EDWARD J. McELROY

WHEREAS, as president of the American Federation of Teachers since 2004, Ed McElroy has worked tirelessly to attract new members, build the union's capacity to serve members at the state and local levels, strengthen the union's political voice and solidify its leadership role in the national and international trade union community; and

WHEREAS, under his leadership, the AFT has continued to grow vigorously, adding more than 144,000 members, or 10.9 percent, in the past four years, a period characterized by anti-union hostility during which the membership of many American unions has declined; and

WHEREAS, during his presidency and the preceding 12 years that he served as AFT secretary-treasurer, Ed McElroy helped to build the AFT into one of the largest and most effective unions in the United States; and

WHEREAS, for the past 16 years, Ed McElroy has maintained a steady hand at the union's helm, helping it to recover, ever stronger, from the untimely illnesses and deaths of Secretary-Treasurer Robert Porter, President Al Shanker and President Sandra Feldman; and

WHEREAS, Ed McElroy's philosophy that educators and other professionals have a crucial role to play in the larger trade union movement—and that trade unionists have a crucial role to play in the life of a democracy—has proven to be one of the keys to union strength in the 21st century; and

WHEREAS, Ed McElroy was elected president of the Warwick (Rhode Island) Teachers Union at the age of 28, elected president of the Rhode Island State AFT at age 30, and elected president of the Rhode Island State AFL-CIO at age 36, resulting in a record of more than 40 years as a leader in the fight for the political and economic rights of working families; and

WHEREAS, his contributions gained national and international reach through his long service as an AFT vice president, as chair of the AFT Committee on Political Education, as a member of the AFT Executive Committee during the presidency of Al Shanker, as a vice president of the AFL-CIO since 2001, as chair of the AFL-CIO Committee on State and Local Strategies, as chair of the AFL-CIO Department for Professional Employees, as president of the Albert Shanker Institute, and as a board member on a wide range of community, civic and labor organizations, including Education International, the Union Labor Life Insurance Company, the National Endowment for Democracy, the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards and the Economic Policy Institute:

RESOLVED, that this American Federation of Teachers convention offer our gratitude to President Ed McElroy for his many years of service to the AFT, to its members and to the American labor movement; and

RESOLVED, that this convention honor Ed McElroy's leadership in helping to attract hundreds of thousands of new members to the AFT, greatly expanding collective bargaining rights for AFT and other union members, fostering strong working relationships between AFT and the larger trade union movement and making AFT political activism a force to be reckoned with; and

RESOLVED, that, while allowing time for his retirement pursuits, this convention names Ed McElroy president emeritus of the AFT, allowing the union to call upon him to help in the fight to defend and extend political and workplace democracy for all Americans. (2008)