Organizing for Power

From state to state, workers are organizing with AFSCME for a voice on the job. Here are some recent victories:

CALIFORNIA

In the Bay area, 270 Santa Clara County Valley Transit Authority employees now have the AFSCME advantage. They voted 131 to 103 to join Council 57.

CONNECTICUT

Police officers from Naugatuck severed ties with an independent labor union and joined Council 15. The election tally: 30 to 1. Officers said the switch gives them more muscle and better training because the council represents 3,700 people who work in law enforcement.

FLORIDA

In Jacksonville, nearly 2,500 city employees returned to Council 79 after three years of useless representation. With a massive voter turnout, 61percent of the ballots said 'Yes' to the Florida council. The workers — represented by an individual posing as a union — suffered through three years without a contract. In summer 2002, they started a campaign to reconnect with the Green Machine.

MASSACHUSETTS

It's unanimous: In an election involving more than 60 caregivers, the workforce of The Protestant Guild for Human Services in Waltham voted 46 to 0 to form a union with Council 93. The guild is a nonprofit agency that provides support to individuals with special needs.

MICHIGAN

In Detroit, 30 direct care workers now have a voice in the workplace. The workers — employed by Blithesome Inc. — voted 14 to 2 to join Council 25.

OHIO

In Lakewood, 127 clerical and technical city employees won a card-check campaign and formed a union with Council 8.

PENNSYLVANIA

A whopping 1,855 workers from Pennsylvania Northwestern Human Services (NHS) are now members of Council 13. Three units of employees voted more than 5 to 1 to join Council 13. NHS receives 98 percent of its funding from government agencies, and operates more than 50 treatment facilities throughout the state.

WISCONSIN

At the Jefferson (County) Public Library, seven employees took management to school when six of them voted to form a union with Council 40.