There was much discussion during the Mass AFL/CIO State of the Union Conference and a unanomous concenses that how  the buisness of endorsing State Representatives and Senators needs to change drastically.

Attendee's were shown a list of legislator's who hold 100 % Labor Voting Records but were informed that some are still signing on to legislation that has the potential to harm workers.

Many possible changes were discussed including points earned for stading with labor on our issues including picket lines, and points that would be taken away when a legislator does something such as signing onto bills that would be harmfull for labor.

The conference ended with the decision to form a committee to review all of the ideas suggested, research the issue further and put a proposal togeather for a new endorsement program that would be presented at a later date.

The Massachusetts AFL/CIO Held it's 2008 State of the Union Conference February 7th and 8th at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Natick, MA.

On Thursday, Governor Patrick met with the Executive Board prior to the opening of the conference, and gained the official endorsement of the principles set forth in the Governor's destination resort casino economic development proposal.

During this meeting Governor Patrick was also informed that the Mass AFL/CIO would stongly oppose any attempts to raise the health care costs for state employees, and do whatever neccessary in campaigning to stop any such legislation from being signed.

The Mass AFL/CIO believes the destination casinos are one way to find new sources for public revenues. The building of these casinos and their operations has the potential to create thousands of jobs also.