This post will be a brief synopsis of each day’s events at the Convention this year in British Columbia. Monday started at 9:00 sharp, and we heard from all of our principle Officers in the IBEW, including a welcome from the Vice President of Distrist 1, the Host District.
Then we heard from Gregor Robertson, Mayor of Vancouver, who stated, “Nothing ever came to us without a fight,” and “We won’t keep it without contiunuing to fight.” Amen Brother.
Next, Ken Georgetti, President of the Canadian Labour Congress, repeated Warren Buffet’s famous statement about taxing the rich and not coddling them any longer. He pointed out that 400 families in the United States now control more wealth than the rest of the American people (155 Million of them) combined. As Union members, we need to raise our voices NOW or see our Middle Class slip away and become a Third World impoverished Country.
President Obama addressed the Assembly, and advocated his new Jobs Bill. Log on to the AFL-CIO’s website if you would like a list of legislators to call and encourage them to vote for the Bill. These calls need to be brief and to the point, as the switchboards simply count the numbers of calls for or against.
Ed Hill spoke, and I will never forget his statements of conviction….”If you want a better IBEW, demand it! If you want a better IBEW, work for it! If you want a better IBEW, join me…” This is our call to action on our own behalf, and on behalf of working class people all over the world.
By the end of the day, which was quite late, we had re-elected Ed Hill and Sam Chilia, and the 8th District had re-elected Ted Jensen as Vice President, and our 5th District IEC member Mike Walter was re-elected, all running unopposed. Stay tuned for more updates on this site as to the other actions taken in subsequent days during the 38th Convention.