREAS:

            In 2002, Jerry LaPoint was elected Chairman of the AFSCME Retirees Council – the governing body of the union’s national retiree-members organization; and

WHEREAS:

            Early in LaPoint’s tenure, the Retirees Council established its first Organizing Committee, which helped increase the membership of AFSCME Retirees from a little more than 200,000 members to more than a quarter million members in 2012; and

WHEREAS:

            LaPoint served as chairman during one of the biggest battles ever to confront  AFSCME Retirees – the 2005 fight in which AFSCME played a major role in defeating President George W. Bush’s plan to privatize Social Security; and

WHEREAS:

            LaPoint also chaired the AFSCME Retirees Committee on the 21st Century, which set out numerous goals including a new program to encourage retiree participation in PEOPLE; and

WHEREAS:

            In the last five years, following a sustained program that has helped make political fundraising a top priority for chapters,  the number of retirees contributing to PEOPLE has increased from 5,000 to 12,000, with an annual contribution total of $400,000; and

WHEREAS:

            Following the 2006 passage of an amendment to the AFSCME Constitution that established a retiree representative to the International Executive Board, Retirees Council Chairman Jerry LaPoint has been seated at the table for every meeting  where he speaks for the union’s retiree membership; and

WHEREAS:

            LaPoint’s leadership extends beyond AFSCME to include the Alliance for Retired Americans (ARA), where he sits on the national board, as well as the board of the Wisconsin ARA; and to the Democratic Party, where he has been elected a delegate to every national party convention from 1988 to 2004; and

WHEREAS:

            This year, Jerry LaPoint is stepping down as Retirees Council Chairman after more than a decade of outstanding service to the union and its retiree members.

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED:

            That delegates to the 40th International Convention salute Jerry LaPoint for his more than 50 years of AFSCME membership; for his lifetime of dedication to the union and its principles; for his many achievements on behalf of AFSCME’s members – working and retired; and for the support and friendship he has shown to his union brothers and sisters throughout a long and distinguished career in the labor movement.