President Lee Saunders

• Jan 18 Drawing Inspiration from Lincoln, King on the Eve of President Obama's Second Inauguration It is time for all of us to pull together and fight for the enduring ideals of justice, equality and the rights of working men and women.
• Jan 15 Massive Cuts are Coming Unless We Work Together It’s time to pull together to prepare America for the future. Together, we must be part of the fight to make that happen.
• Nov 30 The Road to Jobs and Economic Growth One of the great lies of our time is that raising taxes on the wealthy hurts job creation and undermines economic growth.
• Nov 21 “AFSCME Members Will Stand with Walmart’s Workers” Statement of AFSCME Pres. Lee Saunders on Walmart and Black Friday
• Nov 12 America’s Working Families Won Election Day 2012 brought very good news for the working middle class, the Main Street movement and the American Dream. The American people sent a clear message that we will stand with a President who stands with all Americans.
• Nov 07 Statement of AFSCME Pres. Lee Saunders on the 2012 Election This is a good day for the working middle class, the Main Street movement and the American Dream. The American people sent a clear message that we will stand with a President who stands with all Americans.
• Nov 03 Time to Vote If we do all we can, we will win on Tuesday, a victory that will help build a better future for every American family.
• Oct 16 Romney and Ryan and Respect for Workers In Mitt Romney’s America, the men and women who collect trash, plow streets, guard prisoners, care for children and heal the sick should simply do as they’re told.
• Oct 05 Romney Says He Believes in America, Just Not in Its Public Services By contrast, President Obama wants to cut taxes for the working men and women who are struggling
• Oct 01 Meet Richard Hayes: He Collects Mitt Romney's Trash Videos spotlight public service workers, underscore Romney’s arrogant dismissal of nearly half of all Americans.
• Sep 21 It Takes a Lot of Brass: Romney and America’s Veterans Romney shows nothing but contempt for the men and women who sacrifice for all Americans.
• Sep 04 Why November Matters Political involvement is a critical part of addressing the challenges we face as workers, union members and citizens.
• Aug 31 Labor Day and the Future of America We must do more to insure that future Americans live in a country where their voices can be heard and their freedom is secure. This Labor Day, and throughout the crucial next two months, we must show that we are equal to the task.
• Jul 27 Taxes, Offshore Accounts and Corruption As Romney pushes a plan full of budget-breaking tax cuts for the very rich, serious questions remain about his own tax returns and use of offshore accounts.
• Jul 12 Romney: “I believe in America,” but bank in Switzerland Why would a man who says he believes in America need a Swiss bank account?
• Jul 09 Mitt Romney’s “Fake-Facts” The Romney campaign is attempting to distort the real impact of the Affordable Care Act.
• Jul 08 Newsmakers with Lee Saunders AFSCME’s president discusses his plans for the union, the upcoming presidential election and related issues.
• Jun 22 Remarks of Pres. Lee Saunders President Saunders gave the following acceptance speech at AFSCME’s 40th International Convention upon being sworn in as the union’s first ever African-American president.
• May 14 Standing Up from State to State Our solidarity has encouraged working people across the country to demand their rights.
• Apr 04 They stood their ground for respect The Memphis sanitation workers' strike and its aftermath continue to inspire AFSCME today.
• Mar 14 Saunders: We Must Build a Main Street Movement In radio appearances nationwide, Sec.-Treas. Lee Saunders talked about AFSCME’s history — and its future.
• Mar 02 New Mexico’s Workers Join Main Street Movement Our Main Street movement echoes New Mexico’s motto: “It grows as it goes.”
• Feb 29 Working Families Targeted in Michigan Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder is using the economic mess Wall Street created as a smokescreen to dismantle public services and destroy workers' rights.
• Feb 17 Asserting a Claim on Democracy As we observe Black History Month, AFSCME members are taking part in a Main Street movement.
• Jan 16 Martin Luther King Jr., the labor movement and the American dream Dr. King often spoke of the links between the struggle for workers' rights and the cause of civil rights.
• Jan 16 Economic Justice Key Part of Dream Dr. King recognized that civil rights and workers’ rights are intertwined.
• Jan 13 Killing Pensions to Benefit the 1 Percent The Wall Street Journal continues its push to gut the retirement security of millions of middle class workers across the country while enriching Wall Street.
• Jan 02 California pension system not in crisis Despite those who claim otherwise, the sky is not falling on the California pension system.
• Nov 08 Ohio Vote: We Won't Be Misled, Fooled or Led Astray 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 In Ohio and around the country, one-fifth of all public-sector employees are African-American.
• Oct 18 Energized for the Fight Even in the face of short-term defeats, AFSCME sisters and brothers have been resilient.
• Aug 23 Revive the Dream The dedication of the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial is an opportunity to renew our commitments to fight for social and economic justice.
• Jul 25 Undermining the Right to Vote New requirements will keep students, minorities and seniors from having their voices heard.
• Jun 14 Prison Privatization as Political Payback Taxpayers wind up paying more when private contractors cut corners on safety, health and services.
• Jun 01 The Main Street Movement Fights over budgets, pensions and public services are really a battle for the American Dream.
• May 03 Threat to Blacks in the Public Sector Radical conservative politicians want to slash city, county and state jobs — and undercut economic security.
• Mar 10 An Affront to Democracy Wisconsin Senate Republicans used legislative tricks to ram through Governor Walker's bill — wiping out collective bargaining rights for nurses, teachers, EMTs and other trusted public employees.
• Jan 01 Collective Bargaining is Key to a Prosperous Economy In several states, ultraconservative legislatures and governors, claiming to be focused on jobs creation and restoring the middle class, are advocating laws that would actually kill jobs and continue the downward slide of working families.
• Dec 02 Stop Believing the Myths About 401(k) Plans The former publisher of the Las Vegas Review-Journal wrote a column this week calling public employee pensions “grotesque shadows of their initial good intention” and pushing private savings plans as the future of retirement.
• Oct 07 Protecting Our Jobs and Our Pensions In 2010, we are confronting unprecedented challenges and right-wing attacks that test our ability to stand up for the services we provide and represent our union’s core values. As Secretary-Treasurer, I’m honored to fight alongside you.
• Sep 28 America's Failed 401(k) Experiment While the unfunded pension liabilities in many public retirement funds have received an inordinate amount of attention, the larger retirement deficit of most Americans is not generating the level of concern that it deserves.
• 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 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 [...]
• Jul 12 United We Move Forward A message from AFSCME's new International Secretary-Treasurer Lee A. Saunders.