Lexington, Ky., Sanitation Workers Win Vote to Unionize with AFSCME

by Dave Patterson  |  August 01, 2012

Lexington, Ky., city sanitation workers voted yesterday to organize and form a union with AFSCME Council 62 by a resounding 78 to 22 percent vote tally.

Sanitation workers said that with AFSCME, they could speak out and feel empowered to have a say at work. “Before, the only way we could get our views heard was to go to the council meetings and speak for three minutes,” said Dean Chambers, a sanitation worker and AFSCME supporter. “Now we have more power.”

The next step for workers is to meet, elect officers and set an agenda of items to discuss with the administration. They will then reach a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the city.

The victory has already spurred interest in other divisions of city government, according to Council 62 organizers Richard Becker.

“Victories like this often times breed more victories,” Becker said.

Some 30 percent of employees in a division must sign union interest cards and present them to the city prior to a union election.