This patient had been “in a bad way, at the end of her life,” Marshall recalls. “She wanted to die. But the family said, ‘We want her to live.’ So, I sat with them and talked to them about her wishes and the process. They made peace with her decision and moments later, she passed away. Later, the family returned to the hospital and brought us food. They gave me a scarf to thank me. I’ll always remember that.”

At the airport, she was greeted by the daughter, who called her by her first name and introduced her as “my mom’s nurse.”

Nurses don’t always get such recognition for their hard work. This week at the AFSCME/United Nurses of America Congress, held during National Nurses Week, AFSCME nurses throughout the country had the opportunity to attend workshops, network, and ready themselves for organizing work ahead.

“It really did reenergize us to go back home and talk to the membership about unity and organizing other members to make us stronger,” said Michelle Lombardi, an ICU nurse at Trumbull Memorial Hospital in Warren, Ohio. She is on the executive board of AFSCME Local 2026.

Last year, members of Local 2026 successfully negotiated a three-year contract with total wage increases of 7 percent after a salary and benefits freeze that lasted eight years. “Our hospital had gone into bankruptcy and we were forced into concession bargaining,” Lombardi recalls. “It was very difficult for us.”

Today, the hospital has changed ownership and brighter days are ahead. But nurses, despite being in the most trusted profession in America, will continue to fend off attacks from those who have little or no real appreciation for their work – the right-wing, corporate-backed politicians who would rather take away their labor rights.

“Union-busting by elected officials and corporate leaders is prevalent,” AFSCME Pres. Lee Saunders told attendees. “Right-to-work-for-less bills have come up this year in just about every state that does not already have a law on the books. Paycheck deception bills aimed at taking away our voice are common,” he said, referring to bills that make it harder on unions to collect dues from members for political purposes.

He and AFSCME Sec.-Treas. Laura Reyes urged them to continue prioritizing organizing.

“We need to go on the offensive against the current disparity of wealth in this country,” Reyes said. “We need to be the agitators for change. That’s why we organize.  That’s why we build collective power. That’s why we are engaging in strategic planning and setting a proactive course.”

He also claimed it was “dangerous class warfare” when people were protesting high unemployment, foreclosures and corporate bailouts.

But, as has been pointed out by many, including the New York Times editorial page, it is really Republicans, personified by Mr. Romney, who are the class warriors.

As the Times put it, these warriors seek “to incite the anger of a small slice of the richest Americans who need no government assistance but get it anyway, against the working poor, older Americans, the disabled workers and veterans, and even a significant chunk of middle-class Americans.”

But it is clearly a mistake to think that only Republicans engage in this behavior. An elite class of so-called “moderate” or “progressive” Democrats has also put a target on the income and retirement security of the working class.

Whether Democrat or Republican, these class warriors have the same objectives. They all seek to preserve and extend unsustainable tax breaks for the wealthy and corporations. They all favor policies that shield the income of those who invest at the expense of those who work. And these class warriors all claim that taxes are too high, although the fact is that tax burdens faced by Americans are at the lowest level in over 50 years.

Few better exemplify the Democratic class warrior than Rhode Island’s Treasurer, Gina Raimondo. Prior to her election in 2010, Raimondo – the product of an exclusive prep school and advanced education at Harvard, Yale and Oxford – was a run-of-the-mill venture capitalist who made herself a nice chunk of money. Once in office, she began her crusade to strip public workers of pension benefits. Some $4 billion in benefits that workers had already earned, and were paid for in large part by the employees themselves, were simply seized by the state. This wasn’t merely benefit ‘reduction.’ It was outright theft.

And who benefited from this theft? According to respected financial watchdog, Edward "Ted" Siedle, fees paid to hedge fund investment managers will almost equal the savings from suspending the cost of living adjustments (COLA) for retirees.

As Siedle puts it, “It seems (Treasurer Raimondo) believes it’s a lot easier for retired state workers to adjust their cost-of-living than it is for hedge fund high-rollers.”

Connecting the Dots

But wait, there’s more. It turns out that Raimondo’s anti-worker crusade was bankrolled by former Enron energy trader, John Arnold. Among Arnold’s pet causes: Destroying public employees’ retirement security. His money was also behind anti-pension initiatives in the cities of San Diego and San Jose, CA. In San Jose, Arnold’s money supported another anti-worker Democratic warrior, Mayor Chuck Reed.

Arnold should know better – as a former Enron executive, he’s surely familiar with the pain and suffering caused when that company obliterated the retirement security of thousands of its employees.

Instead of making amends for that chicanery, Arnold has partnered with the Pew Center on the States to launch a national initiative to undermine workers. Pew is a well-heeled foundation which has, as it primary source of funding, riches from the Sun Oil Company (Sunoco). Raimondo, in turn, has enlisted Arnold and Pew to “advise” cities across Rhode Island on how to raze the pension benefits of their employees.

This, then, is an integral part of what the new class warfare looks like: Wealthy politicians and “philanthropists,” people with millions or billions of dollars of wealth, scheming – with funds from the highly government-subsidized energy sector! – to take away pension benefits from retired librarians, teachers, and street crew workers.

The fact that Wall Street hedge fund operators are the beneficiaries of these schemes says a lot about the state of America in 2013.

Steve Kreisberg is AFSCME’s Director of Collective Bargaining

The decision came after ten months of negotiations with management yielded no acknowledgment from UC Executives of the problems affecting the UC hospital system—problems documented in alarming detail in a blistering whistleblower report released by UC Patient Care workers back in March. Throughout the process, AFSCME members repeatedly demonstrated that exorbitant salaries and misguided retirement deals have benefited top executives at the expense of patient care and safe working conditions for employees.

The UC Medical System makes hundreds of millions of dollars in profits every year. Executive pay there has increased $100 million since 2009. As the salaries and oversized entitlements of UC executives have skyrocketed, patient care has increasingly been shortchanged.  Permanent employees have been replaced with less experienced temps.  As patient loads have increased, the 13,000 frontline care workers who keep the system working have been asked to do more and more with less.

Employees know the hospital system is badly understaffed, with not enough personnel to even take care of patients’ basic needs. That’s putting patients and providers at risk, and compromising the cleanliness of care areas.

Now it’s up to UC administrators to come back to the table with a workable proposal. AFSCME encourages UC administrators to listen to the unified voices of members of AFSCME Local 3299 who are standing up for their patients.

One story broke through, turned the tide of the debate and ultimately helped AFSCME members get their rights back.

That was the story of Marlene Quinn.  In a TV ad, Quinn, a Cincinnati grandmother, told the story of how her great-granddaughter Zoey was saved by Ohio firefighters. She explained that this story was why Ohioans needed to protect firefighters’ rights and fund their operations properly.

Do you have a story to share that could turn the tide for working families in your community? Maybe your aunt’s monthly Medicaid check wasn’t delivered due to an error by a private company. Maybe you have been forced to work well-past retirement because your pension has been slashed.  Maybe you have experienced discrimination on the job for being gay or an immigrant. Or maybe you just love your job and want to share why it’s important to your community.

AFSCME members, we need your stories.  Community members and allies, we need your stories about the importance of public services, too. Like Quinn’s, your story could be the key to fending off attacks on workers everywhere.

Share your story here.

Despite the success of the campaign for marriage equality, discrimination in the workplace and housing remains perfectly legal. In housing – a field in which many AFSCME members work – discrimination against LGBT people exists and persists today. Currently, the federal Fair Housing Act does not outlaw discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity. A recent report from the National Fair Housing Alliance found that there was a marked “spike in complaints by people not protected under the federal fair housing law.” Complaints regarding sexual orientation were up 43 percent, and gender identity complaints were reported for the first time. 

In 29 states, you can be fired based simply on sexual orientation; and in 28 states, housing discrimination based on sexual orientation is legal. The Employee Non-Discrimination Act was introduced recently in both the U.S. House and Senate. This legislation, known as ENDA, would prohibit most employers from discriminating against employees based on sexual orientation or gender identity.

With the momentum brought on by the string of marriage equality wins, LGBT advocates, union leaders and housing activists are hoping this will be the year to eliminate discrimination in the workplace and housing. If you want to get involved in the fight, join AFSCME Pride’s online network.

From San Diego to Orlando and Las Vegas to New York City, AFSCME members rallied with their sisters and brothers to demand fairness for immigrants and consensus from lawmakers on a plan to overhaul our nation’s broken immigration system. The events – which brought together the leaders of labor, religious and community organizations, as well as immigrant advocates – reflected the passion, momentum and urgency behind the fight to create a path to citizenship for all immigrants.

“We believe in fairness,” Pres. Lee Saunders said at the “March for Citizenship” in Las Vegas. “Aspiring citizens contribute to our culture and are committed to this country. They want to stand with us. They want to join our fight for good wages and better working conditions. They want to speak out for a better life. We are standing by their side to fight for a better life.”

Since the beginning of the year, when Pres. Barack Obama called for comprehensive immigration reform and eight U.S. senators adopted the task of drafting a plan to achieve that goal, AFSCME has been a loud and clear advocate of the need to give immigrant workers a voice on the job, and to give immigrant families the chance to fully participate in the economic, social and political life of our country.

“When new American citizens can freely organize, employers will no longer be able to exploit them,” Saunders added. “They will have a voice at work. And they will be a force for change.”

At a rally in San Diego, Calif., Sec.-Treas. Laura Reyes called on workers to join their voices with those of their immigrant sisters and brothers, reminding them that “when we pull together, we can face any obstacle. As long as our voices are clear and strong, we always win, which is why we will never be silent.”

She also reminded participants what the fight is all about: freedom, opportunity and respect. “We in the labor movement still believe we have the power, and the obligation, to challenge unfair conditions and social injustice. To fully contribute, the 11 million immigrants we call neighbors, family and friends must have a viable path to citizenship.”

Two weeks ago, a group of eight U.S. senators, known as the “Gang of Eight,” introduced a bill that would lead to the most significant changes in our immigration system in 26 years. Among other things, the bill would strengthen security at the border and create a path to citizenship for the 11 million immigrants who currently live under fear of deportation.

Recently, the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee began hearings on the bill.

May Day, also known as International Workers’ Day, is commemorated worldwide. Starting with massive demonstrations held on May 1, 2006, it is associated with the fight for immigration reform.

AFSCME Pres. Lee Saunders, addressing an energetic crowd, noted that the founding assembly was “the start of something big.” He praised the retirees for building their chapter into “a powerful force whose presence will be felt throughout Puerto Rico.”

Annette Gonzalez Perez, president of AFSCME Council 95, praised the tenaciousness of assembly delegates in organizing the retiree chapter. Already, AFSCME Retiree Chapter 95 has more than 2,200 members, with more joining every day.

Assembly delegates adopted a constitution and then elected their first slate of officers: Blanca Paniagua as president; Eva Canabal, vice president; Adelina Lopez, secretary; Obdulia Lopez, treasurer. They elected Joselito Cortes Quinonez, Minerva Gonzalez, Miriam Quinones and Roberto Hernandez to the executive board, and Irma Iris Linero Rivera, Rosa N. Rios Lugo and Norma Paniagua as trustees.

After a discussion led by AFSCME economist Brian Kloop on the recently passed and highly damaging pension “reform” law signed by the governor, retirees passed two resolutions. In the first, they vowed to use their collective power to protect the pensions they earned after decades of hard work and service to the people of Puerto Rico. In the second, delegates vowed to join with other likeminded groups to fight cuts to Social Security and Medicare.

Retiree Chapter 95 is the 41^st AFSCME Retiree chapter, and its members join the other nearly 250,000 retiree members of AFSCME, the strongest public service retiree organization in the United States and Puerto Rico.

The state Senate unanimously approved the legislation in March. Once the bill is signed by Gov. Peter Shumlin, Vermont Homecare United/AFSCME will petition the state labor board to hold an election. More than 4,000 providers have already signed up with the AFSCME home care union, hoping to make their union the voice of all the state’s providers.

By joining Vermont Homecare United/AFSCME, the providers will be able to step up with a united voice to gain greater dignity on the job and to seek improvements in the critical services they provide.

“Homecare workers like myself work every day to ensure our clients live their lives with independence and dignity,” said Mary Montgomery, a provider from Washington, Vt. Passage of the bill, she added, “is a big step toward ensuring providers like me are given that same dignity in the workplace.”

“As a provider with over 35 years of experience, one day I’m going to need someone to take care of me, and I want them to know the ins and outs of how to care for someone like me,” said Carol Delage of St. Albans, a member of Vermont Homecare United/AFSCME who has lobbied hard and testified on behalf of the bill. “I want to know they are getting paid a fair wage, because if the provider is happy and well-cared for, the consumer is as well.”

Care recipient Denise Hok of Brattleboro, Vt., is also happy that the providers are on their way to having their own union with real strength through collective bargaining. “Because in years past working as a homecare provider in Vermont was not seen as a viable career path, providers that have cared for me have been forced to make the impossible choice between the work they love and providing for their own family,” she said. With final passage of the home care bill, “providers will be treated with the same respect and dignity that I've been shown as a consumer over the last 20 years.”

AFSCME currently represents approximately 125,000 home care providers nationwide, and has ongoing campaigns to represent thousands of other home care providers in nearly a dozen states. Last year, AFSCME members came together in the Green Mountain State to support the efforts of caregivers to form Vermont Homecare United/AFSCME.

Read more about the home care bill here.

He left his public-sector job soon after and now works for the private contractor, in what has come to be perceived as a questionable case of I-scratch-your-back-and-you-scratch-mine. The Civil Service Employees Association, AFSCME Local 1000, is demanding an investigation by the state legislature and calling on Gov. Andrew Cuomo to ensure greater accountability.

“This has the appearance of impropriety on the face of it and the Governor knows it,” said CSEA Pres. Danny Donohue, also an AFSCME International vice president. “We will only see more of this if the Cuomo administration continues its path of eroding public jobs while playing fast and loose with private contractors at public expense.”

CSEA has called for Medenica’s hiring to be investigated by the State Inspector General and the Joint Commission on Public Ethics. Former state officials are not allowed to do business with the agency they left until two years after their departure, and they are barred permanently from involvement in state contracts they helped negotiate.

The contract GTECH negotiated took the jobs of marketing representatives at the Lottery. Medenica warned Lottery staff before he left that they could not apply for GTECH positions because of “state revolving-door laws.”

Donohue decried Medenica’s hypocrisy. “Here’s a classic example of ‘do as I say, not as I do,’ that we’ve come to expect from this administration,” the CSEA president said. “The public needs some honest answers and accountability.”

GTECH is a gaming technology and services company that is the New York Lottery’s biggest vendor. It is owned by a foreign conglomerate and donated $40,000 to Cuomo’s campaign.

The gambling industry has been very active in New York politics. In fact, since 2005, some $50 million has been spent by the gambling industry in state lobbying and campaign contributions, according to the advocacy organization Common Cause.

An investigation must be conducted into Medenica’s hiring by GTECH to salvage public faith in government institutions. We’re glad CSEA has taken a leadership role in this fight.

Since the implementation of the Early Learn program in 2012, the number of New York City children receiving public child care has probably dropped significantly.

In fact, more than 10,000 children cannot receive public child care because of program and center elimination, zip code discrimination and new vendors unable to receive Department of Health certification for new centers. The forced deterioration of the city’s public child care does not seem to concern the current administration.

Raglan George, Jr., an AFSCME International vice president and executive director of District Council 1707, which represents public day care and Head Start employees, has been holding a One-Man March for Child Care since last fall.

“This attack on our children and poor and working families is contemptible,” George said. “Since the 1960s parents have enjoyed sending their children to safe, quality and affordable child care, and all that the Bloomberg administration has done is attempt to undo more than 50 years of progress under the guise of the Early Learn program.”

Also attending the rally were DC 37 Exec. Dir. and International Vice Pres. Lillian Roberts and DC 37 Pres. and International Vice Pres. Eddie Rodriguez.

AFSCME Pres. Lee Saunders attended the rally and called on Bloomberg to “expand child care so that there’s room for all the children who need it.”

“Give the workers the pay and benefits they deserve for the hard work they do,” he added. “And provide a funding stream that is consistent and stable.”

Because of the mayor’s poor choices, less than 27 percent of eligible children in the city receive subsidized child care. Also, 60 percent of the workers at the center-based daycares don’t have health insurance because they can’t afford it. And Bloomberg wants to close another 60 centers and eliminate 3,000 child care slots.

Before Mayor Bloomberg leaves office, he still has time to do right by our kids and make the children of New York City his priority. We urge him to do so.

The action effectively ends debate, as least this year, on overhauling the state’s $136 billion pension plan, which is used by more than 600,000 public service workers, including teachers, police and firefighters.

“Once again, Council 79 members took it to the streets and made the difference,” said Council 79 Pres. Jeanette D. Wynn, also an AFSCME International vice president. “Retirement security for state workers is now protected because of the hundreds of us who came up for Lobby Day and traveled as long as 10 hours away to oppose this.”

AFSCME members, working closely with the Florida Retirement Security Coalition, actively opposed the pension changes, calling legislators and visiting the state Capitol on our Lobby Day to make the case for retirement security.

In March, Florida House Speaker Will Weatherford (R-Wesley Chapel), pushed a bill through his side of the Legislature on a party-line vote. It would have closed the Florida Retirement System’s traditional pension to new employees. The Senate action makes that House bill moot. An alternative Senate bill that would only have given workers a financial incentive to turn to 401(k)-style retirement accounts instead of the pension plan was dropped.

The effort to push public employees away from the state pension plan has its roots in efforts by the right-wing American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) to advance its anti-worker agenda, according to a report in the Palm Beach Post.

The paper reported that ALEC held a conference in New Orleans in August 2011, “where dozens of Florida lawmakers gathered” to hear about its agenda, including pushing workers away from pension plans. “In recent years, the organization has been spearheading efforts nationwide to end governments’ traditional pensions,” the paper wrote.

Read why 401(k) plans are a failed experiment, and how traditional pensions are under attack by politicians under the lie that they are unaffordable.

“As public service workers, AFSCME members are exposed to many serious hazards including traffic, chemicals in the workplace, back injuries, workplace violence, infectious diseases and a variety of other risks that kill, injure, sicken and maim hundreds of our brothers and sisters every year. Our union fought hard to make the promise of the Occupational Safety and Health Act a reality, winning protections that made jobs safer, saved lives and prevented millions of workplace injuries and illnesses.

“Workers have a right to go to work in the morning and return to their homes just as they left. Their families should have the assurance of knowing that employers are living up to their responsibilities to safeguard workplaces. This Workers Memorial Day, we must all recommit not only to doing all we can to keep workplaces safe, but also to standing up together for good jobs that are safe and healthy.”

Just days ago, we mourned the death of Lee Rizor, a 27-year-old highway technician with the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) and a member of OCSEA/AFSCME Local 11. Rizor was operating a backhoe, clearing debris behind a guardrail along Interstate 71, just north of Columbus, when a tractor trailer struck his vehicle. His wife, two young children and their family members are in our thoughts and prayers.

More Workers Memorial Day resources are available on the AFSCME website, and the AFL-CIO has posted a list of commemorative events across the country. Please also be sure to view the Workers Memorial Day tribute page on AFSCME.org which includes a list of our AFSCME sisters and brothers who have lost their lives while on the job.

A study by the University of California, Berkeley Center for Labor Research and Education reveals that while overall union density declined in 2012 – even in public-sector unions – a greater proportion of black workers were union members compared to the proportion of non-black workers. Slightly more than 13 percent of all black workers in the United States are in unions, compared with 11 percent of non-black workers. More than 14 percent of black men in the workforce are union members, compared with fewer than 12 percent of non-black men.

The differences in union membership are magnified in the nation’s 10 largest metropolitan areas, such as New York City, Los Angeles and Chicago. In those areas, black workers are 42 percent more likely to belong to unions than other workers.

The report’s author, labor policy specialist Steven Pitts, says those numbers could hold potential for future organizing efforts.

“The relatively high proportion of black union members in large metropolitan areas might hold rising importance as the labor movement seeks new ways to improve conditions facing workers in the United States,” Pitts writes in the report Data Brief: Blacks in Unions 2012. “To the extent that blacks are disproportionately members of unions, a pathway to great public policy success might lie in a stronger relationship with black communities and their elected officials.”  

“Bonnie was a tough leader who paved the way for Council 13 women,” said Dave Fillman, the council’s executive director and an AFSCME International vice president. “It was an honor to have her committed leadership over all those years.”

Marpoe, who worked as a licensed practical nurse supervisor at South Mountain Restoration Center until her retirement, was an active AFSCME member for more than 30 years. She served as president of Local 2245, which represents first-level supervisors in several Pennsylvania counties.

Marpoe and her husband of 51 years, John, had one daughter, two sons, eight grandchildren and four great grandchildren.

Paid sick leave would help millions of American families, would reduce the high cost of health care and would eliminate an unnecessary drag on our country’s economic recovery. It’s a common sense solution to a serious problem. Yet Wall Street billionaires and the tea-party politicians who work for them are doing everything in their power to undercut efforts to protect the health of our economy and our families.

While most AFSCME members have paid sick leave as part of their collective bargaining agreements, we know that 40 million Americans lack even one day of paid sick leave. Millions more cannot take time off with pay when their child is ill. More than a third of Americans working in the private sector lack paid health care. This is a particular hardship for the poorest American families. Eight in 10 members of the working poor risk losing their jobs and their income whenever they or a member of their family gets sick.

The lack of paid sick leave threatens public health in many ways. Restaurant workers show up for work even with high fevers and infectious symptoms. A recent survey found that 20 percent of restaurant workers have gone to work while seriously ill. A few years ago in Kent, Ohio, a Chipotle worker with a virus came to work and infected more than 500 people who became violently ill. The cost to the community was estimated to be as much as $300,000. Nationwide, the lack of paid sick leave is estimated to annually cost our economy more than $160 billion in lost productivity.

Without paid sick leave, workers are forced to access emergency room care after work hours, adding billions to the cost of health care. They are twice as likely to use hospital emergency rooms for their children’s health care than parents with paid sick leave. AFSCME members across the country who work in hospitals see these workers every day. Because they are not able to visit a doctor or a health care clinic during the day, they forego treatment until their symptoms become more severe, increasing the cost of treatment and the length of their illnesses.

That is why support is growing for a national standard of paid sick leave. More than 85 percent of the public supports legislation guaranteeing seven days of paid sick leave for every worker. But corporate-backed politicians in the U.S. House of Representatives are blocking consideration of the Healthy Families Act, which would give 30 million additional workers access to paid sick days.

Support for this common sense reform is spreading from coast-to-coast, with states like Connecticut and cities like San Francisco, Portland, Ore., and Washington, DC, requiring employers provide this protection for their workers. But Wall Street has been turning to their political henchmen to block the way for this reform. When Philadelphia’s city council passed paid sick leave, their anti-worker mayor, Michael Nutter, vetoed it. When Milwaukee passed a paid sick leave ordinance, Gov. Scott Walker got the state Legislature to pass legislation overturning it. So much for the lip service right-wing politicians give to the concept of local control.

The billionaire Koch brothers and their secretive American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) are trying to replicate Wisconsin’s anti-worker strategy in other states. They are promoting nearly identical laws to deny cities the power to pass paid sick leave in states such as Arizona, Florida, Indiana, Louisiana, Michigan, Oklahoma and Washington. One Florida politician says their tea-party controlled Legislature “can deliver the kill shot.”

Unfortunately, these efforts to overturn the democratic process are undermining the ability of workers to take time off when they are sick without risking their livelihoods. They also undermine our economic productivity and increase the costs of health care nationwide. They spread illnesses unnecessarily in workplaces and schools throughout the nation. We must pull together and demand paid sick leave. It’s good for workers and it’s good for our economy. It makes sense for working families and for America’s future.

“We’re very glad to welcome the bus drivers and bus monitors,” said Frank Moroney, Council 93 executive director and also an AFSCME International vice president. “As the hard-working public employees that they are, they deserve the best collective bargaining representation out there, which is what we’re going to give them.”

At Council 93, they join more than 45,000 of their sisters and brothers who are state, county, and municipal employees in Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont. Members of Council 93 work in a wide range of fields and include corrections officers, school cafeteria workers, airport employees and municipal highway employees.

LPVEC is comprised of seven school districts that pool their resources together to more effectively and efficiently provide services. We congratulate this employee unit on their decision to join AFSCME.

Rizor, a resident of Mount Gilead, Ohio, was operating a backhoe, clearing debris behind a guardrail along Interstate 71, just north of Columbus, when a tractor trailer struck his vehicle, Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) Dir. Jerry Wray said in a statement.

ODOT reported that the commercial vehicle’s driver was rushed to a nearby medical center in critical condition.

Calling Rizor “a dedicated highway worker with more than five years of service to the department,” Wray said. “He left home this morning with the expectation that he would return to his family at the end of the work day unharmed. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen. Our thoughts and prayers are with the Rizor family during this very difficult time.”

“Today the loss of one our own is a sobering reminder of the dangerous work we do as Ohio public employees and how many public servants put their lives on the line on a daily basis,” said OCSEA Pres. Christopher Mabe, also an AFSCME International vice president.

Rizor was a member of OCSEA Delaware Chapter 2100. Chapter Pres. Amy Turner has asked that the OCSEA union family keep Rizor’s wife, two young children, family members and ODOT colleagues in their thoughts and prayers during this most difficult time.

“Our thoughts go out to Rizor’s loved ones and please know that his ultimate sacrifice as a public servant will never be forgotten,” said Mabe.

Rizor’s death comes just days before AFSCME and the unions of the AFL-CIO observe Workers Memorial Day on April 28. The day is designated to remember those who have suffered and died on the job, and to renew the fight for safe workplaces.

Of particular concern are highway construction zones. In Ohio, the number of vehicle-related deaths in construction zones doubled from eight in 2009 to 16 in 2011, reports ODOT, which also notes that April 15-19 was National Work Zone Awareness Week.

“While we will work to improve the bill during the legislative process, it moves us in the right direction,” Saunders said. “We salute President Obama’s leadership and the bipartisan group of senators who have paved the way for comprehensive immigration reform.”

AFSCME has been at the forefront of the fight for comprehensive immigration reform. In the last few months, we organized rallies, lobbied our representatives in Congress and partnered with our allies and friends to make the dream a reality.

The bill, which would lead to the most significant changes in our immigration system in 26 years, contains border security measures that must be met before we can assimilate the 11 million immigrants who currently live in fear of deportation. It would also reorient our immigration priorities with the goal of screening future immigrants based on their job skills and personal assets.

The Department of Homeland Security would be required to spend $6.5 billion over 10 years in border enforcement and fencing before any immigrants waiting to become citizens may apply for permanent residence cards. The entire pathway to citizenship could take as long as 13 years, except for young immigrants, or Dreamers, who would be allowed to apply for citizenship after five years.

All employers would be required within five years to verify the legal status of new hires through a photo-matching system. And the bill would create two new guest-worker programs, for farmworkers and other low-wage laborers.

The 11 million immigrants who aspire to U.S. citizenship currently live and work in the shadows of our society. They are exploited by unscrupulous employers and denied a voice on the job. Their families live in a perpetual state of uncertainty and fear of deportation.

By reforming our country’s immigration system, we will empower these individuals to fight back against exploitation and poor working conditions. 

“We need to come together for these aspiring citizens,” Saunders said. “They are our neighbors. AFSCME members work with them and their family members every day – in schools, in hospitals and around our communities. With our voices, a new generation of American workers will enter the mainstream of American life. The time is now for Congress to pass comprehensive immigration reform.”

Library staffers and supporters gathered Tuesday on the steps of the New Haven Free Public Library’s main branch, many wearing buttons displaying the number 331.88, corresponding to “trade union” in the Dewey Decimal System.

The public library system in New Haven was praised as a “free university,” while AFSCME Local 3144 Pres. Cherlyn Poindexter applauded the recent settlement of four complaints workers filed against the library administration. She expressed optimism about working with the new library director.

“Everybody seems to want to come to the table and work together,” Poindexter said.

AFSCME joins its sisters and brothers in New Haven and across the country in celebrating National Library Week.

The settlement affecting members of Alianza Correccional Unida (ACU), Servidores Públicos Unidos (SPU), AFSCME Council 95, is one of the largest in U.S. Labor Department history. It covers overtime compensation due from 2002 to Oct. 31, 2011, including interest.

The more than $35 million payment will be made over a period of four years. ACU, SPUPR, and AFSCME International teamed for the victory.

“We are very happy with this agreement,” said Juan González, president of ACU, SPU/AFSCME Local 3500. “We have been fighting tooth and nail to make the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation pay up the overtime hours. We couldn’t have done it without AFSCME International, which helped us bring this issue to the U.S. Labor Department. We didn’t let up and kept applying pressure, and today we can say we have achieved our goal.”

Annette González, president of SPUPR, congratulated ACU members on their victory, stressing the importance of the collaborative effort that led to it. “We congratulate our correctional officers for this great victory, for their perseverance and aggressiveness, which have achieved great results,” she said. “We’re very grateful to AFSCME, and we’d like to highlight the work of the Department of Labor in helping to achieve these results. We hope this injustice will never be repeated.”

In addition to the monetary settlement, the Department of Correction and Rehabilitation (DCR) has made a commitment to take the necessary steps to ensure future compliance with the law and to hire additional staff to reduce the need for overtime hours.

AFSCME joins the celebration of this outstanding victory. The issue of overtime pay in corrections dates back more than a decade, when the old norm was for officers to work beyond their shifts without receiving any additional wages. Instead, they were offered compensatory time off, but many never had a chance to take it.

This was wrong, and yet an initial complaint filed in 2002 was dismissed by the DCR. The struggle continued in 2008, when ACU signed its first collective bargaining agreement with DCR, but was interrupted in 2009, when the administration of Gov. Luis Fortuño took away collective bargaining rights. A key turning point came in 2011, when ACU leaders and a top AFSCME advisor met with Labor Department officials. In 2012, an added victory came when DCR agreed to pay overtime wages periodically.

AFSCME congratulates our correctional officers in Puerto Rico on their success. We will continue to stand with you in solidarity.

Yesterday, two bombs ripped through a crowd at the Boston Marathon, near the finish line, killing three people and injuring 176. In the hours since, many questions remain unanswered, but the human toll has been great.

“It is still too early to know who detonated bombs in Boston yesterday, but our hearts go out to those who lost family members and those struggling with the injuries they suffered,” said AFSCME Pres. Lee Saunders. “Words are always inadequate at a time such as this, but we share the sense of shock and sadness that have reverberated throughout our country after this senseless act of violence.”

We are grateful to all those first responders and public service workers in Boston who rushed in to help when tragedy struck, including Boston Public Works Department Employee and AFSCME Local 445 (Council 93) member Steve Stapleton. All AFSCME members who were working in the area of Copley Square are safe and accounted for. Our hearts go out to the people of Boston and all those affected by this attack.

AFSCME Council 93 Executive Director Frank Moroney and Pres. Charles C. Owen, Jr., issued a statement on behalf of their entire membership and staff, offering their “deepest condolences to the hundreds of individuals and family members who have been impacted by yesterday’s brutal attack, especially the family of Martin Richard who suffered the unimaginable loss of a young child” and injuries to themselves.

“It appears as though the hundreds of AFSCME members who were on the job yesterday escaped injury and that provides us with some measure of comfort,” they said. “The knowledge that AFSCME public works and other city employees rushed to the scene to help first responders evacuate and treat the injured makes us proud. But these feelings of relief and pride are completely eclipsed by a profound sense of shock and sadness over what happened to our city, and the knowledge that many victims are still fighting for their lives while many others’ lives will never be the same.”

Council 93 represents more than 45,000 state, county and municipal employees in Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont.

“We and all the members of AFSCME mourn the human lives lost in this senseless act,” President Saunders said. “We extend our condolences to the families of the victims. Answers will come as investigators continue their work. We’re certain that they and their fellow public officers will help shed some light on who was behind this attack, and ultimately bring them to justice.”

It is still too early to know who detonated bombs in Boston yesterday, but our hearts go out to those who lost family members and those struggling with the injuries they suffered. Words are always inadequate at a time such as this, but we share the sense of shock and sadness that have reverberated throughout our country after this senseless act of violence.

As always after tragedy strikes, public employees rush to the scene. While others move toward safety, first responders move toward the danger point. We saw that yesterday. Emergency and public service workers immediately went to work, assisting the injured and bringing order to the chaos in the streets. We can be proud of their service and sacrifice during the difficult moments after the explosions.

We keep foremost in our minds today the people of Boston and all those affected by this attack. Answers will come as investigators continue their work. We're certain that they and their fellow public officers will help shed light on who was behind this attack, and ultimately bring them to justice.

We and all the members of AFSCME mourn the human lives lost in this senseless act. We extend our condolences to the families of the victims.

In solidarity,

LEE SAUNDERS
President

LAURA REYES
Secretary-Treasurer

Since 2008, though, the laughter and the “aha” moments have been fewer and farther between. Mayor Michael Nutter assumed office in January of that year and by December he had slashed the Free Library of Philadelphia budget by $7.5 million. He originally proposed to close 11 branches. After massive push-back by the community and a lawsuit halting the closings, he agreed to keep the branches open, but first he laid off more than 100 of my colleagues.

Now, our staff is cut to the bone. We’ve had to go from six days of service to five. Only half of the branches are open on Saturday. We’re pulling double duty, covering two branches instead of one. We haven’t had a pay increase since 2007. And branches constantly have unscheduled closures due to staffing shortages.

Before 2008 when Mayor Nutter took office, the Free Library experienced 690 hours of unplanned closures and only 51 of those hours were due to staff shortages, according to a recent report by the Pew Charitable Trusts’ Philadelphia Research Initiative. By 2010, in addition to the sixth day being cut, unscheduled closings reached 8,000 hours, more than three-fourths of them due to staff shortages.

That means the children of Philadelphia had 8,000 fewer hours to visit our library and get inspired to read. The families of Philadelphia had 8,000 fewer hours to access the internet or learn English or hear stories or find books for their class projects.

This National Library Worker Day, we don’t need flowers or balloons. We don’t need a card from our mayor (though we weren’t expecting one). We need library staff to be restored. We need our buildings to be updated and maintained. We need our communities to have access to the services they deserve, at hours that are convenient. We need a pay increase.

I love my job, and I believe that most library workers would say the same. We love serving our community and providing information to those who need it. Now, we need you to stand up for library workers and to say to those policymakers in Pennsylvania, Washington, DC, Illinois and across the country:

We will not be shushed!

Our taxes make all of these public services — and so much more — possible. They make our communities possible. And we're proud to invest in our common good.

If you paid your taxes and are proud to support your community and country, share this image on Facebook and check out www.IPaidMyTaxes.org.

Problem is, not everyone sees it this way, and not everyone is paying their fair share. Our tax system is rigged with wasteful giveaways that benefit the super rich and big corporations.

Tax Day is a chance to speak up and create a fair economy that works for all. Check out IPaidMyTaxes.org today and add your name to our Stop the Giveaways petition if you haven’t already.

The pain of losing three days of work through September 7 is what motivated Saul Schniderman, president of the Library of Congress Professional Guild, AFSCME Local 2910 (Council 26), to write a little ditty about Library of Congress employees forced to take furlough days. And why are they getting furloughed? Because the GOP-led House of Representatives can’t reach a deal with President Obama to avoid those Draconian spending cuts.

“Being able to protest sequestration – and do it in a humorous way by poking fun at the Congress that is implementing this furlough – gets the message across in a more direct fashion,” Schniderman said. That’s why he wrote a public worker-specific homage to a parody written and sung by Hawaiian comedian Frank De Lima.

So, as the saying goes, take it away, Saul:

Furlough Day
To the tune of: "The Banana Boat Song."
Original parody by Frank De Lima
New words by Saul Schniderman

Fur - Furlough Day - O
FURLOUGH COME AND WE GOTTA STAY HOME
Fur - Furlough Day, Furlough Day, Furlough Day is Low-Low
FURLOUGH COME AND WE GOTTA STAY HOME

We go to work to help the USA
FURLOUGH COME AND WE GOTTA STAY HOME
But the Congress put us in disarray
FURLOUGH COME AND WE GOTTA STAY HOME
Now we workers get un-paid vacation
FURLOUGH COME AND WE GOTTA STAY HOME
And our families have plenty of frustration
FURLOUGH COME AND WE GOTTA STAY HOME
It's one day, five days, ten days off
FURLOUGH COME AND WE GOTTA STAY HOME
Too many days and the brain gets soft!
FURLOUGH COME AND WE GOTTA STAY HOME.

We're federal employees and we have a mission
FURLOUGH COME AND WE GOTTA STAY HOME
To be a good worker and be a good citizen
FURLOUGH COME AND WE GOTTA STAY HOME

Day, miss-a-day, Oh
FURLOUGH COME AND WE GOTTA STAY HOME
Day, miss-a-day, miss-a-week, miss-a-month, miss-a-paycheck … Oh-Oh!
FURLOUGH COME AND WE GOTTA STAY HOME

The union is making a great big fuss
FURLOUGH COME AND WE GOTTA STAY HOME
Hey somebody's gotta take care of us
FURLOUGH COME AND WE GOTTA STAY HOME

Come Mr. Manager start negotiations
FURLOUGH COME AND WE GOTTA STAY HOME
We're fighting for the future, we're fighting for the nation
FURLOUGH COME AND WE GOTTA STAY HOME

Fur - Furlough Day, Furlough Day, Furlough Day is Low-Low
FURLOUGH COME AND WE GOTTA STAY HOME!