Workers at state AFL-CIO Convention get ready to rumble

Final push of our Labor 2012 campaign underway

The Fifty-Fifth Annual Convention of the NC State AFL-CIO returned to the state capital this election year for two days, September 13-14.

Delegates from AFL-CIO unions and councils representing workers from every economic sector across North Carolina attended our 2012 state convention in Raleigh where they got energized and mobilized for the final push of our Labor 2012 campaign to re-elect President Barack Obama and to prevent Pat McCrory - a radical right-wing rubber stamp - from moving into our Governor’s mansion by electing Walter Dalton.

Click here to see pictures of our 2012 Convention.

"Our goal is to elect candidates up and down the ballot who value work and condemn greed," said state AFL-CIO president, James Andrews. "We have learned since the last election what happens when politicians with backward priorities seize power - tax cuts for the rich and budget cuts for the rest."

National AFGE President, J. David Cox, delivered the keynote address to delegates and guests at our annual P.R. Latta Rank-and-File Awards dinner honoring the members of AFGE Local 1738, workers at the Department of Veterans Affairs, for their substantial contribution to North Carolina's labor movement. In his speech, J. David called on convention delegates and honored guests to double down on their efforts to win for workers in 2012.

"Don't ever give up! Don't EVER give up! Organize! Organize! Organize, and give everything you've got to this movement 'cause this movement gave us everything we will ever have in our lives, brothers and sisters."

Click here to watch J. David Cox's amazing, powerful keynote address.

"This election is too important, and working people have too much power to sit this one out," said BCTGM delegate and tobacco worker, Earl Jaggers of Burlington:

"Corporations and a handful of wealthy individuals are trying to buy this election, but only the voters will determine the winners."