Organize Your Workplace
Interested in creating a union at your workplace? Get started here. TAM employees: if you haven't filled out a membership card yet, talk to a co-worker on the Organizing Committee or fill this out.
WFSE Members to Lawmakers: Cuts Hurt Most Vulnerable
Longer response times for stranded drivers, reduced access to life-saving medical treatment and more crime suffered by elderly residents are just a few of the impacts Washington residents may face if legislators choose budget cuts over new revenue.
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.
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...
Legal Assistants in Pierce County Form a Union
After dealing with years of favoritism, retaliation, and arbitrary staffing changes, the legal assistants, legal interviewers, and victim advocates at the Pierce County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office have come together to form a union.
Safety, Equipment, Pay Equity Highlighted at DOT Summit
WFSE members from the Washington State Department of Transportation (DOT) held a summit over the weekend to identify workplace issues and strategize on how they can address them as a union.Members brought up everything from outdated equipment to the need for biohazard t...
Everett Community College Pauses Plans to Close Early Learning Center
From the Washington News Service
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...
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.
Faced with Crises, WFSE Members Find New Value in the Union
Amidst a renewed movement for racial justice, a global pandemic, and a recession, workers across the country are seeing the benefit of unions more clearly than ever. Conversations with members from across Eastern Washington about these crises show a diversity of opinion...
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.
Veterans will be disproportionately affected if the Senate fails to provide state, local aid
AFSCME members Dawn Bundick of Alaska and Chris Woloscuk of Florida are veterans and public service employees – two facts that make them especially vulnerable as the COVID-19 pandemic ravages the U.S. economy.If Congress fails to provide at least $1 trillion in federal...
DCYF Vancouver MAT Team Scores Win for Foster Youth
WFSE members ran a successful petition that ended years of inaction from the state on the issue of housing foster children in hotel rooms.
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.
WFSE Members Working for Equitable Vaccine Access
The goal of Washington’s four mass vaccination clinics is to ensure that vaccines are distributed and administered in an equitable way across the state. WFSE members are helping make that happen at the Kennewick site.
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.
Amid Historic Layoffs & Fraud, Unemployment Workers Are Determined to Help WA Residents
Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, a quarter of the U.S. labor force, close to 43 million people, have filed for unemployment benefits.
Washington state has been the hardest hit. Between a surge of fraudulent claims originating overseas as well as a record number of leg...
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.
Attorneys for Washington State Seek Collective Bargaining Rights
Assistant attorneys general in Washington state have formed a union through AFSCME to gain a voice in their workplace.The Association of Washington Assistant Attorneys General (AWAAG) joined with the Washington Federation of State Employees (WFSE)/AFSCME Council 28 in l...