Organizing for Power
From state to state, workers are organizing with AFSCME for a voice on the job. Here are some recent victories:
CONNECTICUT
Nearly 80 workers from three units formed unions with Council 4. In Bridgeport, 35 supervisors from the housing authority emerged victorious via card check. In Chester, Deep River, Essex and Regional School District #4, 24 school workers — custodians, secretaries, network technicians and RNs — signed on by a vote of 15 to 7. In Danbury, all 18 administrative and support staff employees from the housing authority voted for the Green Machine.
FLORIDA
About 1,650 workers from the University of South Florida made that the seventh state college to return to Council 79 in the wake of Republican Gov. Jeb Bush's decision to make each campus autonomous, canceling the contracts of university employees. New contracts are now being negotiated separately at each of the seven campuses. The employees at South Florida — members of Local 3342 — belong to the operational services, human services and administrative/clerical bargaining units. Four other state universities plan to rejoin Council 79.
NEW MEXICO
In Doña Ana County, N.M., nearly 200 workers from two separate bargaining units formed unions with Council 18. Both victories were landslides: by a vote of 69 to 4, juvenile/adult officers in the county jail elected AFSCME. In the blue-collar unit, 51 of 52 votes were cast in support of the Green Machine.
NEW YORK
In the Big Apple, 10 Head Start workers from the Ecumenical Community Development Organization formed a union with DC 1707 after a successful card-check campaign.
OHIO
Close to 125 workers joined either the Ohio Association of Public School Employees (OAPSE)/AFSCME Local 4 or Council 8. In Gallia County, 22 workers at the Guiding Hand School voted 18 to 3, and a unit of 49 bus drivers from Medina County Transit voted 27 to 16, to form unions with OAPSE. Council 8 welcomed 36 health-department employees from Elyria; 20 city workers — including clericals and others from the water/sewer and street departments — from Hillsboro; and four wastewater workers from Richland County.
PENNSYLVANIA
Three groups of workers said yes to Council 88. In Northampton County, 121 clerical support staff from the court system and 54 domestic relations conference and probation officers were joined by a unit of more than 120 support staff at the Fleetwood Area School District from nearby Berks County.
