AFSCME Lobby Day 2010

Please take the time to thank Regina Gainey, Indrea Pope and Pam Wilson next time you see them in the Registrar's Office.  They are the courageous women from USF's Tampa campus who joined me for an action-packed, 23-hour trip to Tallahassee for AFSCME Lobby Day on Tuesday, March 16.

 L-R:  Susie, Pam, Indrea & Regina

After an overnight bus trip best left undescribed, we four USFers met with approximately 250 AFSCME members and supporters over an impressive 7 am buffet breakfast where we learned about the issues to be addressed that day, received a crash course in lobbying and picked up our t-shirts and loaded canvas bags.  The assembled activists then broke up into groups each advocating for issues of concern in their particular workplaces, be they State offices, Juvenile Justice Offices, Hospitals, School Boards, or State Universities.  Another large group, comprised of the myriad of other public employees from around the state, would spend the day fighting legislative assaults on the Florida Retirement System on behalf of us all ( see:  http://www.afscme.ourusf.org/2010retirementsheet.pdf) .

As part of the University contingent, Regina, Indrea, Pam and I teamed up with AFSCME activists from USF, FSU and FAMU under the fearless leadership of long-time progressive activist and lobbyist, Barbare DeVane.  Before starting out, we quickly refined our message, agreeing to ask our Florida legislators to support:

• More funding for Higher Education
• A long-overdue raise to the base for University staff who serve the state by providing services to the students who are its future; and
•  Senator Evelyn Lynn's Workplace Safety Bill (http://www.afscme.ourusf.org/2010safetysheet.pdf)

Then we all boarded buses for the capitol where our first order of business was to keep each other warm while attending a wind-whipped, outdoor press conference to publicize the Floridians for Public Workplace Safety Coalition, an unprecedented coalition of labor, business, safety and health professionals working for passage of Senator Lynn's Workplace Safety Bill.  (full text of Senate bill: http://www.myfloridahouse.us/Sections/Documents/loaddoc.aspx?FileName=_s0154__.DOCX&DocumentType=Bill&BillNumber=0154&Session=2010%20)

We University workers then spent the rest of the day finding our way around the maze that is the Capitol building, first just missing a meeting of the Senate Higher Education Appropriations Committee that had adjourned early (whose meeting notes we later obtained hot off the presses), delivering our message to the offices of targeted legilators, witnessing the passage of the Hourse Higher Education Appropriations Committee version of the higher ed. budget, and addressing any legislator Barbara managed to buttonhole, including locals Faye Culp and Betty Reed.

Somewhere in the middle fo all this, we headed back outside, relieved to find the weather had warmed up enough for us to really enjoy the delicious lunch open to anyone who cared to join us at one of many long, cloth-covered tables.  As we ate, we chatted and listened to short messages of greeting and solidarity from legislators James Bush III and Audrey Gibson, among others.  AFSCME Legilative Director, Doug Martin, had also lined up presentations by AFSCME activists from around the state, including workers fighting to save Jacksonville public hospitals and Daytona Beach worker Michael Martin, the lone survivor of a chemical explosion that killed two of his coworkers and prompted the Workplace Safety effort.

Before heading back inside to pack the House and Senate galleries as part of the AFSCME "sea of green," we USFers also took the time to check out the National Guard's display on the mall, where my intrepid companions made themselves right at home, no invitations needed.

At the end of a very busy day, all we University folks followed up on a hot tip to check out the 22nd floor of the Capitol building which provides a 360 degree view of Tallahassee.  Finally, we all boarded buses heading beack to the Civic Center where box lunches were distributed for munching during the movie marathon we watched (or slept through) on the long ride through Orlando and back to Tampa where we finally arrived back at the AFSCME office at 11:30 pm, 23 hours after we first started out.

Regina, Pam, Indrea and I feel proud and privileged to have represented USF staff workers.  We truly enjoyed this opportunity to learn about and participate in the democratic process and to fight for issues of concern to the people without whom this state could not function.  

Thanks also to all of you who wanted to come this time around but could not.  We hope that many more of you will make plans to join AFSCME Lobby Day 2011.