AFSCME Actions Keep the Heat on Elected Officials
March 15, 2011
It's been a busy week for AFSCME members fighting back against bad budget plans and anti-union legislation. The following are just a few examples of actions in our battleground states:
- In Connecticut, Secretary-Treasurer Saunders and Rev. Sharpton led a rally and march in support of New Haven public service workers at the United Methodist Church as part of the fight against the coordinated attack on public employees, public services and middle class families. In New Haven, Mayor John DeStefano has laid off city workers and police officers and is using the economic crisis as an excuse to destroy more good jobs through layoffs and privatization
- In Maryland, AFSCME members led a march of more than 15,000 to the Capitol in Annapolis on Monday to protest budget cuts and pension changes.
- In Michigan, AFSCME members participated in a series of ten press events held statewide to protest Governor Snyder's budget plan and legislation that would grant unelected officials the power to negate union contracts. "We have cut our own pay, we have cut our benefits, we have increased contributions to health care. And now because the legislators are feeling the heat, public employees are being used as scapegoats and blamed for the state's financial mess," said Nancy Heine, a county employee at Washtenaw County Community Support and Treatment Services and president of AFSCME Local 3052.
- In Missouri, more than 4,000 workers gathered to protest corporate greed and defend workers' rights in advance of debate beginning on a "Right-to-Work-for-Less" bill in the State Senate this week. Protesters kept up the pressure when 500 workers jammed the senate gallery on Monday and blocked a vote on the bill.
AFSCME members and our allies will not rest until this wave of anti-worker legislation has been fought back and the politicians pushing the bills are accountable for their votes.
