Friday, March 26, 2004.

Tom Hobart's clarion call to "Stand up and speak out!" received an ovation from more than 2,000 RA delegates who cheered the NYSUT president's action plan to unseat the anti-union Bush administration.

There is no more important task this year, Hobart said, than to speak out "against the anti-unionists trying to drag America down."

In a rousing State of the Union address that brought cheering delegates to their feet several times, Hobart rallied union member to "stand up and speak out against an administration that tries at every turn to take away the rights of working men and women."

Thanks to the efforts of hundreds of thousands of NYSUT members, great gains have been made in the last year when "every member, every day" heeded Hobart's call for action.

A remarkable day

For example, Hobart said, "In May, on what was probably the most remarkable day in NYSUT history, we had the largest rally ever held in Albany" on behalf of public education.

Hobart's address, which was punctuated by more than two dozen rounds of applause, took note of significant union victories over the last year.

NYSUT members fought against devastating cuts in education and health care and won historic overrides and gubernatorial vetoes. "Without our union, last year would have been a trauma and this year would have been a tragedy," Hobart said.

Hobart congratulated local unionists for gains in Orchard Park, Rockland Community College, C.W. Post, Long Island University, on SUNY campuses and Lutheran Hospital in Brooklyn - victories that represent many more across the state.

"All those victories are a testament to NYSUT. We have strength and we have unity. But the stakes are higher now," Hobart said. "We face challenges that go beyond New York's borders. The state of our union is directly impacted by what happens in Washington.

"All the good we do in our own state - all the reforms we push for, all the improvements to our schools and our health care facilities, all the protections and contracts and benefits and workplace-safety improvements we struggle for in New York - all of that is threatened by what happens in Washington."

In an atmosphere where any talk against President Bush's anti-union, anti-public education policies may be considered unpatriotic, Hobart challenged every member to continue standing up for what's right.

"Our members' political philosophies run the gamut. But we all support good schools and good healthcare. We're all struggling with No Child Left Behind and the new Medicare." To the Bush administration, he said, NCLB stands for "No Cash Left for Books."

Hobart, who has led the statewide union since its inception, warned delegates that they cannot sit idly by as President Bush threatens to cut education subsidies for military personnel; opposes increases in the minimum wage; tries to eliminate overtime for office workers, firefighters, police officers and nurses; and hands multi-billion-dollar returns to the pharmaceutical industry in the name of Medicare reform. Hobart, citing campaign contributions from drug companies, said, "A $139 billion return on a $1 million investment - talk about your insider trading."

Hobart also questioned Bush's motives for wanting to spend more than a billion dollars to teach people how to stay married.

"A better step toward keeping families together might be to add to education funding so that families can get their children a better education," Hobart said. "Or to bring back the two million jobs he's lost so parents can feed and clothe their families and get medical care."

Drawing on the theme of the convention, "One tree, many branches," Hobart challenged each NYSUT member to reach out beyond their locals to spread the union's message.

"If every one of NYSUT's 500,000 members called 10 friends in other states to spread our message, that would be one hell of a political phone tree," Hobart said.

"Mark Twain once said that a lie can travel half way around the world while the truth is putting its shoes on," Hobart said. "Well, let's not waste time lacing up our shoes. Stand up and speak out."