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Workers "Organizing to Win" at AFL-CIO Convention this week in Raleigh

Jeremy Sprinkle
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For Immediate Release

Contact: Jeremy Sprinkle, Communications Director, [email protected], 336-255-2711

Workers Organizing to Win at 57th Annual NC State AFL-CIO Convention in Raleigh

From midterm elections to the long-term revival of the American labor movement in the South

RALEIGH, N.C. (September 10, 2014) – “Organizing to Win” will be the theme as almost 200 delegates representing over 100,000 public and private sector local union members from across North Carolina and their guests convene the 57th Annual Convention of the North Carolina State AFL-CIO - the largest association of unions and union councils in North Carolina - at the Hilton North Raleigh/Midtown on Thursday and Friday, September 11-12th. Featured speakers this year include U.S. Senator Kay Hagan, 2nd Congressional District candidate Clay Aiken, and national AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Tefere Gebre, who will deliver the keynote address at a banquet on Thursday. Raleigh Councilmember Mary Ann Baldwin and Wake County state Senator Josh Stein are also slated to speak. Two panels - one on building power for workers in 2014 and beyond and the other on growing the labor movement in the South - and a special tribute to the late P.R. Latta will round out the day-and-a-half program.

“We are building a movement of organized workers in the South, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with our community partners, registering voters and mobilizing to restore funding for public education, to increase wages, and to build an economy that works for all of us - not just the rich,” says MaryBe McMillan, Secretary-Treasurer of the NC State AFL-CIO.

“It will take more than one election cycle to hold the extremists who now run our state accountable for cutting aid for jobless workers, denying Medicaid expansion, and raising the tax burden on hard-working North Carolinians and retirees while letting wealthy families and corporations avoid paying their fair share, but the AFL-CIO is in this for the long-haul,” says James Andrews, President of the NC State AFL-CIO. “I believe that we will win.”

Who: Speakers including U.S. Senator Kay Hagan, Clay Aiken, National AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Tefere Gebre

What: 57th Annual Convention of the North Carolina State AFL-CIO

Where: Hilton North Raleigh/Midtown, 3415 Wake Forest Rd, Raleigh, NC 27609

When: 9:30 AM Thursday, September 11 - noon Friday, September 12, 2014

Mary Ann Baldwin / Josh Stein - Thursday, 9:30 AM
Clay Aiken - Thursday, 10:00 AM
P.R. Latta tribute - Thursday, 3:00 PM
Tefere Gebre - Thursday, 7:00 PM
Kay Hagan - Friday, 10:00 AM

Why: Unions in North Carolina are organizing to win in the 2014 midterms and beyond

Members of the media interested in attending to report on speeches by Sen. Hagan, Clay Aiken, national AFL-CIO Executive VP Gebre, local elected officials, or the P.R. Latta tribute, contact Jeremy Sprinkle at 336-255-2711.

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The North Carolina State AFL-CIO is the largest association of local unions and union councils in North Carolina, representing over one-hundred thousand union members, fighting for good jobs, safe workplaces, workers’ rights, consumer protections, and quality public services on behalf of ALL working families.  PO Box 10805, Raleigh, NC 27605.