AFSCME members from across the country are sharing their stories of progress over the last two years.
The last two years have been full of challenges.But under the leadership of the Biden administration and this Congress, we are turning a corner. There have been unprecedented investments in public services and public service jobs. Millions will see the price of life-sav...
The union difference: Greatest wealth gains are for Black and Hispanic union households
We’ve said it before: Life is better in a union. Workers who belong to unions make more money than their nonunion counterparts. They have better health care insurance and retirement plans, more job security and safer working conditions. They’re happier.
Biden administration extends pause on student loan repayment
Good news for federal student loan borrowers: This month, the Biden administration again extended the pause on student debt repayment – this time through Aug. 31.
AFSCME-backed bill would help child care providers with food costs
AFSCME supports a proposal in Congress to ease the financial burden on child care professionals who provide meals and snacks.
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...
Separation Incentive Program (SIP)
WE NEGOTIATED A STRONG SEPARATION INCENTIVE PROGRAM (SIP) WITH THE CITY OF LOS ANGELES TO HELP CREATE SAVINGS IN THEIR BUDGET TO HELP THEM GET THROUGH THE RECESSION STARTED BY THE COVID 19 PANDEMIC. THIS SIP PACKS A PUNCH WHEN IT COMES TO MONETARY INCENTIVES FOR THOSE W...
A New Jersey member’s career grows thanks to the AFSCME Free College Benefit
The pandemic has led many of us to take stock of our lives and our goals. For AFSCME New Jersey member LaTrenda Ross, the pandemic ignited a long-held dream—starting her own life coaching business.“I was thinking about revamping my whole entire life,” recalls Ross, a me...
Amid tragedy, the ‘true soul of Hawaii’ shines bright
Cameron Dexter with U.S. President Biden. Member provided photo.
Biden’s new $9 billion student debt relief plan would greatly help public service workers
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Biden administration halted all federal student loan repayments. After the national COVID-19 emergency ended in March 2023, Congress passed a law preventing further extensions. As a result, payments resumed in October.For people whose s...
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...
We made it happen: Union members helped win the American Rescue Plan
As the world marked the anniversary of the official start of the coronavirus pandemic Thursday, President Biden signed the American Rescue Plan into law and offered words of hope to a weary nation.
Outnumbered and exhausted, a Louisiana corrections lieutenant fights for better staffing
Member-provided photo
AFSCME’s Saunders urges Senate to act on House-approved Build Back Better Act
AFSCME President Lee Saunders on Friday urged the Senate to follow in the footsteps of the House of Representatives and approve the Build Back Better Act, which he said would be a turning point for our country.
ARP funds are an opportunity to build up communities by investing in public service workers
The American Rescue Plan, which AFSCME members helped make a reality and which President Joe Biden signed into law a year ago, provided $350 billion in funding to states, cities and towns.
AFSCME ‘Staff the Front Lines’ bus tour seeks to solve staffing crisis in public service
States, cities, towns and schools face a staffing crisis. Hiring for public service jobs has failed to keep pace with the private sector. In April, for instance, there were 833,000 job openings in state and local governments, according to data from the federal Bureau of...
Congress has finally passed an infrastructure bill. Build Back Better should be next.
The House of Representatives has passed President Joe Biden’s transformational bipartisan infrastructure plan, which Biden will soon sign into law. The passage earned praise from AFSCME President Lee Saunders, who, in a statement, said, “We are turning a corner.”
First stop for AFSCME’s Staff the Front Lines bus tour: Rochester, N.Y.
ROCHESTER, N.Y. – AFSCME’s Staff the Front Lines national bus tour got underway Monday with a stop in this western New York city.Mayor Malik Evans, Monroe County Executive Adam Bello and New York Assemblymember Harry Bronson joined AFSCME Council 66 members to encourage...
Year in review: 2021 was a banner year for Cultural Workers United
Walker Worker Union (AFSCME Council 5)
AFSCME member’s support for unions earns her AT&T savings
Georgia Veiga has been a proud member of AFSCME New Jersey Local 3440 for the last 17 years. She regularly seeks out opportunities to support companies that employ union workers.
To honor those who died on the job, give every worker a voice in the workplace
Workers Memorial Day 2021 arrives at a moment of the greatest urgency, when the front lines of the war against COVID-19 run through America’s workplaces.
Thanking EMS professionals is not enough; we must help them solve a staffing crisis
Member-provided photo
AFSCME retiree blasts fiscal commission bill as a backdoor way to gut Social Security, Medicare
AFSMCE Retiree Mary Cannon-James and Connecticut Rep. John Larson. Photo credit: Madalin Sammons/ AFSCME