AFSCME Members “Ready to Do Battle”

August 09, 2011

In an interview with the New York Times published Wednesday, AFSCME President Gerald W. McEntee talks about how attacks on public service workers in the states have energized union members and our allies to engage with anti-worker politicians in a growing battle over workers’ rights.

“Look at the crowds that came out to protest in Wisconsin: 50,000, 70,000, 100,000. These people are jazzed up. They’re ready to do battle,” said McEntee. 

He goes on to point out that AFSCME is on offense, not defense, pointing to public opinion polls that show growing public support for unions over anti-worker politicians.

This national trend is clearly evident among AFSCME members in Florida who have spent the entire year fighting back against unprecedented attacks by Gov. Rick Scott and other anti-worker politicians. The latest fight in Florida is over a bill prohibiting automatic payroll deduction to collect union dues from public employees.

In Wednesday’s Tallahassee Democrat, AFSCME Council 79 President Jeanette Wynn wrote an editorial setting the record straight and showing that this legislation is nothing more than a direct attack on workers’ rights.

“It is a coordinated, well-thought-out effort to crush unions, silence the voices of working men and women and, in doing all of that, cripple the middle class,” writes Wynn.

While mobilizing in record numbers to fight back against this and other ill-conceived legislation, AFSCME members in Florida also are taking the offensive and scoring some points.

Gov. Rick Scott has proposed privatizing the state’s Medicaid program, a move from which firms such as Solantic, a private sector urgent care chain founded by Scott, could reap a major financial windfall.  AFSCME has been at the forefront efforts to draw attention to this clear conflict of interest. Last Friday, AFSCME members and our allies organized protests in front of Solantic clinics across the state. On Monday, Scott announced that his family would divest itself of a $62 million stake in the company.