AFSCME in the News

• Apr 04 45 years after Martin Luther King shot, "50 days of nonviolence" David Beasley, Reuters ...Members of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees labor union, which organized the 1968 sanitation strike in Memphis, plan a march from the local union office to the museum.
• Apr 04 Mayor Wharton Responds To Sanitation Criticism Stephanie Scurlock, WREG Memphis The president of AFSCME tells News Channel 3, he feels the fight to keep Dr. King’s dream alive is being drowned out by those at city hall on the eve of the anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King’s death.
• Apr 04 Progressive Groups Revive King’s Message on Anniversary of Mountaintop Speech Natasha Chen, WREG Memphis On the 45th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s final speech at Mason Temple, labor unions and community leaders gathered at the same spot to revive his message.
• Feb 13 Public-Sector Workers Rally Against Sequestration Eric Katz, GovExec.com …“We’re here to stand up for public services that have been cut to the bone,” said AFSCME president Lee Saunders. “Not just here in Washington, D.C., but across this country. We’re here because somebody’s got to stand up for what’s right.”
• Feb 13 Union leaders denounce sequestration at DC rally: ‘They want to see us bleed’ Kevin Bogardus, The Hill …. “That top one and two percent want more power. They want more wealth and at the expense of all of us. And today we stand and we are making a line in the sand and we say ‘Hell no!’ ” said Lee Saunders, AFSCME’s president.
• Feb 12 Union President on Labor and Black History Jenée Desmond-Harris, The Root On the 45th anniversary of the Memphis Sanitation Strike, we spoke to Lee Saunders, AFSCME's first black leader.
• Feb 12 AFSCME President Slams Pat Quinn, Michael Nutter As 'Turncoats' Who Must 'Pay' Sam Stein, Huffington Post One of the top labor leaders in the country ripped into two prominent Democratic lawmakers Monday morning, calling them "turncoats" and unfavorably comparing them to high-profile anti-union Republicans.
• Feb 05 theGrio’s 100: Lee Saunders, organizing America’s largest union theGrio Lee Saunders is the first black president of AFSCME. … Saunders made history as the first African-American president of the nation’s largest public employee union. And 2012 was a critical year for labor,..
• Aug 06 New ad hits GOP over tax cuts Ashley Killough, CNN PoliticalTicker Americans United for Change teamed up with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees labor union to release a new television ad Monday, attacking Republicans for opposing tax increases on the very wealthy.
• Jul 08 Newsmakers with Lee Saunders C-SPAN AFSCME’s president discusses his plans for the union, the upcoming presidential election and related issues.
• Jul 03 Economic Pressures On Local Governments Diane Rehm Show, NPR Kerry Korpi discusses economic pressures on local governments and the push to privatize public services.
• Apr 05 Calls for Action at King Vigil The Root Speakers reflected on the legacy of King, also stressed the need to reaffirm and commit to justice and peace.
• Jan 27 Liberal Union Joins Attack on Romney in Florida FactCheck.org The American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees is running a TV ad in Florida slamming Mitt Romney for profiting personally from a company later convicted of Medicare fraud while he was a director.
• Jan 26 Liberal groups join in Fla. ad war against Mitt Romney Dan Eggen, Washington Post Several liberal groups are funding new ad campaigns in the Sunshine State targeting the vulnerable GOP presidential candidate.
• Jan 12 AFSCME Launches 'Political Match Game', Highlighting Anti-Worker Positions of GOP Presidential Candidates Kenneth Quinnell, Crooks & Liars The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees union launched a fun interactive game Monday test people's knowledge of the anti-worker sentiments of the top Republican presidential contenders.
• Jan 02 California pension system not in crisis San Francisco Chronicle Despite those who claim otherwise, the sky is not falling on the California pension system.
• Dec 14 Don't blame government workers' pensions Gerald W. McEntee, USA Today The big players on Wall Street have devastated our economy and our retirement savings.
• Dec 08 Obama Gains Major Union Endorsement And, Potentially, $100 Million War Chest Sam Stein, Huffington Post The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees formally endorsed President Barack Obama's reelection on Tuesday, beginning an extensive and expensive process to, in part, shore up the president's support among white working class voters.
• Dec 08 His Love of Labor Won’t Fade Away Lara Seligman, National Journal Gerald McEntee won't let retirement slow him down in his fight for America's working class.
• Dec 06 Public workers union endorses Obama as ‘only choice for the 99 percent’ Kevin Bogardus, The Hill The largest public employee union in the country endorsed President Obama for a second term on Tuesday.
• Dec 06 AFSCME votes to endorse Obama for reelection Peter Wallsten, 44 blog at Washington Post The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees voted Tuesday to officially endorse President Obama in the 2012 election.
• Dec 02 Did Gingrich insult America's children? PoliticsNation, MSNBC Rev. Al Sharpton and panel talk about Newt Gingrich's comments on children, labor laws and poverty.
• Nov 15 Labor's turning point? Glenn Thrush, Politico Ohio victory has revived labor movement to level not seen in years.
• Nov 15 The Lessons of Issue 2′s Defeat in Ohio Alex Altman, Swampland blog at Time The vote "delivered a clear message to corporate-backed politicians across the country that we will no longer stay silent as Wall Street tries to steal the American Dream. This was a brazen attempt to silence the voice of the 99%.”
• Nov 14 Public Service Workers Are Helping to Cut Taxpayer Costs Gerald W. McEntee, Wall Street Journal Union members are pulling together to find real solutions to our economic problems.
• Nov 11 What the Ohio vote means Gerald W. McEntee, Reuters Voters will not tolerate unnecessary cuts to vital programs and attacks on working families.
• Nov 08 Ohio Vote: We Won't Be Misled, Fooled or Led Astray Lee A. Saunders, The Root Senate Bill 5 is the right wing's attack on public-sector workers and public services.
• Nov 07 Ohio's Issue 2 hurts African-Americans most Lee A. Saunders, theGrio In Ohio and around the country, one-fifth of all public-sector employees are African-American.
• Sep 08 Remembering the `invisible workers’ of 9/11 Greg Sargent, Washington Post On AFSCME's video remembrance of the workers who rose to the call of duty that day.
• Aug 03 Labor Steamed at Debt Deal, But Do They Blame Obama? Shushannah Walshe , ABC News President Obama met for more than hour with the executive committee of the AFL-CIO Tuesday morning, the same day he would sign the deal raising the debt ceiling, averting disaster, but angering the labor movement—a core Democratic constituency.
• Jul 29 Unions Launch Debt Ceiling Ad War on GOP Danny Yadron, Wall Street Journal Three major labor unions and a pro-labor outside group will run attack ads this weekend on Republican House members for blocking a deal to raise the debt ceiling.
• Jul 22 Unions Go After Gang Of Six Deficit-Cutting Plan: 'It Would Kill Jobs' Michael McAuliff & Elise Foley, Huffington Post Unions are coming down hard on the so-called "Gang of Six" deficit-cutting plan, blasting the bipartisan proposal with a harsh ad set to come out Friday in Capitol-focused publications.
• Jul 13 Debt Ceiling Medicaid Cuts: Union Lobbies Democratic Senators For Help Samuel Haass, Huffington Post AFSCME urges moderate Senate Democrats to reject debt ceiling proposals that would cut Medicaid funding.
• Jul 10 Labor angered by Obama's willingness to cut Social Security in debt ceiling deal Kevin Bogardus, The Hill “I think this is a huge political mistake,” said AFSCME legislative director Chuck Loveless.
• Jul 09 Opponents of GA immigration law rally at Capitol Associated Press Several hundred people rallied at the Capitol against the state's new law targeting illegal immigrants.
• Jun 18 Cuomo and Pensions: A View From a Union Leader Gerald W. McEntee, New York Times Pension costs grew due to the financial crisis, not because benefit levels are too high.
• Jun 17 Anti-union Republicans seize their moment Melissa Maynard, Stateline The pace and magnitude of change for the state’s public employees have been startling.
• Jun 17 Privatization At The Heart Of Divisive Battles In Wisconsin Amanda Terkel, Huffington Post Secretary-Treasurer Lee Saunders: what Walker is doing is "a power play, pure and simple."
• May 25 Unions File Unfair Labor Practice Against Montana Legislature Kacey Drescher, KFBB News Channel 5 Legislature rejected a deal with state employee unions already negotiated with Gov. Brian Schweitzer.
• May 23 Historical civil rights figures weigh in on pension debate Karina Rusk, ABC-7 News Video: Participants in the Memphis sanitation strike speak out in San Jose, Calif.
• May 18 California Protesters Refuse to Become 'Wisconsin of the West' Allison Kilkenny, The Nation Hundreds of San Jose city workers gathered at City Hall to oppose proposed budget cuts.
• May 18 Stop Enabling Crazy CEO Pay Alyce Lomax, The Motley Fool AFSCME recently blamed the largest mutual funds for doing the least to rein in CEO compensation.
• May 18 Unions to lawmakers: Take away corporate tax expenditures to pay down deficit Bernie Becker, The Hill Organized labor and other groups are pushing Congress to eliminate corporate tax breaks and use the extra revenue to pay down the deficit.
• May 11 NYC Parents Rally For Child Care NY1 News Thousands rallied outside of City Hall Wednesday in support of child care for working families.
• May 05 Unions refocus political activity Fredreka Schouten, USA Today Larry Scanlon, AFSCME's political director, said, "People have woken up to the fact that they have to be more aggressive in electoral politics in the states."
• Apr 24 Former AIG exec Kevin Fitzpatrick sues for $822M AARON ELSTEIN, Crain’s New York Business “Working families keep seeing huge payouts for the Wall Street executives who drove our economy into the ditch and are apparently living high on the hog with taxpayer money,” said Lee Saunders, the union's international secretary-treasurer.
• Apr 13 AFSCME decries big pay at Pfizer Lee Howard, The Day One of the nation's leading labor unions is pushing Pfizer Inc. investors to lodge a protest against what it sees as lavish executive pay at the world's leading pharmaceutical firm.
• Apr 12 Countering the Siege New York Times AFSCME President McEntee on how attacks on public service workers have energized union members and our allies in a growing battle over workers’ rights.
• Apr 04 Union workers march on King death anniversary CNN Wire Staff, CNN
• Apr 01 GOP senators all back Toomey balanced-budget bill Thomas Fitzgerald, Philadelphia Inquirer In just three months, freshman Republican Sen. Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania has emerged as the deficit hawk's deficit hawk, and on Thursday all 47 of his GOP colleagues joined him in sponsoring a balanced-budget amendment to the Constitution…
• Mar 31 Ohio Lawmakers Pass Anti-Union Bill STEVEN GREENHOUSE, New York Times This bill is a reprehensible attack on the middle class and the rights of Ohio’s workers,” said Gerald McEntee, president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.
• Mar 23 Unions look to weaken support for Brown Matt Viser, Globe (MA)
• Mar 17 A Spoonful of Sugar Tim Fernholz, National Journal In contrast with their Republican counterparts, Democratic governors are trying negotiation, not confrontation, with public employees.
• Mar 17 Obama pep talk to donors Peter H. Stone, Center for Public Integrity
• Mar 11 Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker signs anti-union bill -- but Democrats say they're the political victors Stephanie Condon, CBS News Political Hotsheet Lee A. Saunders, secretary-treasurer of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, told the Washington Post that it's no coincidence Republicans are pushing anti-union measures in states that will be key in the 2012 elections.
• Jan 10 Do Roads Pay for Themselves? Ryan Holeywell, Governing.com A new study seeks to dispel the oft-repeated claim of highway advocates that roads pay for themselves due to gas taxes and other user fees assessed on motorists.