The Wisconsin State AFL-CIO 29th Biennial Convention

Welcome to the 29th Wisconsin State AFL-CIO Biennial Convention! We are gathering this week in Madison, our state’s beautiful Capitol, for invigorating debate and discussion as we continue to build support and solidarity through Unity, our convention’s overarching theme.

Amid attacks on workers’ rights, we continue to stick together and have each other’s backs in the workplace through collective bargaining and strong unions. The Wisconsin labor movement has stepped up to meet each and every challenge with the strength of steadfast solidarity. Workers have come together in an unprecedented way. Workers from different regions, different sectors, with different interests and objectives have all come together as one movement to stand strong and support one another in the face of adversity. We can be proud of our Unity. We celebrate our Unity at this convention.

As we look ahead to November 2016, we are committed to electing working family champions like Hillary Clinton and Russ Feingold and enhancing workers’ voices in the state legislature. Our political program is already educating and turning out the vote with union members and Wisconsinites alike.

Just like on Tuesday, November 8, your voice over the next few days is significant. At this convention you have the important opportunity to set the goals and direction of the Wisconsin State AFL-CIO through the democratic process. Your active participation is crucial in continuing to advance the rights of Wisconsin workers through a successful and innovative labor movement. Please take this charge in earnest. Over the next day and a half, you will hear from policy and thought leaders on a wide range of issues impacting working people. You will hear from politicians leading the charge to support working families and from those hoping to win office in November on why they deserve your vote.

It is up to each and every one of us to shoulder the responsibility to turn Wisconsin around for workers. As union members, we bear the charge of educating and mobilizing for all workers. As the Wisconsin labor movement, we stand ready to raise wages for working people and ensure that every working person has access to a safe family-supporting job with good benefits.

This week we come together in unity so that we can leave behind a better workplace and a better life for the next generation. This convention, we are proud to come together through unity as one strong labor movement that fights for the people of Wisconsin.