Next Wavers push agenda at Chicago conference

June 26, 2009 -This past weekend, approximately 20 OCSEA members joined over 600 Next Wavers (union activists age 35-ish and under) and their mentors in Chicago for the first-ever AFSCME Next Wave Conference.

AFSCME’s Next Wave campaign is designed to recruit, engage and educate younger members to step up and carry on the legacy that AFSCME leaders before us have built. The Next Wave conference – more highly attended than ever anticipated – took the campaign to a whole new level.

In addition to an enlightening Labor History Tour of Chicago, Next Wavers came together to give their input on the direction of the Next Wave movement. Attendees participated in an Electronic Town Meeting, aimed at getting the pulse of the next wave of union activists, in which questions were asked, brainstormed, and then transmitted instantaneously via electronic polling equipment. Participants also attended two days of insightful workshops on everything from ways to form a chapter Next Wave committee to suggestions on overcoming the stereotypes of being a young union member.

AFSCME President Gerald McEntee and Secretary-Treasurer (proud to be one of AFSCME’s oldest members) got the crowd pumped up and drove home the message that AFSCME will stand behind the Next Wave as the torch is passed and push the issues that impact young workers and young families.

For many OCSEA Next Wavers in attendance, the highlight of the conference was a rally in support of a hospital organizing drive. Workers in the Windy City's second-largest hospital system – Resurrection Health Care – are determined to have a collective voice despite harassment and intimidation from management. Hundreds of AFSCME members clad in AFSCME green and with signs in hand chanted outside the West Subdivision hospitals in support of workers right to organize. For many, this was the first time attending such an event.

“The experience was eye-opening and really shows how lucky we are for those who came before us and fought so hard for the union representation we now have,” said Industrial Commission Chap. 2525 president and Next Wave activist Joseph Kemerley.

For more on the “Reform Resurrection” organizing drive, visit http://www.reformresurrection.org.

Visit www.afscme.org/nextwave for more on the AFSCME Next Wave campaign, including information on how to download the AFSCME Next Wave toolkit.

See Related

Next Wave Photo Album

The Next Wave – Toolbox

2009 Biennial Convention