Michigan AFL-CIO President Comments On ‘One Delegate, One Vote’ Proposal LaborTalk By Harry Kelber
Mark Gaffney, president of the Michigan State AFL-CIO, which has 650,000 members and 350,000 retirees, is quite content to have only one vote at AFL-CIO conventions, even though many international unions have hundreds of thousands of votes. Here is the text of an e-mail that Brother Gaffney sent me:
"Mr. Kelber, you are simply wrong in your "LaborTalk" of 10-15-03. The State Federations and CLC's should not have voting power equal to affiliated unions at the National AFL-CIO. Simply put, the affiliated unions pay millions of dollars in per capita, we pay none. The Executive Council, General Board and especially the convention are rightfully the place where per capita strength should be exercised. We in the AFL-CIO work for and provide service for the affiliates. This is one State that respects the principle of per capita strength." Mark T. Gaffney, president, Michigan State AFL-CIO.