Roosevelt-Humphrey Day Dinner

On April 23, 1998, friends and allies of ADA got together at the Roosevelt Hotel for our annual celebration of the progressive values we hold dear. The Roosevelt-Humphrey Day Dinner this year honored Gerald W. McEntee, president of AFSCME (American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees). McEntee had to take a flight through heavy rain conditions to arrive at the dinner, and barely made it. Still, he gave a powerful and rousing speech.

 

"For the past fifty-one years, Americans for Democratic Action has dared to challenge the leaders of this nation to shape our society using the tools of social justice, economic fairness, and racial and gender equality," McEntee said. "ADA and AFSCME have been fighting the good fight together for years. We have stood shoulder to shoulder on the front battle lines for civil rights, for women's rights, and for the minimum wage."

 

Speaking to the concerns of his members, especially those of Local 420 and 420 President James Butler, McEntee spoke eloquently and forcefully against Rudy Giuliani's recent layoffs of health care workers.

 

"The so-called 'Work Experience Program' that the city has instituted has put thousands of welfare recipients to work, but at what price? WEP workers are displacing hard-working women and men -- many of whom are AFSCME members -- and forcing them into the welfare system . . . Mayor Giuliani and HHC President Marcos want to lay off over 900 workers in hospitals all across this great city. And just by chance, there are over 1,000 WEP workers waiting in the wings."

 

McEntee also spoke forcefully about the "Paycheck Protection Act," right-wing legislation designed to quiet the union voice, calling it "Paycheck Deception" and pointing out that the right- wing political establishment outspends labor eleven to one.

 

Also speaking was dinner chair and Transport Workers Union President Sonny Hall (who was honored himself at the 1996 Roosevelt-Humphrey Day Dinner). He spoke pointedly about McEntee's career of dedication to progressive causes, and his unflagging support of American workers.

 

AFL-CIO Public Employee Department President Al Bilik was scheduled as the guest speaker, but did not arrive until the dinner was almost over, due to the same rain conditions that nearly stopped the honoree. In a prepared statement, Bilik pointed to many of the problems facing the American worker today, and called for the government to enact labor neutrality as policy for its contractors. Labor neutrality is the philosophy the government uses for its own workers: the idea is to neither encourage or discourage unionization, but to allow the workers to unionize if they vote for it. San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown tied an economic development grant to Marriott with insistence that Marriott follow a neutrality policy. It did, and the workers organized.

 

The rain did not dampen the spirits of the more than two hundred people who attended the dinner, who vigorously cheered McEntee when he made his most poignant comments, and gave him several standing ovations. ADA gives our thanks to Gerald McEntee, Sonny Hall, Al Bilik, and everyone who helped make the event a success.

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