BEND – Gary Gillespie was re-elected president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Oregon Council 75. He defeated challenger Tina Turner-Morfitt. Morfitt had served as first vice president of the 22,000- member council.

Gillespie, a member of Local 1724 (City of Eugene), said he was “humbled and honored” to continue as president, a post he has held since 2001.

Delegates to the biennial convention April 13-15 at the Riverhouse Hotel and Convention Center also passed resolutions restructuring their dues payment system from a flat monthly fee to a percentage based on wages, and named its Portland headquarters the “William Lucy AFSCME Labor Center,” in tribute to their International Secretary-Treasurer William Lucy.

Lucy, who was the convention’s keynote speaker, predicted that the Senate will pass labor’s top legislative issue this session — the Employee Free Choice Act. The bill , H.R. 800, would level the playing field when workers seek to form a union and bargain. H.R. 800 passed the House earlier this year and is awaiting hearings in the Senate.