“We are saddened to learn that two BART employees were killed after being hit by a BART train,” said Patricia Schuchardt, president of the local. “Our hearts go out to the families of both workers as well as to the person operating the train. This is a tragedy.”

The fatalities occurred during the second day of a strike by employees of SEIU 1021 and ATU 1555. While AFSCME Local 3993 did not declare a strike, they encouraged their members to honor the picket lines while they continued negotiations with BART.

Schuchardt added, “We are saddened and outraged to learn that the train was possibly operated by management personnel.”

This, despite repeated warnings by BART unions to top management and the board of directors about the danger of inexperienced personnel running the system in the event of a strike.

Since the tragedy occurred, the National Transportation Safety Board launched an investigation into the fatalities.

SEIU and ATU reached an agreement with BART bringing an end to the Bay Area strike. Local 3993 negotiations are ongoing with expectations to settle a contract very soon.

Sheppard is survived by his wife and two children. More information about contributing to the victim’s family is available at afscme3993.org.

More than 350 corrections officers and sworn law-enforcement personnel from across the nation gathered in Columbus, Ohio, for the AFSCME Public Safety Congress.

Among them were members of the Newtown Police Union, Local 3153, who received the 2013 Law Enforcement Award for their response to the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Conn.

Scott Ruszczyk, president of Local 3153, accepted the award and spoke about the role officers played responding to the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting. The perpetrator still had nearly 200 more rounds of ammunition at the time he was killed, Ruszczyk noted. Had first responders not intervened, more lives could have been lost. 

Members of the Lucasville Corrections Facility in Ohio received the 2013 Corrections Award in recognition of their role quelling a deadly riot 20 years ago that claimed the life of OCSEA member Robert Vallandingham.

Accepting the ACU award on behalf of his sisters and brothers, Luke Vansickle, president of Local 7730, presented Pres. Lee Saunders with the roster from the shift when the riot started – a document that has been in the local’s possession ever since. It will hang in the lobby of AFSCME’s headquarters in Washington, DC. 

At the event, Saunders announced the donation of $100,000 to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund.

“Our National Law Enforcement Memorial in Washington, DC, serves to remind everyone – every tourist, every family, every resident who has ever called for help – of the ultimate sacrifice that too many of our public safety officers make every year,” Saunders said.  “It helps keep those officers in our hearts and minds.”

Throughout the conference, participants strategized on the common issues their locals confront, such as funding cuts to state prisons and politicians who cater to big businesses at the expense of public workers.

Mike Fraise, a member of AFSCME Local 2989, Council 61, who works in the Iowa State Penitentiary, said Gov. Terry Branstad “is trying to cut staffing to save money.” He was particularly interested in sessions on funding for public services.

Judy Kuschel, a community corrections officer in Washington state and member of Council 28, said she was drawn to the event by the educational opportunities offered.

“It’s a great place to get more ideas from other people around the country of how they do their jobs, and the kind of training they get,” Kuschel said.

The money – approximately $4,000 per employee – was promised as raises under a contract that members of AFSCME Council 31 negotiated in good faith with the state. Gov. Pat Quinn canceled them after claiming lawmakers hadn’t allocated money to cover the raises. AFSCME challenged that “illegal and irresponsible” decision in court. A judge last year agreed and ordered the governor to pay the back wages, plus 7 percent interest.

Quinn previously agreed to restore the raises for employees in some agencies when money was found to pay them, but 25,000 others still wait. And wait.

There is a solution. State Sen. Andy Manar and other lawmakers are sponsoring a bill, SB 2603, that will allow for the payment of all back wages owed. The State Journal-Register called on lawmakers in both Houses to pass legislation to set the matter right “before they head home next week.”

It shouldn’t be hard for lawmakers to see the justice in this situation. They did the same thing for themselves after Quinn tried to withhold their pay in July. Lawmakers rushed to court and also got a ruling in their own favor.

Now it’s time for lawmakers to step up during the General Assembly’s fall veto session, and give the state employees their due.

“AFSCME members who keep Illinois prisons safe, care for the most vulnerable and maintain our state parks are just some of the thousands of workers waiting more than two years now for the wages they were promised and earned,” said Council 31 Exec. Dir. Henry Bayer, also an AFSCME International vice president. “We hope that state lawmakers who received their own back wages have a newfound appreciation for the importance of being paid what you are owed.”

That election will be held within the next three months, pending state review of the corrections officers’ filing.

For more than a decade, corrections officers in Cuyahoga County were represented by an association that provided them with no local union or local union officers of their own. They want to be more effective advocates for better working conditions, community safety and pay. That means working with AFSCME.

“Our dues, our union and our voice,” said Ron Channell, a corrections officer in Cleveland, “that’s what AFSCME means to me.”

The Cuyahoga County corrections officers will join forces with more than 100,000 current AFSCME members in Ohio. That increases their clout at the bargaining table, says corrections officer Ron Jones.

“We’ve stood in the shadows too long,” Jones said. “AFSCME puts us and our issues at the forefront.”

Emanuel Bradfield, a Cleveland corrections officer is excited about the solidarity of a union.

“This is our time to stand together,” Bradfield said. “And we’ve got 110,000 Ohio members standing behind us.”

Welsch, a custodian at Burlington High School, wears a special prosthesis with a shock absorber that allows him to exercise. And exercise he does.

He competed in 10 Boston Marathons and finished nine of them (he was at the 18-mile marker this year when the bombings happened). He competed in the Cape Cod Triathlon and finished the eight-mile Boston Lights Swim seven times. He swam all four Connecticut Lakes and around New York City on the Hudson, East and Harlem Rivers.

The toughest challenge he’s ever undertaken, he says, was a 22-mile swim in Lake Winnipesaukee, which he did to raise money for charity. His friends were on two boats behind him and provided support. The race began in the middle of a summer night, and he drank Gatorade and ate peanut butter and jelly sandwiches to keep going. Twice he had to get onto one of the boats to put on more sunblock because “the sun was killing me.” It took him 16 hours to complete.

His two children, Ashley and Mika, were at the finish line.

“If you get up every day and give it your best,” Welsch says, “things tend to add up.”

One of his inspirations is Diana Nyad, who recently completed a 110-mile swim from Cuba to Florida, a feat that had eluded her for 35 years.

“Never give up,” Welsch says. “That’s what Diana said after she finished her swim.”

Next year, Welsch plans to compete in the Boston Marathon again, hoping to finish the race for the tenth time. A Marine Corps veteran, he says he plans to be going just as strong when he’s 80 years old.

Welsch’s fighting spirit is an inspiration to us all. AFSCME is proud to call him one of our members.

The findings in the American Community Survey demonstrate that states with higher union membership also benefitted from having more robust middle classes.

The significance of this is heightened when you keep in mind that a strong middle class is essential for a vibrant democracy and that prosperous middle-class households are also powerful drivers of economic growth.

The additional annual income middle-class families receive in states that benefit from unionization can be in the hundreds of dollars. In Pennsylvania in 2012, for example, it was $700 per middle-class household. That’s $700 more to spend on groceries, medications, or Christmas gifts.

As the authors of this analysis point out, the census figures “illustrate once again just how tangible of an impact organized labor has on the everyday lives of middle-class families. When the middle class does well, so does the American economy. But to rebuild both, we must ensure that unions are strong enough to fight for middle-class interests in the workplace and in the political arena.”

Hundreds of thousands of federal workers were left without paychecks during the shutdown, forced to stay home while right-wing lawmakers held the country hostage. Among those furloughed public service workers who will now receive back pay are Megan Burger, a Capitol Guide Service employee who is a member of AFSCME Local 658 (AFSCME Council 26) and FAA inspector Dan Ronneberg, a member of Local 1653 (Council 26).

A provision of the agreement that AFSCME championed will assure that thousands of furloughed state and local government employees, who are compensated with federal funds, also will get back pay, as will federal workers. This will ensure fairness to all public service workers furloughed during the government shutdown.

This shutdown, which has been so harmful to the nation’s fragile economic recovery, did not have to happen.

“For two weeks, Republican congressional leaders were derelict in their duty,” AFSCME Pres. Lee Saunders said, following the vote in the House. “They allowed a fringe element in their party – one vastly out of step with American values and priorities -- to shut our government down and bring the country to the brink of defaulting on its financial obligations.  Their actions demonstrated a callous disregard for this nation’s citizens, businesses and the economy.”

The cause of this shutdown was the demand by House Republicans that they would get concessions designed to undermine or destroy the Affordable Care Act in return for ending the shutdown and stepping away from defaulting on the nation’s debt. This was unacceptable. Hundreds of thousands have already applied to take advantage of the law, and millions more will in the near future.

Their effort failed, but Speaker Boehner vows that Republicans will continue to try to undermine the Affordable Care Act. We will work to make sure that doesn’t happen. Americans who want affordable health care will not be allowed to become hostages in a right-wing, Wall Street-led attack on the middle class.

We will also work to ensure that this does not happen again. Unfortunately, the agreement only funds the federal government through Jan. 15 and suspends the nation’s debt limit only through Feb. 7, so another government shutdown crisis still looms. There are solutions to this governing-by-crisis madness. Polls show that most Americans support changes that would end the extreme partisanship that Congress has found itself locked into because of redistricting rules and voting restrictions. AFSCME agrees that such changes are needed if we are to avoid future shutdowns.

Please watch this video.

The Detroit bankruptcy matters to all of us.

It matters to workers like Clarence Sanders, who has worked for the city for more than 24 years—and took four pay cuts in the last 10 of them. And even lost a home.

It matters to the retirees like Ora Mae Mott, who worked in the city Finance Department for 30 years—and now, at 81, finds her monthly pension of $1,100 per month in jeopardy of being cut.

It matters to all of us who think that the wellbeing of workers and retirees and small business owners should be put before the profits of the corporate elite.

Please watch the video above and stand with your sisters and brothers in Detroit by signing our petition at www.StandWithDetroit.org.

Homan, who served in the Army from 1971-1973, and who represents 40,000 Iowa public employees, said he appreciates the importance of the Iowa Gold Star Military Museum, located at Camp Dodge in Johnston, Iowa; it was scheduled for a temporary closure. But he knew that ensuring more than 200 state employees continue working – for the Iowa National Guard and the Iowa Workforce Development – is more critical for the state’s economy.

“We need OSHA inspectors on the job,” Homan said at an anti-shutdown rally in Des Moines. “We need workforce development folks working in Iowa Workforce Development offices trying to find people work. We need folks to work at Camp Dodge and out at the air base performing duties to make sure those facilities run right.”

Homan recounted how his son, Brent, now 34, was serving in the U.S. Army in Iraq in 2006 when his Bradley Fighting Vehicle was struck by a roadside bomb. His son lost his right eye and part of his thumb in the explosion.

Considering that state government has a budget surplus, keeping workers off the job – instead of closing the museum temporarily – is “the definition of stupid,” Homan said.

At WFSE’s 2013 Biennial Convention last week, they committed to increase young member participation in the union and to support the union’s goal of coalition building – expanding their own list of allies beyond Washington State to the greater Northwestern Region.

“Our main goals are growth,” said Brandon Anderson, WFSE Organizer and Next Wave Committee Leader, when asked about their next steps. “We want to increase participation throughout the state and get young AFSCME members involved.”

Throughout the convention, Next Wavers flooded the convention halls, urging young workers and delegates in attendance to join their rally supporting Proposition 1.  

Proposition 1 requires Seattle-Tacoma hospitality and transportation employers to raise their hourly minimum wage to $15, adjusted annually for inflation, and pay sick and safe time of one hour per 40 hours worked. According to a study printed in the Seattle Times, it would boost economy by $54 million.

“Prop. 1 was just the natural choice,” said Anderson, describing why Next Wavers adopted the issue for advocacy. “The people impacted represent the new faces of labor – young folks and a great deal of immigrant workers. It also represented a new and creative tactic to make the labor movement relevant, going beyond just winning gains for union membership.”

Organized by the WFSE Next Wave committee, workers rallied on a busy Seattle-Tacoma intersection and marched to the corporate headquarters of Alaska Airlines, which tried to keep the measure off the ballot.

Proposition 1 is on the ballot in a Nov. 5 election.

Under the law, AB 241, domestic workers are only required to work nine hours a day and 45 hours a week; any amount over that requires time-and-a-half overtime pay. Although AB 241 excludes homecare workers who are paid through the state’s In-Home Supportive Services program (IHSS), the United Domestic Workers of America (UDW)/AFSCME Local 3930—made up of over 65,000 IHSS caregivers—supported the bill.

“This is a victory for domestic workers in California,” said UDW Executive Director Doug Moore, “we applaud the efforts of our brothers and sisters in their fight for these necessary protections.”

UDW President and IHSS caregiver Editha Adams agreed.

“Caregivers and other domestic workers are overwhelmingly women and people of color, and working for very low wages,” Adams said. “It is critical that we support each other and celebrate each other’s successes.”

AFSCME and our progressive allies have been pushing for domestic workers’ rights, even following a Brown veto of a similar bill in 2012. California domestic workers will continue to lead the fight for their rights including eight hours of uninterrupted sleep in “adequate, decent, and sanitary” sleeping accommodations for live-in workers, meal and rest break rights and paid days of rest following a full year of work. All of these protections were stripped from AB 241 before Brown signed it.

California is the third U.S. state to pass a domestic workers’ rights law (following New York and Hawaii). The law is set to take effect on January 1, 2014, and includes a sunset provision that requires a committee review before January 2017.

Wage protections—including minimum wage and overtime pay—protected by federal labor laws are slated to be extended to homecare workers by the Obama administration in January 2015. Although California’s new law and the federal rules protect domestic workers’ pay, AFSCME will continue to fight for workplace safety and dignity of the people who care for our nation’s most vulnerable citizens.

The evidence is in. “People who belong to unions are happier than others, and the overall rate of labor union density contributes to greater human well-being for everyone (members and non-members, rich and poor),” says Benjamin Radcliff, professor of political science at Notre Dame.

Professor Radcliff, author of the book The Political Economy of Human Happiness, says the reason for this abundance of happiness “is in large part due to the greater political voice given to ordinary people when organized labor is strong.”

Public service workers nationwide choose AFSCME to increase their voice on the job because they know we will:

• Help them gain respect and fair treatment through collective bargaining;
• Stand up to improve the lives of workers, even if they don’t belong to a union;
• Fight for a wage increase for even the lowest-wage workers in America;
  Support civil rights, voting rights, and increased opportunity for all Americans;
• Defend the retirement security of our members.

When unions are strong, the working middle class is strong. Census data proves it. So it’s no surprise that happiness comes from belonging to a strong union like AFSCME, or any other union that works to improve the lives of its members, the communities in which they live, and the working middle class, upon which this country’s future depends.

 “Here's what this game comes down to,” writes Taibbi in “Looting the Pension Funds.” “Politicians run for office, promising to deliver law and order, safe and clean streets, and good schools. Then they get elected, and instead of paying for the cops, garbagemen, teachers and firefighters they only just 10 minutes ago promised voters, they intercept taxpayer money allocated for those workers and blow it on other stuff.”

Taibbi says a loophole in the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), made this possible. The law, passed in 1974, “was designed to protect the retirement money of workers with pension plans,” he writes. But lawmakers left out public pension funds from the regulations. That left state and local government officials free to raid or underfund them at their pleasure.

Massachusetts was among the worst offenders, making only 27 percent of its required payments. New Jersey followed with 33 percent.

Another tactic “involved illegally borrowing cash from public retirement funds to finance other budget needs,” Taibbi writes.

These abuses were generally ignored as long as pension funds were in relatively good financial shape. Then the financial meltdown of 2008, caused by Wall Street excesses, created a fiscal crisis that left state budgets in shambles.

“Someone had to take the hit. But who?” Taibbi answers his own question: Public service workers and retirees.

The very Wall Street-backed politicians who raided and underfunded the pension systems in the first place are now “using scare tactics and lavishly funded PR campaigns to cast teachers, firefighters and cops – not bankers – as the budget-devouring boogeymen responsible for the mounting fiscal problems of America's states and cities,” he writes. Read more about the sham pension crisis here.

AFSCME Sec.-Treas. Laura Reyes attended the event, which amplified the call for the House of Representatives to bring a comprehensive reform bill to the floor for a vote.

Last week, House Democrats unveiled their own bill to overhaul the nation’s broken immigration system and create a path to citizenship for all immigrants. It echoes a Senate bill passed in June. Since the beginning of the year, AFSCME made it one of its top priorities to help pass an immigration reform law that includes a path to citizenship for all immigrants.

The event also came less than a week after more than 160 rallies for immigration reform occurred throughout the country.

After the rally on the Mall, labor leaders joined members of Congress and others in an act of civil disobedience, and several AFSCME members and staffers were among those arrested.

Despite the government shutdown, participants were able to stage their rally, and activists continued to put pressure on Congress to act on immigration reform legislation.

This time, the thousands of immigrants and their supporters were assisted in their demands for action by Los Tigres del Norte or “Tigers of the North” – a Mexican norteño music band whose song lyrics capture the pathos and drama of the undocumented immigrant experience.

Dressed in black boots, shiny gold pants, and tiger-print blazers, they sang their top hits, including La Jaula de Oro or “The Cage of Gold,” which tells of crossing the border on foot, raising children who become American and forget their roots, and being reluctant to step outside for fear of deportation.

The hiring came after the Police Communications Technicians (PCTs) – members of Local 1549 (DC 37) – suffered months of mandatory excessive overtime. It happened as the department prepared to launch its new emergency dispatch system, which broke down several times after going online.

As the technicians coped with double shifts, stress, insufficient sleep and time away from their loved ones, DC 37 and members of Local 1549 campaigned to raise public awareness and press the city to hire additional workers. The campaign included outreach to City Council members, appearances at budget hearings, leafleting, and working with the media to focus attention on the issue.

“We made a strong case about how the staffing shortage is harming the health and morale of our members and putting public safety at risk,” said Local 1549 Pres. Eddie Rodriguez, who is also president of DC 37 and an AFSCME International vice president. “We are happy the city and the NYPD finally started to hear our message.”

The hiring breakthrough came this summer when DC 37 Exec. Dir. Lillian Roberts, also an AFSCME International vice president, and other union leaders and representatives met with Deputy Mayor Casswell F. Holloway III, Labor Commissioner James F. Hanley and top police brass.

“This is an important move, and we will continue our campaign for proper staffing,” added Local 1549 Exec. Vice Pres. Alma Roper. “The excessive overtime drove our members to the breaking point and made a tragedy seem inevitable.”

“The decision to hire acknowledges the understaffing and excessive overtime was unsustainable," said Henry Garrido, associate director of DC 37. “We will work with management on the civil service hiring process and we will remain vigilant about the situation to protect public safety and the health of our members.”

Jim Dixon, an AFSCME Local 2600 member in Springfield, Ill., and a caseworker for the state’s Healthcare and Family Services Department, says those most in need can now see a doctor and get the care they need.

“Thousands of people who didn’t qualify for coverage before the law was implemented are signing up this week,” he said.

Those who have an income equal or less than 138 percent of the state’s poverty level are now eligible for coverage ($32,496 for a family of four) under the Medicaid expansion. And adults age 19 to 64 no longer need to have a child in their household to qualify.

Dixon’s work includes processing the online applications submitted through the state’s website for coverage, getcoveredillinois.gov. He says the volume is high since the Affordable Care Act launched, and anticipates the number applicants will grow as they discover the change in coverage.

Not all states will expand Medicaid, which leaves 7 million Americans living in poverty without coverage. In fact, the 26 states that rejected Medicaid expansion – due largely to right-wing political ideology -- compose nearly 60 percent of the country’s uninsured working poor.

For those able to purchase health insurance in Illinois under the Affordable Care Act, the state website had more than 115,000 unique visitors in the first day. The federal site healthcare.gov logged 4.7 million unique visits in its first 24 hours.

Jody Kaplan, a member of Local 3800’s bargaining team, is a three-year survivor of stage 3 breast cancer. She knows exactly how much that administration proposal will hurt workers. When she was first diagnosed in 2010 Kaplan’s consultations with her oncologists cost her less than $200.

“Under the university’s new plan,” Kaplan said. “Those same consultations will cost closer to $1,000. And that doesn’t count the cost of treatments.”

Early voting on “Issue 4” is under way, ahead of Election Day on Nov. 5.

“There is no tomorrow, there is no do-over or reset, no going back, this is it –  it’s do or die,” said Tom West, president of AFSCME Local 1543.

That message was not wasted on leaders and members of the six AFSCME Council 8 local unions representing Cincinnati city employees who mobilized, held emergency meetings with the public and completed the first of many neighborhood walks aimed at educating voters.

“The tea party used $70,000 of out-of-state corporate money to put this on the ballot, and they have a lot more for media,” said West. “We will be outspent 10 to 1. But we won Senate Bill 5 [a 2011 anti-worker ballot measure from Gov. John Kasich] at the grassroots level by mobilizing our family, friends and neighbors.  And that’s how we’ll win this too.”

Local 3119 member Jacqueline Silas, a registered nurse with 21 years of city service, works hard to get the word out.

“While I can’t vote on this, I can knock on doors and make calls and talk to my friends and family who can vote ‘no’ on Issue 4 – we all have a stake in this,” she said.

Analysis of Issue 4 shows it will make matters worse, not better.

Issue 4 would close the door for new employees to contribute to the Cincinnati Retirement System (CRS), and allow current participants to opt-out. As more city employees leave and retire – and with no new contributions coming in – CRS will eventually run out of money as it pays pension benefits. The burden would then fall on the public to maintain benefit payments.

“That means significantly higher taxes, service cuts, and even the sale of city property,” said Robert Davis, AFSCME Council 8’s political and legislative director. “The entire City Council, the mayor and both mayoral candidates all oppose this idea.”

Along with AFSCME and the Greater Cincinnati Labor Council, AFL-CIO, other organizations opposed to Issue 4 include the Greater Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce, Faith Community Alliance, Cincinnati Women’s Political Caucus, Ohio Alliance for Retired Americans, and Progress Ohio.

“Without myself or my colleagues on the job, how safe is it to fly when no one is watching?” said Ronneberg, who has worked for the FAA at its headquarters in Washington, DC, for three years.

Ronneberg is a union steward of Local 1653 (AFSCME Council 26). The local represents approximately 2,400 FAA employees in the Washington region. He and other members of Council 26 rallied this week in front of the Smithsonian’s Natural History Museum and handed out information to tourists about sites that remain open during the Republican shutdown of the federal government in its quest to repeal the Affordable Care Act.

The shutdown, motivated by right-wing efforts to derail the Affordable Care Act, makes no sense to Ronneberg.

“The job that aviation safety inspectors do has nothing to do with the Affordable Care Act,” he said. “It has to do with whether the government is funded or not. So to tie having us out doing our jobs – or not – to the Affordable Care Act, is really ludicrous.”

But the consequence of tying the two together makes for potentially unsafe travel in the skies, Ronneberg said. Aviation safety inspectors “ensure the continuous operational safety of the entire U.S. airspace system,” he explained. “That means we look at pilots, we look at airlines, we look at mechanics, we look at repair stations. But I and 3,000 of my colleagues who are aviation inspectors are out on the streets right now.

“I don’t want to say it’s unsafe, but it’s not as safe as when we’re on the job,” he added. “The U.S. airline industry is staffed by professionals, by people who take pride in their work. They’re good people and they want to do the right thing. However, part of helping them do the right thing is that there’s an aviation inspector who can show up at any time, day or night, weekend or holiday, and check to make sure that’s happening.”

What would he say to House Speaker John Boehner (R) if he had a chance? “Pass a clean continuing resolution (to fund the government and get federal workers back on the job) and work out your issues on the Affordable Care Act with the President and the rest of Congress some other time.”

With nearly 7,500 eligible voters, it is the largest union vote and organizing win in the state’s history. It is the largest organizing win in the nation in 2013. When the votes were tallied today, 71 percent of home care providers had voted for AFSCME. 

The Vermont Labor Relations Board announced the results today to an enthusiastic group of home care providers who gathered in Montpelier to witness the vote count. 

Home care provider Amanda Sheppard and her son speak to a television news crew after the vote count at the Vermont Labor Relations Board.

“I’m so excited! It makes the hard work worthwhile. I walked through ice and snow to talk with other home care providers like me because I want AFSCME Vermont Homecare United behind us to improve our jobs so we can give the best to those we care for,” said home care provider Janelle Blake. “Now we can building our union and get our contract.”

Home care providers supporting AFSCME helped lead the successful fight for Vermont state legislation allowing home care providers to organize. AFSCME supporters gave testimony, attended committee hearings, legislative debates and advocacy events with disability groups to get the bill across the finish line. The law allowing organizing was signed into law in May.

“The home care providers of AFSCME Vermont Homecare United worked tirelessly to win collective bargaining rights in the Green Mountain State,” AFSCME Pres. Lee Saunders said. “Many spent countless hours meeting personally with other providers to explain why it was so important for them to have a voice on the job through AFSCME. At kitchen tables, on front porches, at picnics and even in the grocery store, these home care providers showed their fellow providers how coming together through AFSCME brings them one step closer to better pay and benefits, overtime protections, and training opportunities.”

AFSCME Sec.-Treas. Laura Reyes, who is a home care provider, added, “These providers’ determination inspires us and this victory serves as a model for grassroots union organizing work across this country.”

Members of AFSCME Vermont Homecare United celebrate outside the Vermont Labor Relations Board.

Members of Local 2262 and Council 52 joined parents and community leaders to take their fight to the school board. They raised the community’s awareness about the shortfalls of the proposed for-profit outfit that would be responsible for protecting Jersey City’s children.

“Using research we conducted with our national union, we stood against outsourcing here in our schools – letting the school board know that the company they wanted to hire had a history of bad decision making” said Bill Murawski, AFSCME Local 2262 president. “We exposed countless infractions and safety concerns from their other clients.”

Realizing the effect a protracted, negative campaign would have on the company’s reputation and bottom line, they withdrew their proposal to take over the school district’s security. But, not before making one more very bad and very public decision.

“On Sept. 12, in the shadow of the new World Trade Center, the company went into one of our schools with an armed man to test existing security measures,” said Rich Gollin AFSCME Council 52’s executive director. “They did not alert anyone that they were coming in – including the police – and they caused undue concern for students, staff and parents. This was downright stupid. How does it ever make sense to send an armed man into a school with no notice?”

Attempts to outsource vital public services must be stopped; private companies value profit above quality.

Learn more about outsourcing at In the Public Interest, a resource group that works with AFSCME and governments on responsible contracting.

Megan Burger feels bad for the tourists who won’t get to see the Washington, DC, monuments and museums that are closed as a result of the GOP government shutdown.

“There are tens of thousands of visitors who saved perhaps for even a lifetime to come to Washington, DC, and won’t be able to see places like the U.S. Capitol, the monuments or the museums,” said Burger, a Capitol Guide Service employee who is a member of AFSCME Local 658 (Council 26) and was furloughed. “They won’t get to appreciate what DC has to offer.”

So she and her AFSCME brothers and sisters stood in front of the Natural History Museum Wednesday morning handing out information to tourists on what memorials, museums, and other tourist attractions they could hope to find open and which were definitely closed.

Seth Couslar, a Federal Aviation Administration engineer and member of AFSCME Local 1653, joins his union sisters and brothers who were furloughed as a result of a government shutdown in urging Congress to come to agreement over the budget.

They also held signs stating, “I would rather be working for you!” and waving to honking vehicles.

Burger said she became a public servant because “I feel like it’s very special to represent Congress and American history to people every year – it’s always been very much an honor to me and it still is.”

Seth Couslar, an engineer for the Federal Aviation Administration who is a member of AFSCME Local 1653, says if the government shutdown continues for more than a few weeks, he will have to pull one of his kids out of college.

Couslar lives in Maryland and joined a couple of dozen of his AFSCME sisters and brothers Wednesday at the Natural History Museum in sending a simple and clear message to Congress: “I want to go back to work!”

“The rights of employees are not considered in all of this,” says Couslar, whose expertise is in designing navigation systems so airplanes may safely land and take off. “As public servants we’re not in it for the money. I just wish representatives in Congress would do their jobs.”

Urge the House GOP to stop playing politics and reopen the federal government.

AFSCME members from Council 26 stood outside the Natural History Museum on 10th St. and Constitution Ave., NW, urging Congress to reopen the government and passing out information to tourists on what museums and monuments were open or closed as a result of the shutdown.

Danny Homan, an AFSCME International vice president and president of AFSCME Iowa Council 61, which represents workers at the state’s corrections facilities, said Gov. Terry Branstad and Iowa Department of Corrections Dir. John Baldwin are to blame for a prison system that is broken and in crisis.

“Understaffing puts corrections staff at a heightened risk of injury or death, it puts the safety of the public at risk by making escapes more likely, and it puts the inmates’ safety at risk,” Homan said outside the Coralville prison.

Staffing levels at IMCC, commonly known as Oakdale Prison, dropped by nearly 60 employees since 2009, and the union says other Iowa correctional facilities face similar staffing shortages. That includes both corrections officers and nurses.

“We’re down; we need the staff,” said Marty Hathaway, a longtime corrections officer at Oakdale and president of AFSCME Local 2985. “We have a very difficult inmate population here; there’s a lot of mentally ill inmates that work and live here. They’re very difficult to manage. We’re out here to say enough is enough, and to put the staff back in this prison.”

The tipping point, the union leaders say, was the inability of Oakdale’s nurses to use earned vacation days because of staffing constraints. Many of the workers who picketed along the highway outside the prison, one wearing a paper bag and another a mask, declined to speak publicly about the prison out of fear of retaliation.

“My members back here that are wearing a paper bag on their head or have a mask, their supervisors have threatened them and told them if they came out here today, the little vacation they do get today will dry up and go away,” Hathaway said.

To reduce prison populations, Governor Branstad implemented procedures that move some inmates to reduced security facilities and allow earlier release for some prisoners, including those convicted of violent crimes.

A result of that approach, and low staff levels, was the August escape of a Clarinda Correctional Facility inmate, whom Homan said was transferred from a medium-security setting to a minimum-security setting after only a short time. The inmate shot a sheriff’s deputy and held an elderly couple captive, before the captive man, a retired corrections officer, managed to get a shotgun and shot and killed the inmate.

Homan said that incident is symptomatic of the mismanagement of the corrections system, and demanded Baldwin retire.

“He has proven to me he cannot run this department,” Homan said. “He has proven to me he’s not willing to stand up to the governor and say, ‘governor, we cannot run the Department of Corrections with the number of staff you want to run it with.’”

The site, OutsourcingAmericaEXPOSED.org., exposes corporations like multinational company Sodexo, the world’s largest food services and facilities management company that contracts with governments, schools and universities to outsource these services – profiting its shareholders at taxpayer expense.

The site also pokes fun at outsourcing. Check out the great video cartoon, “Outsourcing Eddie,” by Pulitzer-winner Mark Fiore, illustrating the corporate takeover of schools, prisons, water systems and other vital services:

During the next several weeks, the CMD will unveil other corporate profiles of the country’s most infamous outsourcers. Don’t get snowed by these corporate raiders of America’s public services. Check out the site weekly and stay informed about the dangers of prison privatization and other outrageous contract giveaways.

The extremists in Congress huffed and they’ve puffed, but they could not bring the Affordable Care Act down.

AFSCME Pres. Lee Saunders participated in an event today to acknowledge that, despite the shutdown engineered by tea-party extremists, today is the first day families can begin signing up for comprehensive health insurance plans. Coverage takes effect Jan. 1.

“Today should be about how far our nation came in providing access to affordable health care. But instead, a small faction of extremists in the United States Congress made it about themselves and their tea-party agenda,” said Saunders.

“The extremists spent two years trying to undo health care reform. They held 42 votes to repeal it. They challenged the law in court. They ran a Presidential campaign based on killing it,” Saunders said. “And because they couldn’t stop the law, they did the worst thing elected representatives could possibly do: They shut down the government.”

He said those who hung a ‘Closed for Business’ sign on the Capitol “don’t want to negotiate. They want to dictate.”

Saunders pointed out several benefits of the Affordable Care Act. Beginning in January, millions of low- and middle income families will get tax credits to make coverage more affordable. Millions of others who are at or near the poverty line will have access to Medicaid coverage. He also noted the law includes provisions that no longer lock people out of coverage because of pre-existing conditions or kick them off of plans because they get sick.

Today’s event was sponsored by Americans United for Change and featured Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), other leaders of Congress, small-business owners and activists in the fight for accessible, affordable health care.