National Convention Report

By Danny Struab, Delegate-at-Large

 

The 70th biennial convention was called to order on Monday, August 15, 2016 at 10 a.m. by Secretary-Treasurer Nicole Rhine. She then introduced various guests including the mayor of Los Angeles.

     Nicole then introduced former NALC officers who had retired and then went on to introduce the current NALC Executive Board. After this, President Fredric Rolando was introduced and gave a lengthy speech about what has transpired since the 2014 convention.

     The preliminary report of the Credentials Committee showed that 28 national officers, 39 delegate-at-large representatives and 3916 delegates registered. After the report was read, President Rolando introduced Executive VP Tim O’Malley who announced that he was retiring at the end of the convention. Other various speakers came by to speak.

     The first day ended at 3:00 p.m., followed by five different workshops if the delegates wanted to attend. Most workshops filled up quickly.

     The second day again began at 10:00 a.m. Constitutional amendments were the first order of business. Convention delegates ultimately approved all of the Executive Council’s recommendations.

     An amendments to Article 6, Section 2, will allow for a possible realignment in the future for the 15 NALC regions. An amendment to this amendment called for convention approval of any re-alignment and was passed on a teller vote of 2516 in favor and 2032 against. This amendment to the amendment was passed and NO realignment will happen earlier than 2020.

     Secretary-Treasurer Rhine announced that organizing CCAs has reached 86.2 percent. This is up from 77.2 percent in 2014. Also, President Rolando gave out various awards to the branches for their organizing efforts. He then turned to giving out communication awards. Richard Thayer, editor of The North Carolina Letter Carrier received second and third place awards in the News/Feature Story category. He also received the first place award in the Best Editorial/Column category.

     There were six workshops in the a.m. and five workshops in the p.m.

     On the third day, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumpka addressed the convention and gave a very rousing speech. Also, on this day President Rolando announced that two surveys were being taken at the convention. One asked the CCAs about their concerns regarding work place issues and the National Agreement.

     The other survey asked for similar feedback from active city letter carriers. 

     A final Credentials report showed 28 national officers, 39 delegates-at-large, and 5410 delegates representing 612 branches.

     There were seven workshops available in the a.m. and six in the p.m.

     On the fourth day, the delegates were told about the various organizations that we work with including MDA, Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive, veteran’s groups and the blood drive.

     President Rolando brought forward the United Mine Workers of America president Cecil Roberts who gave a “hell and brimstone” speech.

     Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez, a 10-term representative from Orange County, California. She will be running for a senatorial seat in California in the November election. And she vowed to continue her support for the NALC.

     There were six workshops in the a.m. and six in the p.m.

     On the final day, the Committee on Appeals presented five cases that were submitted to the convention. The committee was upheld on four cases and overruled on the fifth case.

     President Rolando thanked all in attendance and also paid tribute to Tim O’Malley who was retiring when the convention closed. I would like to thank Tim when he was in charge of the Health Benefits Plan for his assistance.

     On the Sunday afternoon before the convention started, I assisted our other delegate-at-large, John Cowan, who brought the banners for us to set up our seating arrangements. We were seated in the far right corner facing the stage and we had to look at the big screen monitors that were set up.

     On Friday morning, John and I dismantled the signs and put them up for another two years.

 

Respectfully Submitted,

Danny Straub