Ohio County Workers Join AFSCME
by Clyde Weiss | December 06, 2012
Employees of the Williams County, Ohio, Department of Job and Family Services voted to join AFSCME Council 8. (Photo credit: Jeremy Baiman)
Workers continue to defy those who say the labor movement is on the decline. The latest demonstration of that fact happened in Williams County, Ohio, where a solid majority of employees of the Department of Job and Family Services (JFS) just voted to join AFSCME Council 8.
“Management tried every trick in the book to keep us divided, but we held strong and we won,” said Stacy Wilson, a JFS employee and member of the unit’s Organizing Committee.
Balloting was tallied this week by the State Employee Relations Board in Columbus.
Seeking mutual respect and a voice at work, a strong majority of JFS employees filed a petition for a union election this August. “We knew that only by coming together at work and getting to the bargaining table could we make the necessary improvements to our work environment and our service to the community,” said Chris Whitlock, a 13-year veteran of the department.
Instead of respecting the democratic election process, however, Williams County engaged in an aggressive, union-busting campaign. They held meetings and sent memos filled with typical anti-union scare tactics. “How Much Will a Union Cost Me?” read the title of one such memo.
A supervisor even compared the county agency with Hostess Brands, which unfairly blamed its union workforce for having to file for bankruptcy despite a decade of failed management. But employees stuck together despite the strong-arm tactics.
The workers will now elect a bargaining committee and begin negotiation with the county for a first union contract. We hope the county will now recognize that its workers deserve respect and a chance to improve their lives – and the services that they provide their community.
White House Official Thanks AFSCME Members for Work
December 05, 2012
Valerie Jarrett speaks with members of the union’s International Executive Board. (Photo by Oliver Logghe)
On behalf of President Obama, White House Senior Advisor Valerie Jarrett Wednesday thanked AFSCME members for the work they do every day to improve the quality of life in their communities and praised the labor movement as a key force in protecting America's middle-class.
Speaking at a meeting of the AFSCME Executive Board, Jarrett reiterated the Obama Administration's commitment to raising taxes on the wealthiest two percent in order to reduce the country's deficit, and noted that the results of the recent presidential elections weren't just a victory for President Obama, but for the values and principles that he espoused during the campaign.
"It was an honor to be joined by Senior Advisor to the President Valerie Jarrett at our meeting today,” AFSCME Pres. Lee Saunders said. “She is acutely aware of the challenges that our members face and her recognition of the contribution we make to America every day is appreciated. We look forward to our work with the White House in the days and weeks to come to ensure that our members and all of the working middle class are treated fairly when it comes to taxes, Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security."
Arkansas Race for Power Reflected National Dynamics
by Pablo Ros | December 05, 2012
Jim Nickels
In relying on a well-organized ground operation that included support from labor, and confronting not just one political opponent but the well-funded super PACs and 501(c)(4) groups that sought to influence this year’s elections, Jim Nickels’s re-election campaign for the Arkansas state Legislature was a microcosm of events on the larger national stage.
While on a trip to Washington, DC, recently, Nickels, who is also executive director of Arkansas AFSCME Council 38, recalled the dynamics of the race for the District 43 House seat. “They sent out several mailers against me,” he said, referring to David and Charles Koch, better known as the billionaire Koch brothers. “For me to respond to their attacks with mailers of my own — it cost me thousands of dollars.”
“Money defined this race,” Nickels said. “In some ways it felt like I was running against the Koch brothers themselves.”
Despite the threat of being outspent by outside groups, Nickels’s campaign raised more in small contributions than that of his Republican opponent, Alan Pogue. Some of the lies and distortions directed against him were rectified by the news media, and he spoke loudly against the attempt by the ultra-rich to buy the Arkansas Legislature.
But what tipped the balance of power decisively in his favor, Nickels said, was the ground game he operated with the support of labor groups — including, of course, AFSCME, as well as the AFL-CIO, and the NEA. Together they canvassed union households in what he said was probably “the most consecrated effort ever that I’m aware of in the whole state of Arkansas of a candidate going after the labor vote.”
Nickels and his allies canvassed every union household in his precinct — matching union members with union households to promote easy rapport — sent campaign literature in the more personal form of letters, not mailers, and let AFSCME handle a phone bank that ran tirelessly until the very end.
In the end, Nickels won re-election with 52 percent of the vote in a district with a long tradition of voting Republican. And many of his opponents, particularly the conservative Koch brothers, ended up losing their money.
That’s why the victory of Jim Nickels, like others this year in which the sheer mobilization of voters overcame the weight of powerful moneyed interests, was also a victory for democracy.
AFSCME Members to Help Congress “Make the Call” on Deficit Reduction
by Pablo Ros | December 05, 2012
Let’s make the call.
Today, AFSCME members from across the country will contact their representatives in Congress by the tens, even hundreds of thousands, to help them make the call on budget and deficit reduction.
Their message will be simple: 1. Let the Bush tax cuts expire for the top 2 percent and make the wealthy pay their fair share; and 2. Make no cuts to Medicare, Medicaid or Social Security that raise costs for recipients or shift costs to states.
President Obama is negotiating with leaders in Congress to reduce the deficit before the end of the year. Some politicians are trying to scare the public about falling off a “fiscal cliff” so they can slash Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.
Unlike the richest 2 percent, working families have paid more than their fair share to keep this country moving forward. And if politicians in Washington are going to keep talking about “shared sacrifice,” then they should end the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest instead of letting them off the hook.
AFSCME and more than a dozen other labor organizations, community allies and coalition partners are pulling together to generate calls in all 50 states and make the voices of working families heard. After a hard-won election, we cannot afford to sit back and lose our momentum.
We worked hard in this year’s elections to elect representatives who said they would stand up for working families, and now our leaders need to do just that. And just as every vote counts, so does every phone call. Make your voice heard again.
Visit AFSCME.org/jobs-not-cuts to call your representative, or dial 888-979-9580.
Florida Privatization Scheme Illegal, Judge Rules
by Clyde Weiss | December 04, 2012
The state of Florida violated the law when it decided to privatize health care services in three regions across the state without legislative approval, a judge ruled Tuesday.
AFSCME Council 79 and our affiliate, the Federation of Physicians and Dentists/Alliance of Healthcare and Professional Employees, sued the state to prevent this outright disregard for legal procedures. During earlier arguments before Circuit Judge John Cooper, union lawyers argued that a legislative panel exceeded its authority because the full Legislature had not taken any action to approve Gov. Rick Scott’s privatization plan.
The judge agreed.
“Today’s ruling proves that the governor can’t skirt the law in order to give sweetheart deals to his big business buddies that wanted to profit off our prison system,” said Council 79 Pres. Jeanette D. Wynn, also an AFSCME International vice president. “Keeping prison health care in-house will preserve quality care and save Florida taxpayers money. Governor Scott’s privatization plan was not only bad for Floridians, it was illegal.”
AFSCME has successfully fought prison privatization efforts in Florida and opposes privatization of health care services on many of the same grounds, such as the fact that public employees are better equipped to do the job – and for less money. Read more about why we oppose privatization here.
Although Judge Cooper said the state “does have authority to privatize prison health care throughout the state,” he concluded that “the full Legislature must do so by passing the appropriate funding mechanism specifically directed to that goal.”
Now that Governor Scott’s illegal effort to circumvent the Legislature has been stopped, AFSCME will mount a fight at the Legislature to prevent the spread of privatized health care services in the Sunshine State.
Public Officials Warned About Taking Former L.A. Mayor’s Advice
by Jon Melegrito and Allison Padgett | December 04, 2012
Los Angeles millionaire and former Mayor Richard Riordan got a lot of things wrong when he was running the city from 1993 to 2001 and his threat to put a draconian pension-cutting initiative on the ballot is another wrong idea that doesn’t deserve a second chance.
In a recent blog posted by Madeline Janis, the former L.A. Community Redevelopment Agency commissioner said that Riordan’s threat prompted the City Council last month to hastily adopt its own pension-cutting plan, “a plan that almost certainly will be thrown out by the courts as a violation of existing collective bargaining agreements.” Riordan’s ballot initiative would move newly hired workers into 401(k)-style plans and freeze retirement benefits for current workers.
But a funny thing happened the other day after trying to gather the required 300,000 signatures. Unable to meet a Dec. 28 deadline, the whole ballot measure abruptly collapsed. Apparently, there aren’t enough people willing to support Riordan’s initiative. In recent weeks, city workers and community supporters have attacked the proposal with public protests and e-mail blasts.
During his term of office, Riordan blamed public sector unions for every woe facing the region. “Even worse, Riordan vigorously opposed several city laws designed to give workers and communities the benefit of city investment in economic development,” adds Janis. “Richard Riordan got a lot of things wrong when he was mayor. Current elected officials should be wary about taking the former mayor’s advice today.”
Or any day for that matter.
Illinois Governor Terminates State Contract, AFSCME Responds
by Kate Childs Graham | December 04, 2012
Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn has terminated AFSCME’s collective bargaining contract with the state.
Late last month, Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn terminated AFSCME’s collective bargaining agreement with the state. He offered no warning, no explanation and now some 35,000 employees are without the protection of a union contract.
With this move, Quinn – a Democrat – is taking a page from the union-busting playbook of Scott Walker and John Kasich. Like these governors, he wants to eliminate union rights for state employees – to the detriment of both the workers and the communities they serve.
In a message to members, Council 31 Executive Director Henry Bayer wrote, “Illinois’ Democratic governor, Pat Quinn, is following in the footsteps of Wisconsin’s Republican governor, Scott Walker, in trying to weaken collective bargaining rights for all public sector employees.”
AFSCME Council 31 is fighting the governor’s actions. They are asking for statements of support from community members who rely on the work of the state employees.
Like in Wisconsin, the workers of Illinois need your help. Please sign a statement of support for Illinois state employees in their battle with the governor.
We Won in San Diego
by Allison Padgett | November 30, 2012
Do you remember Richard Hayes? He’s the San Diego garbage collector who picks Mitt Romney’s trash. Hayes was brave enough to speak out for working people in an election video that went viral. It has been viewed by over 1.6 million people.
Aside from President Obama’s re-election, Hayes and his co-workers have another reason to celebrate. In San Diego’s Election Day mayoral race, AFSCME-endorsed candidate Bob Filner prevailed over Carl DeMaio, an anti-worker city councilman who led the effort to strip away pensions from city employees earlier this year. Filner becomes the city’s first Democratic mayor in 30 years, a victory made possible by the worker activists who got active in this election to put Main Street over Wall Street.
“This is a real victory for us. For the first time in a long time we have a mayor who’s actually interested in helping working people, not just downtown interests,” said Frank Pitarro, a carpenter and vice president of AFSCME Local 127 (Council 36). “Bob Filner is going to make sure that everyone is included to move our city forward.”
AFSCME members around the country know that the 2012 elections are not just about who we sent to Whitehouse or the United States Capitol. Local races, such as mayoral contests and ballot propositions, also have a direct impact on the lives of middle class families.
It’s the difference between keeping neighborhood community centers open or giving more tax cuts to wealthy business interests. The difference between protecting decent jobs or allowing more Americans to slide into poverty.
In San Diego, politicians like DeMaio and former Mayor Jerry Sanders have spent most of the last decade chipping away at the jobs and security of city workers. They haven’t gotten raises for years and are under constant threat of losing their jobs to privatization schemes. The city’s sanitation department is one of the latest in the crosshairs. The election of Bob Filner gives hope to hardworking men and women like Hayes, whose father and grandfather were city trash collectors before him.
Also on Election Day, AFSCME members in California also successfully campaigned to pass Proposition 30, a measure to raise additional revenue for vital public services like education. At the same time we defeated Proposition 32, stopping corporate interests from drowning out the voices and political power of middle class Californians. Voters rebuffed Proposition 32, despite it being misleadingly crafted as a good government reform measure that would stop “special interest money” in politics.
A Building for “A Builder”
by Pablo Ros | November 29, 2012
Former AFSCME Pres. Gerald W. McEntee, who retired this year, was back at headquarters earlier this month. But the building looked a little different: It now bears his name in large letters above the main entrance, honoring his 56 years of service to AFSCME, including 31 years at the helm.
During a building naming ceremony, AFSCME Pres. Lee Saunders recalled that at this year’s Convention in Los Angeles, “the delegates enthusiastically voted to name the building after a man who has stood up for working families, stood up for the 1.6 million members of AFSCME, stood up for the labor movement, stood up for the country.”
Among other guests, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, and AFL-CIO Pres. Richard Trumka thanked McEntee for always fighting on behalf of workers.
Pelosi said many landmark progressive laws Congress has passed, including the Family and Medical Leave Act and the Affordable Care Act, would not have been possible without McEntee’s help.
“Jerry has been there every step of the way, as a thinker, as a leader, as a mentor,” she said, adding that the new building name is fitting, because “Gerald McEntee has always been building.”
Indeed, “Every single day you came to work with a passion and a commitment to the people that you serve, that you represent, but to a bigger commitment as well, and that is to the dignity of work, the dignity of a job,” Governor O’Malley said.
President Trumka of the AFL-CIO called McEntee “one of the best trade unionists I’ve ever been around. All of us will be forever, and I mean forever, indebted to you and grateful to you and we’re honored to call you friend and pal.”
McEntee said he was appreciative of the honor, and issued a call to arms for AFSCME.
“This is indeed a great union,” he said. “We’re going to continue to grow, and we’re going to continue to help and hold the American labor movement together. I thank you for the honor, and I would only ask that you continue to work and work hard so that the American labor movement grows, AFSCME grows, and the middle class and America have something to look forward to.”
Saunders on Fiscal Showdown: ‘Our Message Is Very Clear’
November 29, 2012
AFSCME Pres. Lee Saunders appeared on MSNBC’s Ed Schultz Show to discuss the fiscal showdown and the grassroots push for legislation that puts working families first.
“Our message is very clear, and the message of the American people is very clear. It was very clear on November 6. And that message is: tax the 2% and make sure that they pay their fair share, give tax breaks to the 98% who are trying to play by the rules every single day — that includes 97% of small business owners. So we're sending that message out loud and clear. Protect Medicaid, protect Medicare, protect Social Security and have the rich pay their fair share.”
Watch the entire segment here:
