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Deborah Allman, the first delegate to register for the 46th AFSCME International Convention on Saturday, is confident she will feel “refreshed” when it’s time to return home to New York.
Not just refreshed. But also energized, hopeful, inspired and full of new ideas to fight for her community and co-workers.
Allman, the president of the New York Public Library Guild Local 1930 (District Council 37), is attending her sixth convention. Each convention is unique and special in its own way, said the 30-year employee of the New York Public Library system, and she has always felt energized by the experience.
The Los Angeles convention feels extra special, Allman said, because AFSCME members are committed to fighting for Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate Tim Walz.
“The fact that we might have our first — we will have our first woman as our president — is refreshing,” Allman said. “It’s good to have renewed energy. And it’s good to have hope. I feel like we have hope.”
Allman plans to attend many workshops to pick up skills to use to win fights back home.
Members of her local fought hard to restore funding for New York’s public libraries, but other fights loom. She’s teaching her members the importance of staying in the fight over the long haul.
“We can’t give up. I always say the race is not for the swift. It’s for those who endure. Sometimes the members want things done right away,” Allman said. “You have to endure, you have to fight.”
To do that, it’s good to feel inspired — which Allman believes she will be over the coming days in Los Angeles.
