Delegates to the AFSCME 43rd International Convention in Boston on Tuesday celebrated the life and legacy of Paul Booth, a lifelong labor organizer, union strategist and progressive activist who devoted more than 40 years to AFSCME.
Booth, who died on Jan. 17, 2018, at the age of 74, helped found AFSCME Council 31 in Illinois. He later became the director of field services for AFSCME International and eventually executive assistant to Presidents Gerald W. McEntee and Lee Saunders.
His leadership helped the union grow and thrive, becoming more diverse and dynamic. He was a gifted organizer. He combined passionate idealism with strategic smarts. He spent every day fighting for the right of public service workers to have dignity, security and a better life.
Delegates voted unanimously to pass a resolution honoring Booth.
In a ceremony to present his wife, Heather Booth, with the framed resolution, AFSCME President Lee Saunders said, “Paul was more than a great colleague and a shrewd tactician; he was a man of great warmth, generosity and integrity. Those personal qualities could be seen in the way he passed along so much expertise and wisdom, in the passion with which he trained and mentored thousands of people – many of them right here in this hall. This will be his greatest legacy.”
Heather Booth, a legendary activist in her own right, said in an emotional speech today, “Paul loved AFSCME. He loved that you fight for decency and democracy.”
“He loved the strength that AFSCME brings and the way in which you’ve changed so many lives for the better – and you still do and you still will, even in these perilous and inspiring times,” she added.
As a young man, Booth was an outspoken and influential voice against the Vietnam War. He was one of the leaders of Students for a Democratic Society, and he helped craft the Port Huron Statement and the 1960s New Left manifesto.
Paul Booth met his future wife at an anti-war sit-in more than 50 years ago, and he proposed just a few days later. Paul and Heather Booth have two sons, Gene and Dan, and five grandchildren.