Make your plan to vote today
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 choices up and down the ballot. In a year when our jobs, our families, and every aspect of our lives have...
Online Training Available for AFSCME Women Leading Change
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.Introducing the 2019 Women’s Leadership Academy Online, which is kicking off training...
First Round: City of St. Paul AFSCME Endorsement Screenings
AFSCME's East Metro PEOPLE Committee has set a date for it's first round of screenings in St. Paul races for School Board and City Council. The AFSCME East Metro PEOPLE committee is chaired by Willie Snyder of local 707, and all committee members are appointed by the AF...
In No Uncertain Terms
EMS Week is a time to recognize the sacrifices that EMS professionals make for their communities and to honor these skilled heroes who rush into danger when we need them most. AFSCME EMS professionals play an essential role in the emergency response system, but their st...
‘We Wouldn’t Have Anything If It Weren’t for Our Union’
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.
Bayou State Blues: Members Slammed While Processing Record Unemployment Claims
AFSCME members working for the Louisiana Workforce Commission (LWC) are hopping busy these days fulfilling a critical mission. They are helping Louisianans survive as the Bayou State’s economy buckles under pressure from the coronavirus pandemic.
Member Voices: Taking the Politics out of Reproductive Health Care
Unions have a proud history of fighting for the rights of all working people. The right to access legal and affordable reproductive health care is a basic human right. I am proud that my union is fighting to keep politicians out of women’s health care decisions.I am pro...
Anti-worker Janus Case Boosts PEOPLE Membership
AFSCME members are joining PEOPLE to help fight the powerful forces trying to silence workers.
Even though big corporations and big money led to an anti-worker Supreme Court decision, the Janus case isn’t stopping workers or their unions.
Minnesota public workers are...
Support Specialist
AFSCME MN Council 5 is currently seeking applicants for the position of Support Specialist. A brief description and qualifications for the position are shown below.This Support Specialist position is full-time (37.5 hours per week), Monday through Friday between the ho...
House Bill Simplifies and Fixes PSLF, Overhauls Higher Education
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.
AFSCME Praises Supreme Court Ruling Protecting LGBTQ Workers
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.In a statement, AFSCME President Lee Saunders said such protections are long overdue and represent an important ste...
Another reason to involve yourself in the GA Senate runoffs – funding for front-line heroes
Here’s a crucial reason for working people to do all they can to help Jon Ossoff and the Rev. Raphael Warnock win the Georgia Senate runoff elections in January – federal aid to states, cities, towns and schools.If Ossoff and Warnock prevail, there will be a pro-worker...
Top Leadership Changes at Council
AFSCME Council 5 has a new executive director.John Westmoreland, the former assistant director, started his role Nov. 1.He replaces Council 5’s founding director Eliot Seide, who is retiring.“Our union is in good hands,” Seide says. “Under John’s leadership, our union...
Day on the Hill 2019: Making Our Voices Heard
Day on the Hill gives AFSCME members an opportunity to learn about the legislative process, then use that knowledge to engange in meaningful conversations and build relationships with the people we elect to represent us at the Capitol. It’s a chance to come together as...
This Workers Memorial Day, We Honor Those Who Died at Work, Including From COVID-19
Roxie Nelson remembers her father, Ed Nelson, as a caring and passionate man who often put the needs of others before his own.“When I was around him his phone was always busy, and he would take calls from people all the time,” she recalls. “He was always working to help...
AFSCME Volunteer Member Organizers Rise Up
LAS VEGAS — More than 160 AFSCME members gathered in Las Vegas last week to lift up the voice of public service workers and move our union forward. At the AFSCME Volunteer Member Organizer Rise Up conference, VMOs from around the country attended skill-building trainin...
One Local's Direct Dues Challenge
Cindy Ramsey is on fire.The Local 701 member from Hutchinson, who works as a one-to-one caregiver in a state-run care facility for developmentally disabled adults, has spent the past two months on a mission to sign up her entire Local – all 192 members – for Direct Dues...
AMRTC Workers Stand Together – and Win Big
Last summer, members of AFSCME Local 1307 joined with members of MNA and MAPE at the Anoka Metro Regional Treatment Center (AMRTC) for an informational picket to call attention to unsafe working conditions at the facility. As a result of these actions, AMRTC added a new...
Public Charge Rule Would Turn American Dream into Nightmare for Millions
This summer, I joined thousands of union members at a rally in Philadelphia to speak out against the Trump administration’s family separation policy. I was there to represent our union’s vision and values. We reject an immigration policy based on fear and cruelty. We em...
Taking our 'Rise Up!' Message to Vegas
At the AFSCME International Conference in Boston this year, we remembered that, despite the attacks on labor unions, AFSCME will and does Rise Up! Taking the ‘Rise Up!’ message to Las Vegas, AFSCME International gathered over 160 volunteer member organizers (VMOs) from...
Public Service Loan Forgiveness: A Broken Promise
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.“It's like a conveyor belt. Every day you work on your assigned cases, new ones roll in,” said Desai, a member of L...
Jill Erzar: Minnesota's Ambassadors to the Natural World
Some people have wild stories about their coworkers. Jill’s, though, are unique.Jill Erzar is a zookeeper at Como Zoo in St Paul. Her coworkers are giraffes, bison, reindeer, kudu, zebra, and other hooved animals of all shapes and sizes.Growing up, Jill always loved ani...
AFSCME Activism: A Family Tradition
As AFSCME Local 66 celebrates the union’s 100th anniversary this year, members are looking back on their union’s long, rich history – and how it’s impacted their lives, families and communities. For Sandy Pernu Wallin, the AFSCME connection runs deep. Sandy – a second g...
Caught in Limbo: AFSCME Member Struggles with Student Loan Forgiveness
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. Whether her patrons are young or old, affluent or impoverished, O’Steen sha...