AFSCME President Lee Saunders praised the White House’s announcement Thursday that the Biden administration will forgive student loans for an additional 78,000 borrowers — including many AFSCME mem
AFSCME President Lee Saunders congratulated Nicole Berner, a longtime labor lawyer and general counsel of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), on being
Connecticut Rep. Jahana Hayes recently introduced a resolution calling on Congress to affirm its support for providing living wages, good benefits and fair working conditions to paraeducators, classroom assistants, bus drivers, custodial workers and others who are vital to our public education system.
For John Campion, a monitoring officer with AmeriCorps, the potential for a federal government shutdown beginning this month brings fear, insecurity and frustration.
AFSCME wholeheartedly supports the newly reintroduced Richard Trumka Protecting the Right to Organize Act (PRO Act), which would make it easier for workers in the private sector to form stron
The following is adapted from remarks delivered by President Saunders at the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor’s Martin Luther King Day Breakfast on January 14, 2023.
Faced with the management’s refusal to remedy unfair labor practices and address workers’ major priorities during contract negotiations, AFSCME Local 397 (District Counc
American Red Cross (ARC) workers, including many AFSCME members, are rallying this week in cities nationwide to fight back against mistreatment from their employer and demand a fair contract.
They collect, protect and deliver our nation’s blood supply, yet the almost 3,000 American Red Cross workers are not being paid what they deserve, lack the staff to do
AFSCME members and working families are celebrating the Supreme Court confirmation of Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, whose life experience and extraordinary legal career make her uniquely attuned t
Some of the nation’s largest cultural institutions accepted more than $1.6 billion in federal help to weather the coronavirus pandemic, but continued to let go of workers – even though the assistan
The coronavirus pandemic won’t be controlled until states, cities, towns and schools – and particularly health departments – have the funding they need from the federal government, says AFSCME Reti
The U.S. Conference of Mayors has sent a letter to Congress that echoes what AFSCME has been saying for months: It’s long past time to robustly fund the front lines.
In his first days on the job, President Joe Biden has taken swift executive action to protect and empower public service workers, strengthen public services and help working people.
AFSCME President Lee Saunders called the victories of the Rev. Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff in Georgia’s Senate runoff elections “a bold mandate for change.”
President-elect Joe Biden and Vice president-elect Kamala Harris on Monday brought together business and union leaders, including AFSCME President Lee Saunders, for a virtual meeting to discuss an
It’s easy to say that the 2020 election is the most important of our lifetimes, but hearing this firsthand from AFSCME Retirees, many of whom have dedicated their lives to public service and making America a better place to live, shows the urgency to us all.
If there’s one thing the 2020 election has in spades, it’s choices – and not just the choices between Donald Trump and Joe Biden, Mike Pence and Kamala Harris, and choi
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Thursday joined AFSCME President Lee Saunders and front-line public service workers from states experiencing surges in coronavirus cases to urge the Senate to approve
AFSCME praised today’s ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court that extends protections under Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act to millions of LGBTQ workers.
Economists of diverse backgrounds, who might otherwise disagree on a range of policy issues, spoke with a single voice on Monday on the need for Congress to provide robust aid to states, cities and
It’s become clear that relief bills Congress has approved thus far, including the record $2.2 trillion Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act,
On the eve of Saturday’s Nevada Democratic primary caucuses, AFSCME members and retirees gathered at a Las Vegas restaurant to hear one last time from presidential candidates on the issues that mat
If you followed every Democratic presidential primary debate and read the candidates’ positions on every topic and watched the AFSCME Public Service Fo
On a normal day, Sandra Pacheco, an administrative assistant in Puerto Rico’s Department of Transportation and Public Works, begins her day at 7 a.m., filing paperwork for her colleagues in the fie
As a public librarian for the Philadelphia Free Library, Sheila O’Steen embodies what we think of when we imagine a public service worker. Every day, she interacts with members of her community.
Despite high levels of stress on the job, many state and local workers say they highly value serving the public and their communities and feel generally satisfied with their jobs.
A bill that has been introduced in the House of Representatives would simplify the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program for current and would-be participants.
Across the nation, women are creating change for working families more than ever before. The Women’s Leadership Academy is ready to train more AFSCME women to be leaders of that change.
AFSCME members stood on the steps of the Supreme Court this morning to support the LGBTQ community as the court heard three cases centered on the question of whether it is legal to fire someone for being gay or transgender.
LAS VEGAS – Corrections workers have become the first group of state workers to ask to be recognized as AFSCME in contract negotiations since Nevada adopted a law in June giving state employees the
The 19 presidential candidates who participated in the AFSCME Public Service Forum on Saturday disagreed on a range of topics, but they all agreed on o
The work Joe Martinez does for the Los Angeles County Fire Department is emblematic of countless AFSCME members: he’s never in the spotlight and he’s always under pressure while lives are on the line.
CARSON CITY, Nev. — Public service workers across the country lauded the passage of Nevada Senate Bill 135, which expands collective bargaining rights to over 20,000 Nevada state employees – the la
Last year, after nearly 25 years of working hard at her job at the University of Michigan, Deborah Van Horn was forced out of work by health issues and soon found herself in need of financial assis
During National Nurses Week, we celebrate the heroes who, with skill and compassion, care for the sick. This year, we’re honoring their hard work and dedication by supporting the Workplace Violence Prevention for Health Care and Social Service Workers Act, a bill that seeks to raise the bar on safety standards and protect nurses from preventable incidents of violence at work.
The day after he was released from a hospital, a bruised and swollen Kelvin Chung told a state Senate committee that state employees like him need collective bargaining rights to advocate for safety on the job.
“I want you to see my face. We need a voice on the job, so this doesn't happen again to anyone else,” said Chung, a corrections officer.
Workers Memorial Day is this Sunday, April 28, when we honor workers killed or injured on the job. On this day in 1971, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) was formed.
Megha Desai is a public defender in Multnomah County, Oregon. In a given week, she might work upwards of 60 hours. Right now, she has about 145 open cases.
Fifty-one years ago, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. traveled to Memphis to help rally the community around 1,300 AFSCME sanitation workers who had gone on strike.
Our union gained more than 9,000 dues-paying members and nearly 19,000 dues-paying retirees in the last year, suggesting that billionaires and corporations are failing in their effort to “
Workers in Missouri and New Mexico have chalked important victories against anti-worker laws that would have robbed them of their voices and the right to bargain collectively.
Pamela Knight, a child protective investigator with the Illinois Department of Children and Family Service (DCFS), was sent to check on the welfare of a child last fall.
The best spokespeople for anyone running for elected office are everyday Americans spreading the word to their neighbors, co-workers, friends and relatives.
No politician running for office today would openly advocate for more wealth inequality in our country, where the richest 1 percent of the population owns 40 percent of the wealth.
Even candidate Donald Trump in 2016 promised to stand up for the “forgotten men and women of our country,” who feel betrayed by a rigged economic system that benefits a small minority at their expense.
Yet every single day, President Trump and congressional leaders seem determined to do more to increase wealth inequality than to alleviate it; do more for corporations and the wealthy than for single parents working two or three jobs to make ends meet.
The Janus case was an attempt to deliver a knockout blow to millions of working people and their families who looked to the Supreme Court as an independent institution that advances equal
When he first took a job at the Centralia Correctional Center in Illinois, Keith Kracht knew that a career in public service wouldn’t make him a millionaire. But then again, that’s not why he went into public service.
When AFSCME members stand together, we have power in numbers. Together, we can defend our freedom to take our loved ones to the doctor when they get sick and retire with dignity some day. Together, we have the power to make our voices heard at work and in our democracy. That’s our AFSCME Agenda.
