AFL-CIO hopeful in return to the city!

[Bravo Zulu]

Obama to address more than 3,000 delegates, guests in most positive union climate in decades

Sunday, September 13, 2009
By Ann Belser, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

After being exiled from the political mainstream for the better part of three decades, labor has come back this week to its spiritual home: Pittsburgh.

The AFL-CIO, a federation of workers from a wide range of industries, will spend a week in the David L. Lawrence Convention Center and will include among its guests the most pro-union president to be elected in 40 years.

President Barack Obama headlines the week of speakers. Other important voices at the gathering will be Labor Secretary Hilda Solis, who has become a fierce enforcer of labor laws that were on the books but nearly forgotten; Caroline Kennedy, the daughter of a president and niece of two senators, all of whom worked closely with unions; and NAACP President Benjamin Jealous.

Jack Shea, president of the Allegheny County Labor Council, will open the convention for 1,000 delegates, 2,000 guests and 250 visitors from around the world representing 56 international labor organizations.

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09256/997663-28.stm#ixzz0R22aCqIr