From the Blog

• Oct 13 Pass the Jobs Bill: Reclaim the American Dream AFSCME today unveiled a television ad demanding Congress pass President Barack Obama’s American Jobs Act.
• Oct 13 No Link Between State Budget Deficits and Public Sector Unions A new study by the University of Berkeley demolishes myth that unions are to blame for problems caused by the recession and housing bubble.
• Oct 13 AFSCME’s Saunders on MSNBC: ‘America Needs Jobs’ AFSCME Sec.-Treas. Lee Saunders went on MSNBC’s Politics Nation discussing jobs and the Main Street movement.
• Sep 29 Citizens Call on Representatives to Pass Jobs Act NOW! Events put pressure on Congress to pass President Barack Obama’s jobs bill.
• Sep 02 Another Dismal Jobs Report Suggests the Economy Needs More Investment, Not Cuts The President and Congress should focus on creating jobs.
• Jul 14 Why Unemployment Makes the Tea Party Happy Tea party Republicans see political benefit from increasing unemployment with Pres. Obama at the helm.
• Jul 05 Minnesota’s Taxpayers Paying Heavy Price for Unnecessary Shutdown Government services in Minnesota begin to shutdown while Republican legislators refuse to find a responsible budget solution.
• Jun 30 Telling the Truth about Public Pension Systems Pension experts rebut the myth that public pensions are unsustainable.
• Jun 28 Big Surprise: States That Cut the Most Spending Have Lost the Most Jobs Economic data contradicts Republican's pet economic theory - state spending cuts are correlated with higher unemployment and lower growth.
• May 27 Rep. Ryan Wants to Push Retirees Back into the “Donut Hole” Budget proposal would repeal Affordable Care Act provisions providing relief from high prescription drug costs.
• May 16 State Revenues Are Coming Back. Walker Says, ‘So What?’ Despite revenue collections beating expectations, right-wing governors move ahead with plans to slash public services.
• May 10 Shining a Light on House GOP Budget Cuts to Medicare and Medicaid The Republican budget plan replaces Medicare with a voucher system and slashes Medicaid spending.
• May 03 Hundreds Protest New Jersey Gov. Christie’s Plan to Devastate Working Families Sec.-Treas. Saunders, Rev. Sharpton and AFT Pres. Weingarten spoke in defense of working families.
• May 02 Michigan AFSCME Members Protest Snyder Commencement Address More than 1,000 students, community and union activists rallied at the Univ. of Michigan.
• May 02 AFSCME Connecticut Members Protest State Budget Plan More than 2,500 rallied against a plan to extract $2 billion from state workers.
• Apr 19 2011 PayWatch: Average CEO Salary=$11.4 Million While 25 million unemployed and underemployed U.S. workers are drowning, CEO pay skyrocketed by 23 percent, for an average salary of $11.4 million in 2010, according to the AFL-CIO Executive PayWatch.
• Apr 18 The True Meaning of Tax Cuts Without the public systems and structures that taxes pay for, America as we know and love it would cease to exist.
• Apr 15 Straight Talk on Retirement in San Jose Phrases like “actuarial reports” and “unfunded liabilities” didn’t stop over 200 workers in San Jose, Calif., from foregoing their lunch hour to hear the truth about pensions.
• Apr 14 Gov. Rick Scott, Your Report Card is Shameful! In office just 100 days, Florida Gov. Rick Scott (R) has proven he has a lot to learn about running a government that benefits all Floridians — not just his Big Business friends.
• Apr 14 Gov. Walker Admits New Union Rules Don’t Help Budget Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) asked Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) to explain how attacking workers' rights and middle class jobs helps fix broken state budgets.
• Apr 14 Michigan Rally Defends Middle Class, Opposes Budget Cuts More than 7,000 Michigan residents from throughout the state rallied at the Capitol in Lansing on Wednesday to oppose Republican Gov. Rick Snyder’s anti-worker budget plan.
• Apr 14 Tax Day Travesty When big corporations skip out on their tax bills, it’s working Americans who pay the price.
• Apr 12 Happy National Library Workers Day Today, in the midst of budget cuts to libraries across the country, we celebrate National Library Workers Day and recognize the important services provided by library workers under increasingly difficult circumstances.
• Apr 12 11,000 Ohioans Kick Off Campaign to Repeal Anti-Worker Legislation AFSCME members join thousands of workers from across Ohio vowing to veto SB 5 in November.
• Apr 11 Rallies for Workers’ Rights and Public Services Still Going Strong AFSCME members are not taking a spring break from ongoing efforts to demonstrate the depth and breadth of public opposition to plans to slash public services and attack the rights of workers.
• Apr 08 Shutdown? Republicans in the U.S. House are threatening to shut down the federal government if Democrats don’t concede to their proposals to slash critical public services.
• Apr 07 Florida Legislature Pulls Plug on Privatization of Northeast Florida State Hospital One of the many dangerous proposals in Gov. Rick Scott's budget is now off the table.
• Apr 07 1 Kasich Budget = 51,000 Lost Ohio Jobs Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R) has proposed a two-year budget which could mean a direct loss of 51,052 existing Ohio jobs in K-12 education, higher education, state personnel and local governments [...]
• Apr 06 MSNBC Profiles Public Service Workers Under Attack As attacks on public service workers continue across the country, MSNBC.com has posted a collection of stories — “Faces of the public sector” — examining how public workers are dealing with what has become an increasingly hostile climate.
• Apr 04 Memphis Sanitation Workers Remember Memphis sanitation workers from the famous 1968 strike stand in solidarity with workers across the country who are fighting the same battle for rights today.
• Mar 31 New Haven, Conn.: Thousands Rally in Solidarity with Workers under Siege More than 3,000 union members and their progressive allies marched on the streets on New Haven, Conn. Wednesday.
• Mar 31 AFSCME Members in Minnesota: We’re Fighting for the Middle Class
• Mar 30 Michiganders: Change Constitution to Protect Collective Bargaining
• Mar 30 Just Say No to SB 5 Today, the Ohio state House is set to vote on Senate Bill 5 (SB 5), a bill that would strip collective bargaining rights from 350,000 public service workers in the state. SB 5 is one of the cornerstones in Gov. John Kasich’s plan.
• Mar 29 Florida AFSCME Members Protest Anti-Worker Bills Close to 2,000 AFSCME members and progressive allies from across the Florida Panhandle held a massive rally in Tallahassee today to protest Republican Gov. Rick Scott’s anti-worker policies.
• Mar 29 Making Our Voice Heard in Indiana The hard work of AFSCME members in Indiana and their labor and community allies is starting to pay off.
• Mar 25 AFSCME New York Members March on City Hall
• Mar 22 Small Businesses Join AFSCME Ohio in Opposition to SB 5 AFSCME members are holding a series of eight press events around the state in conjunction with a group of small businesses who are part of Proud Ohio Workers.
• Mar 22 Organizing for Power with AFSCME With this column, we note the many organizing victories achieved during the past several months, both large and small (listed alphabetically by state).
• Mar 21 McEntee on Gov. Walker's Anti-Worker Power Grab Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker made no mention of the massive $117 million in tax breaks he provided for wealthy corporations before he launched his power grab to silence the voices of working men and women.
• Mar 18 Income Inequality and Union Decline: Connect the Dots The richest 1 percent in this country takes home almost 24 percent of income, up from nearly 9 percent in 1976.
• Mar 18 AFSCME Defends N.Y.C. Public Child Care AFSCME District Council 1707, District Council 37 and Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA)/AFSCME Local 1000 are standing firm with Manhattan Borough Pres. Scott Stringer (D) to fight cuts to vital child care services.
• Mar 17 Sec.-Treas. Saunders and Rev. Sharpton Stand Up for Public Services in Connecticut Sec.-Treas. Saunders and Rev. Sharpton Stand Up for Public Services in Connecticut
• Mar 16 Ohio Gov. Kasich Advances Anti-Union Agenda with Destructive Budget Following in the footsteps of Wisconsin and other states promoting disastrous anti-union bills and cuts to vital public services, Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R) has unveiled his two-year budget.
• Mar 16 House Democrats introduce Fairness in Taxation Act
• Mar 15 AFSCME Actions Keep the Heat on Elected Officials It's been a busy week for AFSCME members fighting back against bad budget plans and anti-union legislation.
• Mar 11 Republicans Take Aim at Social Security Republican legislators in both the U.S. House and Senate have now started moving toward cutting Social Security.
• Mar 09 Stephen King's Next Horror Novel "Could Star Rick Scott" Novelist Stephen King made a surprise appearance at the "Awake the State" rally in Sarasota, Fla., on Tuesday and spoke out against Gov. Rick Scott's radical, budget-slashing, union-busting agenda.
• Mar 08 In Ohio, the State of the Worker Address On Monday, workers across Ohio delivered the State of the Worker Address, a prebuttal to Gov. John Kasich's first State of the State Address. As ABC 9 in Cincinnati reports, workers called on Kasich to follow through on his campaign pledges.
• Mar 07 GOP Budget: Read It and Weep Some high lowlights of the Republican federal budget, courtesy of MoveOn.org. After you read this (and weep), click here to call your U.S. Senators and tell them to stand up for jobs and vote no on cuts to critical programs.
• Mar 07 Video: A Better New York for All Members of AFSCME New York describe — in their own words — the drastic effects Governor Cuomo’s budget will have on New Yorkers all across the state.
• Mar 01 Governors Side with Unions, Not Wisconsin’s Walker Governors Martin O’Malley of Maryland, Deval Patrick of Massachusetts and Mark Dayton of Minnesota are among state leaders who have something important to say to Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker.
• Feb 23 Washington State AFSCME Members Stand with Wisconsin Workers An attack on workers in one state is an attack on every worker. This is why the nationwide outpouring of support for public service workers in Wisconsin continues to grow.
• Feb 22 Dropkick the Attacks on Workers The band Dropkick Murphys has released an advance stream of their new song “Take ‘Em Down” in support of the thousands of Wisconsin union workers who are protesting the governor’s budget plan.
• Feb 16 Video: In Wisconsin, “Everything’s at Risk” Prior to marching to the Capitol in Madison on Tuesday, Wisconsin AFSCME members talk about the impact of Republican Gov. Scott Walker's proposals to strip collective bargaining rights from public service workers while also cutting their pay [...]
• Feb 16 Wisconsin AFSCME Members Join Fight to Save Rights Thousands of state and local public service workers and teachers demonstrated Tuesday inside and outside the state Capitol here to oppose the threatened loss of collective bargaining rights and cuts to retirement and health benefits.
• Feb 14 Video: Shaking the Wisconsin State House On Valentine's Day, University of Wisconsin-Madison students filled the Wisconsin Capitol building to protest proposals by Republican Gov. Scott Walker that would reduce funding for higher education and decimate collective bargaining rights.
• Feb 14 Wisconsin AFL-CIO Ads Against Attacks on Worker Rights The Wisconsin AFL-CIO launched an advertising campaign over the weekend to alert the public to the radical plan by Republican Gov. Scott Walker to strip almost all collective bargaining rights from state and local public employees.
• Feb 09 O'Reilly Spreads Lies About Public Employee Pensions FACT: The average annual pension of an AFSCME retiree is $19,000. As Pres. Gerald W. McEntee wrote in USA Today, the real problems facing cities and states were caused by Wall Street, not public workers.
• Feb 04 Every Company Must Pay Their Fair Share Economist Dean Baker, co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, wrote in The New York Times Wednesday that loopholes allow many corporations to pay relatively few taxes.
• Jan 28 Responding to Wall Street Journal Attacks
• Jan 26 California’s State Treasurer: States Should Not Consider Bankruptcy Some conservative governors and state legislators and their right-wing allies are floating a dangerous suggestion that threatens the retirement security of public sector workers: Have states declare bankruptcy to get out of their pension obligations.
• Jan 25 Rhetoric v. Reality: A Viewer’s Guide to Rep. Paul Ryan’s State of the Union Response Americans United for Change has put together this handy guide for watching tonight's Republican response to Pres. Barack Obama's State of the Union Address tonight [...]
• Jan 18 Battling the Lies Against Public Employees AFSCME International Sec.-Treas. Lee Saunders recently took AFSCME’s “Stop the Lies” campaign to a nationwide radio audience.
• Jan 07 The Shameful Attack on Public Employees In 1968, 1,300 sanitation workers in Memphis went on strike. The Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. came to support them. That was where he lost his life. Memphis heard the grievances of its sanitation workers
• Jan 04 Maddow Show: Public Workers New GOP Scapegoat During the first Rachel Maddow Show of the new year, guest host Chris Hayes looked at the new scapegoat for our nation's economic woes: public workers.
• Dec 22 Gov. Christie Blames Economic Crisis on Working Families In a one-sided "60 Minutes" report that aired this week, Gov. Chris Christie (R-NJ) showed viewers he's more interested in scoring political points than solving state and local budget challenges and getting the economy moving.
• Dec 06 Spending Package Worked The definitive answer is ‘Yes!’ The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) is creating new jobs and stabilizing the economy.
• Nov 30 Unemployed and Unnoticed
• Nov 18 How Unemployment Insurance Helps Families and the Economy From the folks at Center for American Progress, an animated explanation of how unemployment insurance benefits help America's families and our economic recovery.
• Nov 03 Voters Want a Recovery That Works for Everyone “Angry voters sent a clear message on Tuesday: Much, much more must be done to put America back to work. But voters rejected right-wing and Tea Party candidates [...]
• Oct 15 The Real Story on Public Employees Benefits This week, Ezra Klein has an excellent piece on the Washington Post’s website that gets to the truth behind public employees benefits. He demolishes the myths that too many right wing politicians and propagandists cling to [...]
• Sep 29 Wake Up, Washington! Securing Retirement Americans should be able to enjoy a secure retirement after a lifetime of work. AFSCME is participating in “Wake Up, Washington!” Month to encourage Americans across the country to tell lawmakers to keep their hands off Social Security [...]
• Sep 10 Calculate Your Tax Cut Online The Bush tax cuts are set to expire at the end of 2010, and while President Obama wants to extend those cuts for all but the very rich, some lawmakers want to extend them for everyone. A new Gallup poll released today shows the majority of Americans [...]
• Sep 03 Hey Republicans, Thanks for Throwing American Workers Under the Bus Just in time for Labor Day, AFSCME has released a new video reminding voters of the critical choice they face in the November elections.
• Aug 25 New Jersey's Pension Fraud Hurts Investors, Taxpayers and Retirees Last week, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission did something it has never done before. It charged the state of New Jersey with fraudulently misleading investors about the health of the state's pension plan
• Aug 16 Standing Up for American Jobs According to a CNN poll released last week, 60% of Americans support legislation recently passed by Congress to save hundreds of thousands of jobs that were on the chopping block.
• Aug 12 Council 62 Goes to Court to Stop Kentucky Furloughs AFSCME Council 62 has filed for an injunction to stop Kentucky Gov. Steven Beshear’s (D) plan to furlough state employees for six days this fiscal year, asserting that the plan would cause “irreparable harm” to the workers [...]
• Aug 10 A Tremendous Victory for Working People Statement of AFSCME President Gerald W. McEntee on House passage of the Jobs Bill:
• Aug 09 Public Sector Job Losses Front and Center The job numbers released last week made it clear that the economic recovery is slowing down, and the increase in state and municipal worker layoffs is one of the chief factors
• Aug 04 The Senate's Bold Step Forward Today, the U.S. Senate took a bold step forward in the effort to protect jobs and bolster America's economic recovery. The Senate, by a 61 to 38 margin, overcame the filibuster opposing H.R. 1586 [...]
• Aug 02 Call Your Senators Today to Protect a Million Jobs Earlier this year, Democrats in the Senate tried three times to pass legislation that would help states deal with growing Medicaid rolls, the joint federal-state health care program for the poor.
• Jul 29 Keep Your Hands Off Social Security! Years after George W. Bush’s failed attempts to privatize Social Security, his cohorts are renewing calls for privatization. This time they’re using deficit reduction as an excuse.
• Jul 26 AFSCME to McConnell: Stop Playing Politics with State Budgets This week, the National Conference of State Legislators is holding a legislative summit in Louisville, KY, to discuss issues important to state legislatures in the midst of record budget shortfalls across the country.
• Jul 23 Poll: Americans Want Jobs By a 64-30 margin, Americans think reducing unemployment is more important than deficit reduction according to a Quinnipiac poll released on Thursday.
• Jul 21 Pres. McEntee Talks Jobs, Midterms with Bill Press Wednesday morning on the Bill Press Radio Show, AFSCME Pres. Gerald W. McEntee talked P-O-L-I-T-I-C-S during a segment covering topics ranging from the extension of unemployment benefits, legislation to give public safety workers [...]
• Jul 16 Main Street Wins: Senate OKs Wall Street Reform By a 60-39 vote, the Senate finally passed Wall Street reform legislation on Thursday and sent it to President Obama for his signature.
• Jul 15 “Let’s Talk About Facts” Watch AFSCME Director of Research Kerry Korpi stand up to attacks on public employees and our pensions during an appearance on CNBC. At issue: should states cut public pensions to balance ballooning budgets?
• Jul 13 Washington Post: Senate Must Pass Jobs Bill Calling it the "fiscally sensible and morally decent" thing to do, the Washington Post calls on the U.S. Senate to pass the jobs bill to send badly-needed aid to states and extend unemployment benefits.
• Jul 12 A Financial Grand Canyon In June, an analysis from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities confirmed the gap between rich and poor in the United States has reached levels not seen since 1929.
• Jul 09 Jobs Matter More This weekend AFSCME is running a $175,000 ad campaign calling on Republican Sens. Scott Brown, Susan Collins, Olympia Snowe and George Voinovich to stop the obstruction and pass the jobs bill.
• Jul 01 The Green Monstah AFSCME activists rallied Wednesday on Boston Common, in solidarity with Council 93, to prevent the loss of critical public services and to pass the jobs bill now stalled in Congress.
• Jul 01 Pass the Jobs Bill! Passing the jobs bill was the highlight of a program during Wednesday’s session. Florida state juvenile detention officer Faustino “Tino” Cosby of Tampa told how passage of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 prevented a threatened [...]
• Jun 30 Rally for Public Services and Jobs At the close of Convention business this afternoon, thousands of AFSCME delegates and guests will head to Boston Common to rally with members of Council 93 Massachusetts to oppose dangerous cuts in services across the nation and for the jobs [...]
• Jun 28 McEntee Pledges to Hold Politicians Accountable President Gerald W. McEntee used his keynote address at the 2010 AFSCME Convention to demand that Congress pass a critical jobs bill — and that politicians be held accountable for their promises to working people.
• Jun 23 More Jobs = Less Debt In the worst economy since the Great Depression, far too many Americans are out of work. Despite the rising fears of more job losses, the Senate is refusing to do what is necessary to protect and create jobs.
• Jun 18 Aid to States in Jobs Bill Stalls in Senate The fight to help cash-strapped states and public services stalled in the Senate on Thursday as it failed to achieve the 60 votes necessary to cut off debate and bring to a vote a second Senate version of the American Jobs and Closing Tax [...]
• Jun 14 A Real Jobs Bill Working America reports that if “the 15 million unemployed workers in this country stood side-by-side, literally shoulder to shoulder, they would stretch from Bangor, Maine to Los Angeles, California… and back again.”
• Jun 11 More Jobs = Less Deficit Last week’s jobs report showed that our economic recovery is extremely fragile. The last thing we need is thousands more layoffs because of state budget shortfalls.
• Jun 03 America Can't Afford to Lose More Jobs Too many Americans are out of work. That’s devastating for individuals and families. Unemployment hurts our communities and prolongs the economic crisis. That’s why America needs a jobs bill that protects workers and puts people back to work.
• Jun 02 Closing Corporate Loopholes, Aiding States Writing on the Huffington Post, Arianna Huffington asks why offshore corporate tax havens are still allowed. She attributes it to two sets of rules — one for the corporate class and another for working Americans.
• May 28 What Financial Reform Means Big business, big banks, Wall Street, and the CEOs of America’s top companies said that passing health care reform would amount to a “government takeover” of our nation’s health care system.
• May 26 CBO Report: Recovery Act Is Working A report issued by the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office Tuesday shows that the Recovery Act, the centerpiece of President Obama's economic recovery plan, is having an even greater impact than originally projected.
• May 24 Crunch Time for American Jobs If members of the U.S. House of Representatives support creating jobs and putting Americans back to work, as they so often claim, they’ll vote this week for a bill that creates jobs and makes Wall Street pay, says AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka.
• May 21 Furloughs Are No Laughing Matter It’s no mystery that some lawmakers are completely oblivious to the problems faced by working Americans. Take, for example, the three county commissioners in Pueblo County, Colo.
• May 14 It’s Time to Hold Wall Street Accountable Almost two years have passed since the taxpayers of America gave the titans of Wall Street more than $700 billion to keep the world’s economic system from plunging into another world-wide Great Depression.
• May 11 U.S. Tax Bills Lowest Since Truman Despite the protests from anti-government conservatives and Tea Partiers shouting about high taxes, the tax rate in 2009 was lower than it has been since 1950. Michael Ettlinger, at the Center for American Progress, sums it up [...]
• May 07 290,000 Jobs Created in April, Jobless Rate Up to 9.9% The Department of Labor report this morning shows 290,000 jobs were created in April, the largest one-month gain in over four years and the fourth straight month that employment has increased.
• May 06 Worth A Read: "Coddled" Public Employees Make Less than the Private Sector Amy Traub from the Drum Major Institute on new research by the Center for State and Local Government Excellence and the National Institute on Retirement Security on public employee compensation and the real "coddled class."
• Apr 23 Fighting for a Responsible Budget in Illinois Tea Party who? If you want a genuine grassroots movement fighting for a good cause, you should’ve seen the thousands of AFSCME Council 31 members that descended on the Illinois State Capitol.
• Apr 15 Tax Day: Time for Shared Responsibility Today is tax day, the day that each of us steps forward to pay our fair share for our roads and schools, law enforcement and firefighting, clean water and public works, community centers and parks, and many other vital public services.
• Apr 13 Trumka Live Today on Obscene Executive Pay Join AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka for a live online video discussion of the 2010 AFL-CIO Executive PayWatch report at noon ET today and learn about Wall Street bankers and their outrageous pay and massive lobbying efforts.
• Apr 06 A Solution to California’s Problems AFSCME members are championing the March for California’s Future to address the challenges that the state faces and to build awareness of the vital services state and local employees provide to keep their communities strong.
• Apr 01 Today We Count President Obama has officially declared today "Census Day" in a presidential proclamation, a day which reminds us all how important it is to complete and mail back the 2010 Census form.
• Mar 05 Worth A Read: Wrecking U.S. Economy Didn’t Start With Labor In a smart opinion piece posted this week, Harry J. Holzer, professor of public policy at Georgetown University and a former chief economist at the U.S. Labor Department, says it’s time to stop trying to blame unions for what’s wrong with the economy.
• Mar 04 Best. Graph. Ever. Consider three bills — two of them passed under budget reconciliation, the third heading for budget reconciliation. Each had an effect on the fiscal health of the nation, calculated by the Congressional Budget Office.
• Feb 19 GOP Stonewalls Extension of COBRA, Unemployment Benefits While the Senate is seeking agreement on jobs legislation, states will need to start reprogramming their unemployment insurance (UI) computers before the current federal benefit extensions and COBRA subsidies are scheduled to end on February 28.
• Feb 17 Your Job Matters Your job matters. Whether it’s clearing the roads of snow and ice, providing health care services, ensuring public safety, or simply working hard for our communities, the vital services that AFSCME members like you provide make our country happen.
• Jan 28 The State of Our Union President Obama made it clear last night that he will fight for jobs. He knows that we cannot lose sight of the millions of working families who are still suffering from the worst economic disaster since the Great Depression.
• Jan 25 Steps Toward Bank Accountability Americans struggle today with the disastrous results of unaccountable executives whose greed and irresponsible conduct created the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.
• Dec 17 Politics Daily: Cadillac Tax Would Hit Hard Politics Daily looks at the effects of the so-called “Cadillac tax” included in the Senate health care bill. Originally intended as a way to finance reform by taxing the type of expensive benefit plans enjoyed by Wall Street executives.
• Dec 08 Putting Americans Back to Work During a speech at the Brookings Institute Tuesday morning, President Barack Obama made it clear that restoring job growth and putting people back to work continues to be a top priority of his administration.
• Dec 07 AFL-CIO Ad: Don't Tax Health Benefits The AFL-CIO has launched a new TV ad that sends a clear message: “Pass Health Care. Don’t Tax Health Benefits.” The ad emphasizes that taxing benefits will lead companies to cut benefits and will shift cost burdens to families that can’t afford it.
• Dec 01 Fixing Our Budget Deficits: A Plan for Action As state and local governments slice and dice their budgets – making mincemeat of critical public services – it’s the poorest among us who bear the heaviest burden. That’s because working families and the unemployed depend on those services the most.
• Nov 19 New Online Tool Lets You Track the Economy The Economic Policy Institute (EPI) has launched Economy Track (www.economytrack.org), a new one-stop website to help you make sense of all the twists and turns of the economy.
• Nov 13 Jobs On Thursday, President Obama announced he will invite labor leaders, business executives, small business owners, economists and other financial experts to a special White House summit on jobs next month.
• Oct 08 Don’t Tax Health Care Benefits Congressman Joe Courtney (D-CT) announced Wednesday that 156 Democratic members of Congress oppose taxing health care benefit plans to pay for health care reform.
• Oct 06 Stop Picking on State Workers Why is it that when some state legislators see a budget deficit, their first impulse is to cut public services and workers’ benefits? Maybe they’re fooled by the myths.
• Oct 05 UC President Misleads, Distorts the Facts AFSCME Local 3299, which represents 20,000 workers at the ten campuses and five medical centers in the University of California system, is fighting to prevent budget cuts, fee hikes, layoffs and furloughs during this economic crisis.
• Jul 29 On the California Budget and Schwarzenegger's Vetoes From Calitics: Today we witness the damage that the line-item veto causes in the hands of a right-wing governor bent on using it to achieve his long-desired destruction of public services.
• Jul 27 Nose-Diving Revenues Worsening Strained State Budgets States saw a nearly 12% drop in tax revenues collected in early 2009, the largest decline in 46 years, according to a recent report released by the Rockefeller Institute of Government.
• Jul 10 Public Health Plan Option Could Save State and Local Governments $921 Billion If health care reform includes a public health insurance option that pays Medicare payment rates to providers, state and local governments are predicted to save an estimated $921 billion in lower health care costs over 11 years.
• Jun 23 AFSCME Members in Delaware Say No to Pay Cuts Hundreds of AFSCME Council 81 members rallied at the Legislative Hall in Dover, Delaware to make sure legislators heard their message: “NO PAY CUT!”
• Jun 03 Taxing Health Benefits Could Kill Health Care Reform In recent days, two generally progressive commentators have written in favor of taxing all or part of the value of employer provided health benefits as a way of paying for some of the costs of health care reform.
• May 15 Watch AFSCME on “60 Minutes” for Sounding Alarm Early on AIG This Sunday night, the CBS News program “60 Minutes” will feature a story on American International Group (AIG), the failed insurance giant bailed out by taxpayers with more than $180 billion.
• Apr 30 Pay for Performance? No Thanks, I’m a CEO Did you know that Citigroup CEO Vikram S. Pandit raked in a sweet $38 million in total compensation last year while running his company to the ground? Let’s not forget that Citigroup has already received $45 billion in federal bailout funds.
• Apr 29 On Day 100, Senate and House Pass Obama Budget This afternoon, the U.S. Senate passed President Obama’s budget by a vote of 53 to 43. The budget resolution had easily passed in the House earlier in the day by a margin of 233 to 193.
• Apr 15 In Praise of Public Service In honor of Tax Day, this story from a 2003 issue of AFSCME’s Public Employee magazine seems fitting. Tip O’Neill, the late and great Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, loved to tell this story. [...]
• Apr 06 Making Corporations Accountable: AFSCME At Work on Wall Street AFSCME has been a leader in the fight to restrain undeserved CEO pay and to make corporate boards more democratic and accountable. That’s why AFSCME, the Connecticut State Treasurer and the AFL-CIO recently wrote to AIG trustees.
• Mar 31 The Number Zero, Brought To You by the Party of N-O A great ad recently put out by Americans United for Change on the Republicans’ attack on the President’s budget and their alternative plan – or lack there of.
• Mar 30 Budget (with the Right Priorities) Update On Wednesday night, the House Budget Committee adopted a budget outline by a party-line vote of 24-15 that will advance President Obama’s visionary budget goals.
• Mar 27 Rebuilding and Renewing Indiana
• Mar 20 This Stinks
• Mar 06 February Jobs Numbers: More Bad News
• Mar 04 Rebuild and Renew America Now!
• Mar 04 Special Webinar: President Obama's Budget
• Feb 27 Obama's Budget: Change We Can Believe In
• Feb 27 Fiscal Responsibility and Health Care Go Hand in Hand
• Feb 18 Obama’s Jobs Plan by the Numbers
• Feb 18 New Ad Thanks Obama for Putting Jobs First
• Feb 17 Recovery Begins
• Feb 13 “A Major, Historic Victory”
• Feb 13 We Now Have Reason to Hope
• Feb 12 America's Vital Public Services
• Feb 12 Cantor's Odd Response
• Feb 10 An Important Step
• Feb 09 Obama Jobs and Recovery Plan Update
• Feb 05 It's Happening Today
• Feb 04 Urgent Update on Obama Recovery Plan
• Jan 30 Put Our Economy Back on Track
• Jan 27 The First Step in Remaking America
• Jan 16 The Fierce Urgency of Now
• Jan 16 House Dems Release Economic Stimulus Package
• Jan 14 Make America Happen. Again.
• Dec 22 Report: Unions Are Good for State Economies
• Dec 18 Pass the Jobs and Economic Recovery Plan
• Dec 18 Campaign for Jobs and Economic Recovery Now
• Dec 03 State Aid Economic Stimulus “Clearly Works”
• Dec 02 Autoworkers and the Anti-Union Agenda
• Dec 01 Jumpstart the Economy - Invest in State and Local Governments
• Nov 20 Economists Call for Immediate State and Local Aid
• Nov 20 Public Employee Pensions Are Not the Problem
• Nov 07 What a Difference a President (elect) Makes
• Oct 07 Changing the Subject
• Oct 03 A Few Reforms Are Simply Not Enough
• Sep 30 House Passes Stimulus Bill But Senate Balks
• Sep 26 A Quick Take on CEO Pay
• Sep 25 Give Us a Bailout That Helps Everyone
• Sep 25 Here's Your Blank Check
• Sep 09 McEntee to Congress: Time to Step In
• Sep 08 Let's Solve the Real Problem
• Jul 22 McEntee Tells Congress: Aid to the States a "Moral Imperative"
• Jul 21 House and Senate Democrats Developing New Stimulus Plan
• Jul 10 McCain’s Out-of-Touch Co-Chair Says U.S. is “a Nation of Whiners”
• Jul 03 Investing in America -- More Patriotic than Political Posturing
• May 23 National Public Works Week
• May 09 McCain to 14-Year-Old: No Equal Pay for You
• May 09 States & Localities Need Investments Now
• May 02 McCain is Wrong on Collapsing Bridges and the Mafia’s Good Works
• Apr 17 Celebrate National Library Week
• Apr 16 Not the Headlines McCain Was Looking For
• Apr 15 On Tax Day
• Apr 09 The Cost of War in Iraq
• Apr 03 Bush Out of Touch?
• Apr 03 Social Security, Still Healthy After All These Years
• Feb 01 Bush Cuts Will Cost Lives
• Jan 29 Bush’s State of the Union Address: Time for a Reality Check
• Jan 10 Bush Admits Economy Faces Challenges – Bravo!
• Dec 19 Bush Budget: A Lump of Coal
• Dec 11 Too Good to Be True Have you ever heard the argument that cutting taxes can lead to greater government revenue? It's sort of like having your cake and eating it too — the argument is too good to be true, and this article from TIME Magazine provides the proof.
• Nov 13 Bush’s Priorities or America’s Priorities
• Oct 29 It Shouldn’t Take a Natural Disaster
• Oct 19 Oregon AFSCME Makes a Statement Why did the AFSCME delegation to Oregon’s AFL-CIO convention walk out just before Gov. Ted Kulongoski (D) arrived to address the union members?
• Oct 11 A Chance to Right a Wrong
• Oct 11 Bush & Gutter Politics
• Oct 03 Bush to Kids: “The Doctor Is Not In”
• Oct 02 Battling Bush on the Budget
• Jul 10 Pennsylvania Stalemate Ends, “Non-Critical” Jobs Restored
• May 17 It's the Least We Can Do
• Oct 26 Enemy of the Taxpayers
• Oct 02 Taxpayer Bill of Wrongs
• Sep 20 Memo to Congress: Enact Funding Bills ASAP
• Jun 29 Great Idea – Investing in America
• Jun 28 Bush tax cuts hurt 99% of Americans