Letter from President Parks
Thank you so much for attending the first ever AFSCME Ohio Next Wave conference. You participated in what has been hailed as the best-coordinated event between the AFSCME Ohio affiliates: OCSEA, the Ohio Association of Public School Employees, and AFSCME Council 8. With over 200 young members and mentors, we deem the event a massive success.
In the next five to ten years, over 50% of our membership will be eligible to retire. Like any organization that prepares for the future –we are looking for talented persons who care about the public service they perform and are willing to continue fighting for improvements. There is a battle going on about the future of government services – the value of public workers. By focusing on the Next Wave, we are keeping our eye on the future by educating, training, and developing young leaders to continue the fights that we have fought over the last several decades as well as determine additional priorities. You are that future.
This conference was only a beginning. We must continue to engage the Next Wave by recruiting new employees to become members, mobilizing young workers to fight, and organizing our co-workers to win.
We very much want you to contribute to and become active in your union. In fact, we are already planning next year’s event and hope that you will continue to play a meaningful role in OCSEA and AFSCME as we grow.
In solidarity,
Eddie L. Parks
President
Conference Notes
View the notes (DOC) from the Ohio Next Wave conference, August 7, 2010.