WHEREAS:

            The 30th AFSCME International Convention adopted the resolution, "Resolving the Urban Crisis," which provided for the appointment of an AFSCME Urban Affairs Advisory Committee; and

WHEREAS:

            President McEntee appointed an Urban Affairs Advisory Committee of AFSCME leaders from metropolitan areas across the country; and

WHEREAS:

            The Committee met with a host of urban experts including: Housing and Urban Development Secretary Henry Cisneros; Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, Lee Brown; former Mayor of Albuquerque David Rusk, author of Cities Without Suburbs; and

WHEREAS:

            The Committee has combined the insights of urban experts with their own extensive experience to write a comprehensive report, which both establishes the importance of healthy cities to the overall economic welfare of the nation, and identifies the actions which the nation must take to attack poverty, crime, racial discrimination, and fiscal stress plaguing many our nation's great cities; and

WHEREAS:

            The AFSCME International Executive Board shares the Committee's belief that the well-being of our country, our cities, and our nation are intertwined; and

WHEREAS:

            After having reviewed the report, the AFSCME International Executive Board strongly recommends that the delegates to the AFSCME 31st International Convention adopt the "AFSCME Agenda for Urban America: The Report of the AFSCME Urban Affairs Advisory Committee;" and

WHEREAS:

            Copies of the Committee's report have been distributed to the delegates of this convention.

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED:

            That this 31st AFSCME International Convention adopt the Urban Affairs Advisory Committee's AFSCME Agenda for Urban America, which, in part, calls for:

• Creating jobs through a substantial investment in public infrastructure, including water, sewer, and transportation systems;

   

• Improving access of city residents to jobs by requiring employers to list an jobs with a revitalized public Employment Service;

   

• Improving the qualifications of city residents for work by ensuring that all poor children have access to Head Start, by empowering teachers and parents to chart the course of their public schools, and by increasing support for public colleges and universities in urban areas to enable more central city residents to earn college degrees;

   

• Reducing the crime and violence which has resulted in many city residents becoming virtual prisoners of their own homes by attacking the poverty which ties at the root of crime; expanding drug education and treatment programs to reduce the demand for illegal drugs; encouraging the adoption of community policing; and by supporting community dispute mediation programs to teach youth to resolve disputes with words rather than weapons;

   

• Fighting racial discrimination through rigorous enforcement of fair employment and housing policies and by using collective bargaining and other appropriate means to urge employers to provide diversity awareness programs;

   

• Relieving cities' fiscal stress through full federal and state funding of social welfare and health services programs; and

   

• Protecting public services by AFSCME continuing to lead the fight against privatization and contracting out; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED:

            That AFSCME use the Committee's report to join with other urban advocates in educating Americans as to the crucial role cities play in maintaining the nation's well-being; and

BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED:

            That the AFSCME Urban Affairs Committee be commended for its hard work and leadership in presenting this progressive agenda for our country, cities, and union.

SUBMITTED BY:   

INTERNATIONAL EXECUTIVE BOARD

Brenda Stokely, President and Delegate 
Local 215, Council 1707
New York