M11-028

TO: SPEEA Council Delegates

FROM: SPEEA Diversity Committee

SUBJECT: PRESUBMITTED NEW BUSINESS: Out and Equal Conference Attendance

The Out & Equal Workplace Summit provides attendees with all the information and resources they need to become an out and equal workplace.

At the Summit, individuals, human resources professionals, diversity managers, employee resource group (ERG) leaders, and allies have the perfect platform from which to make powerful connections, share best practices, and formulate a strategy that allows for a powerful demonstration of their commitment to equality in the workplace.

The Summit boasts more than 2,300 attendees who participate in over 125 workshops and caucuses all designed to create an inclusive workplace. The abundance of activities and nationally celebrated keynote speakers result in an experience that has been described as "an enlightening watershed of information."

The Summit justly deserves its international reputation as the premier conference on LGBT issues in the workplace.

The 2011 Out & Equal Workplace Summit will be held October 25-28 in Dallas, TX.

Out & Equal's Annual Workplace Summit deserves its international reputation as the premier conference on LGBT issues in the workplace. The summit provides individuals, human resources professionals, diversity managers, employee resource group (ERG) leaders, and straight allies the perfect platform from which to make powerful connections, share best practices, and formulate a strategy that allows for a powerful demonstration of their commitment to equality for LGBT people in the workplace. The abundance of activities and nationally celebrated keynote speakers result in an experience that has been described as "an enlightening watershed of information."

This year's Summit expects to attract more than 2,500 attendees who will participate in over 125 workshops, seminars, intensive sessions, and panels all designed to create an inclusive workplace.

Additional information can be found at http://outandequal.org

Attendance at this summit benefits SPEEA and our membership by bringing back information to SPEEA to help SPEEA value all members, and to help SPEEA make all members feel welcome in becoming involved in SPEEA. Seattle has the second largest LGBT community in the US behind San Francisco. Also The AFL-CIO has Pride at Work http://prideatwork.org/ an officially recognized constituency group of the AFL-CIO. There will be other unions at the conference and some networking can be done with other unions to see what they have faced or changed in the work place or in contract language.

The cost of attendance by one member is estimated as $3,000 expenses and $1,800 wages.

MOTION

It is moved that: THE SPEEA COUNCIL APPROVES ATTENDANCE AT THE 2011 OUT & EQUAL UPCOMING CONFERENCE IN OCTOBER 2011 AND REQUESTS FUNDING UP TO $3,000 FOR EXPENSES AND 40 HOURS COMPENSATED TIME.