Thank you! Your hard work made the difference and because of it working men and women have defeated the Constitutional Convention ballot proposal! This is a tremendous victory for organized labor in New York and for all working people.
This has been the priority issue for us here at the New York State AFL-CIO for the past two years.
From the very beginning we were committed to educating and engaging our members and the general public around this critical issue. Early polls showed close to 70 percent support for a Constitutional Convention while the vast majority of editorial pages, “so called” good government groups and others laid the ground work for an incredibly steep hill to climb. The result of the election is very clear; working men and women understood what was at stake.
Our constitution has some of the strongest worker protections in the country including, the right to collectively bargain, unemployment insurance, workers compensation, the eight-hour work day, civil service protections, public employee pension protections and prevailing rate. All of those rights will continue to be protected for the working men and women of this great state.
This is a defining moment for the labor movement as it demonstrates what can be accomplished when we all work together, from the public sector, private sector and building trades unions, to the Central Labor Councils and Area Labor Federations.
I am particularly proud of our 2.5 million members, retirees and their families for mobilizing around such an important issue. Whether it was through member to member meetings, town halls, letters to the editor, Op Eds, phone banks, labor walks, social media engagement or debates; we made our voices heard.
This victory leaves us well positioned to successfully advocate on behalf of all working men and women because as our opponents know, when the labor movement is thriving we not only raise the wages, benefits and conditions of employment of union members; we raise the standard of living and quality of life of all working people.
In Solidarity,
Mario Cilento
President NewYork State AFL-CIO