(BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS) – This is what can happen when Union Members take the time to speak to one another - at the American Federation of State, County & Municipal Employees’ (AFSCME) 43rd International Convention that was just held in Boston, a Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) Representative from Buffalo convinced an AFSCME Member from Oregon to stick with his Union by rejecting the lies and misinformation being spread by an Anti-Union Group.

Paul Blujus, a Certified Nursing Assistant employed at a Veteran’s Nursing Home and who also serves as President of CSEA Local 003 in Buffalo, talked to the AFSCME Oregon Member from the Rise Up Action Center at the AFSCME 43rd International Convention while calling Members all over the country to convince them of the value of being Union. 

As a result, Blujus got his fellow Union Brother to reject the lies and misinformation being spread by the Anti-Union Group, the Freedom Foundation.

“Just ‘someone reaching out to him mattered,’” said Blujus (Pictured above on the left, speaking with AFSCME International President Lee Saunders on the right). “People ‘realize’ when they get a phone call from the Union, ‘this is for real.’”

“A ‘conversation goes a long way as far as clearing confusion up, any kind of doubt, any kind of negativity.’  ‘I find just having those conversation makes a lot of headway towards converting someone to the Union’s point of view,’” Blujus said. 

Many of the Union Members also called others across the country at the AFSCME Convention in Boston and took other actions as well – sending texts, writing letters to their elected representatives and learning new skills and techniques to advocate for their Union and strengthen it against attacks from billionaires, corporate interests and Right-Wing Groups.

Delegates participated in 10-minute learning sessions – which ranged from a primer on bots to a lesson on how to run for political office – and powered up activism by sending texts to recruit volunteers, taking political action and making AFSCME strong, and legislative calls.

To Read This Labor News Story In Its Entirety, Go To: www.afscme.org/now/rise-up-and-take-action.

AFSCME Photo Credit: Luis Gomez