Echoing the words of Robert F. Kennedy, NYSUT leaders urged delegates at the 37th annual Representative Assembly (RA) to “speak up and speak out” on important union issues at a time when organized labor is under attack from many quarters.

The RA also had a strong social justice focus that meshed with its “Speak Up, Speak Out” theme, taken from remarks Kennedy made in June 1961 to the Joint Defense Appeal of the American Jewish Committee and the Anti-Defamation League of the B’nai B’rith.

“It’s easy to see that Robert Kennedy spoke up and spoke out for many causes that went without a champion in his time,” NYSUT President Richard Iannuzzi said on the opening night of the conference, held April 2-4 in Buffalo. “Today, we must do the same, as we speak up and speak out for worker rights, equitable school funding, ending the achievement gap, a living wage for all, healthy and safe workplaces and social justice.”

More than 2,000 delegates—80 of them UUPers—attended the RA, including SUNY Geneseo’s Thomas Matthews, the recipient of NYSUT’s Higher Education Member of the Year award. Three UUP-sponsored resolutions were approved by delegates, and two union publications won awards in NYSUT’s journalism competition.

The tragic April 3 shootings in Binghamton shocked and horrified delegates; NYSUT retiree Roberta King and two visiting scholars at SUNY Binghamton were among the victims. After a somber Iannuzzi announced the news, delegates raised $5,000 in a collection for families of the victims.

In his “State of the Union” address, Iannuzzi said the time is now for NYSUT and the labor movement to push hard for positive change, such as worker rights, safe workplaces, fair wages, and passage of the Employee Free Choice Act. President Barack Obama, a pro-education, labor-friendly leader, has said he will sign the measure if it reaches his desk. 

“We’re all in this together,” Iannuzzi said. “It’s what we can do together that is going to make a difference.”

Although the economy is still mired in a deep recession, there is reason to be optimistic now that political change has come, said Iannuzzi. Earlier this year, Obama included AFT President Randi Weingarten, NEA President Dennis Van Roekel and other labor leaders in a national summit on the economy.

“Imagine that—labor leaders at the White House,” Iannuzzi said. “I guess it’s been about eight years since that happened!”

Weingarten also cited the need for a unified union strategy in light of America’s “remarkable political transformation.” She praised members for their victories in New York’s budget and urged them to keep up the fight. “Let us show what we can do as school leaders, as unionists,” she told delegates.

NYSUT Executive Vice President Alan Lubin congratulated delegates for winning a number of important legislative battles by speaking up, speaking out and remaining unified. Without their political action, more than 20,000 members would have lost their jobs, he said.

But delegates cannot revel in victories that did away with Tier V—for now—and increased taxes on the wealthy, he added.

“I ask you once again, in the face of difficult times: Draw a larger circle around your community,” Lubin said. “In Robert F. Kennedy’s words: ‘Speak up, speak out.’”

NYSUT Vice President Maria Neira challenged delegates to be bold enough to change and have the “audacity” to lead. She ended her speech by leading the crowd in chants of “Yes we can!”

NYSUT Vice President Kathleen Donahue told union delegates to meet challenges head on by speaking up and speaking out.

Secretary-Treasurer Lee Cutler detailed NYSUT’s ambitious social agenda, which includes plans for the union’s first social justice summit. “Business as usual would not be an appropriate description of the goings-on at NYSUT these days,” Cutler stated. “We are putting social justice front and center.”

A number of local and state leaders also spoke at the RA, including New York Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand and Charles Schumer, U.S. Rep. Steven Israel, state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli and Education Commissioner Richard Mills.

Delegates approved more than four dozen resolutions during the convention, including UUP-sponsored measures to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act, maintain the integrity of the institution of higher education and back the United Auto Workers. They also elected 34 members as state delegates to the National Education Association’s 2009 Representative Assembly.

UUP’s retiree newsletter, The Active Retiree, and the Farmingdale Chapter’s Unifier were honored at the annual journalism awards luncheon (see related story, page 10).

The competition is judged by professional writers, editors and designers.

— Michael Lisi