Saturday, June 23, 2012

A message from Danny Donohue and Alice Goff

To Our AFSCME Brothers and Sisters-

This has been the most hard-fought and spirited national election ever held in AFSCME.

We want to thank all of you who took time away from the crucial struggles you are fighting on the frontlines every day to help choose a new leadership team for our union.

For us, from day one, this election has been about restoring this union to the members-to ensure that democracy remains AFSCME's hallmark and that all voices are heard, all views respected.

We've been deeply disturbed during the course of this election-and on the floor of this convention-to see how frequently violations of fundamental democratic rights have occurred.

Every one of us has a stake in ensuring that our union holds itself to the highest standards of fairness and integrity.

We have no interest in promoting or prolonging division within our union. But we, like every AFSCME member, do have a strong interest in promoting democracy, fairness, and integrity-- and we are determined to continue to do so.

While we may have conceded this election, we are not conceding our fight for a better union.

The enemies of working families are unrelenting in their determination to weaken union rights, to decimate the public services on which so many citizens depend, and to drive down our standard of living.

We can only combat them if we build our power from the grassroots up, if we strengthen councils and locals to make the critical fights at the local level, and if we firmly uphold democracy and integrity at every level of our union. You have our promise to do everything possible to advance those goals.

In solidarity,