I’ll probably just run this post as a flowing update as things come up…Understand, my friends, this convention has no internal controversy. So, I’ll just give you the straight poop from here.

Anna Burger is about to open the convention—and as Tom Edsall of the Washington Post points out, it’s her 55th birthday today. As Harold Meyerson (columnist for the Washington Post, American Prospect and L.A. Weekly) just said to me, “so, that’s what all this shit has been about.” (he’s 55 too so he’s biased).

We’re inside the Majestic Ballroom in St.Louis’ Renessiance Hotel…short video. And now a few workers are speaking from the floor. The first one Myrna Blanco is a Houston Janitor: “we want to realize the American Dream.”Along with Blanco, several others janitors are telling the story of trying to organize their union, which included a strike. “We were more than willing to put our jobs on the line for our brothers and sisters.” One said Teamsters honored our picket lines. They said our fight is our fight…On the eve of the Teamsters saying they would honor our picket lines, our strike was settled in Houston. Applause and standing ovation at the end of the presentation.

9;15 a.m.: Intros of Exec Committee: as each one is introduced, standing ovation from their delegates, each union has its own color T-Shirt—Carpenters’ Doug MCCaron, Teamsters’ Jim Hoffa, UNITE HERE’s Bruce Raynor, UFCW’s Joe Hansen, UFCW’s Geralyn Lutty (an international veep for the union), SEIU Andy Stern, UNITE-HERE’s Edgar Romney (who is CTW’s secretary-treasurer), Farmworkers’ Arturo Rodriguez, and Laborers’ Terry O’Sullivan.

Delegate totals: 108—teamsters;
57—laborers ;
117—SEIU ;
18—carpenters;
86—UFCW
;4—Farmworkers ;
70—unite here. There are

270 guests here for a total of

921 in the hall. Seems right. Colors: UFCW went for gold, SEIU is…guess? Yeah, purple. Laborers: white. UNITE HERE: red.

Burger: [The American Dream]…that dream is flickering. Working in America today is very different today then when iIgot my first job. Rules today are stacked against us and they stink. We do work hard–we serve food, we stock shelves…The rules no longer work. Wages are down, hours are up…health care costs are growing…part time jobs are on the rise. Global corporations…roam the globe in search of the lowest wages…they make hard choices between health care and rent…this is not the American Dream, this is the American nightmare….we are grwoing smaller…and it’s those 9 out of 10 workers that brought us together…when we do our job those workers will join with us…(applause).

Here is Burger’s prepared text.

Here is Jim Hoffa’s prepared text for his speech–which he is now giving. He slipped in one factoid–the CTW will spend $750 million on organizing…not sure where that number comes from but will follow up. He finishes to a standing ovation and chants of “Hoffa, Hoffa, Hoffa, Hoffa”

Now, it’s Bruce Raynor’s turn: “Real wages today are lower today then they were in 1973. 46 million Americans will make a choice between feeding their families or putting $3 a gallon gas in their cars or health insurance in the wealthiest country on the face of the earth and that is a goddamn disgrace…When you fight one of us, you fight the entire labor movement.”

Now, CINTAS workers are going to give testimony. Background: 40 union laundries were busted when Cintas bought them in two years, UNITE HERE filed race and sex discrimination lawsuit, which Raynor says will cost the company $50 million. The campaign is being waged with the Teamsters: 2,800 truck drivers have signed on to an overtime pay lawsuit, and will get $10,000 a piece. The attonrey general of Illinois has sued Cintas for violating sweatshop laws. In California, a judge ruled that Cintas had violated the living wage ordinance and ordered Cintas to pay 219 laundry workers $800,000 in back wages, and legal fees of half a million dollars.

Workers each made brief comments: Donatila alvarez (NY): I’m sorry to see my co-workers getting sick from the danerogus chemical and the pesticides. Maria Valentin (Detroit): Cintas has learned that they cannot keep us down. Enedina Garcica (CA): We just won our case on Friday. Cintas will have to pay all the money the workers are due.

10:20 a.m. (local time) Andy Stern is now speaking. When SEIU started the debate more than a year ago, it said, “We either change the AFL-CIO or build something stronger…We are here to pledge that no one who works full time in America will ever be poor again…We are here to pledge to create a new political movement, not about Democrats or Republicans, or about left and right but what’s right and wrong for American families…”

UPDATE: Here is the prepared text of Stern’s speech.

10:40 a.m.: Geralyn Lutty from the UFCW. “America cannot live on a wal-mart paycheck. we must transform walmart…into a socially responsible corporation. It embodies a worldwide race to the bottom..and with few exceptions, walmart’s practices are becoming a model for global corporations in a race to the bottom…it means lowering community standards of living.”

10:55 a.m. Arturo Rodriguez, speaking about the fight against Gallo: “Those are the kind of victories we can realize time and time agian…the growers are trying to divide us…and trying to keep our unions from coming together…We’re going to be joined by the workers who are transporting the product, by workers who are selling the product in the stores…Cesar Chavez said we are not arigultural implements we are human beings…Si Se Puede!”

Rodriquez has now moved to read the first resolution entitled “Our Pledge.” I will eventually get an e-copy of the resolutions and constitution and will post. It’s pretty much an overarching view of the economy and the challenge to organize. People are now speaking on the resolution–so far, all in favor. Frankly, hard to oppose.

A light moment: member of the Teamsters, whose name I didn’t get, stood up and introduced himself as the head of the central labor council in Providence, Rhode Island, “…until the Sweeney police come to get me,” referring to the AFl-CIO’s position that central labor body leaders who belong to disaffiliated unions cannot continue to hold their positions (though, as reported, the implementation of that directive has been suspended until October 15th).

11:30 a.m. Now, UFCW’s Joe Hansen will have his say: “If we do not drastically change there will be no labor movement in this country,..this is about the workers you are meeting right here in St. Louis…the Cintas workers…and the millions of workers who are not here with us including our own members and the millions of workers who want a union so they can have a better life…the wake-up call for the UFCW was a long and bitter strike in so calif….we eaximed the financial and market situation of our major employers…the picure was not pretty…our employers had too much financial clout…we took the reform package to the AFL-CIO but too many unions feared the risk of change…”

UPDATE: Here is Joe Hansen’s full prepared statement.

LUNCH!!!