That’s why AFSCME applauds Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) and Reps. Matt Cartwright (D-Pa.) and Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.) for reintroducing the bipartisan Public Service Freedom to Negotiate Act (H.R. 8426 / S. 4363). Unveiled Thursday, the twin House and Senate bills would set minimum nationwide standards of collective bargaining rights that states must provide all public service workers.

Specifically, the legislation would empower the Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA) to determine whether a state, territory or locality provides public service workers the right to:

• Form a union and collectively bargain over wages, hours and terms and conditions of employment;
• Have their union recognized by their employer if a majority of employees vote to unionize and be free from forced recertification elections;
• Have procedures for resolving impasses in collective bargaining and filing suit in court to enforce their labor rights; and more.

The bills would give states lots of flexibility to write their own labor laws, provided they meet these minimum standards.

But if a state is unable to meet those standards, the FLRA would step in to ensure that collective bargaining takes place in that state. Public service workers in states that recently passed laws to limit or eliminate public sector collective bargaining — like in Florida, Iowa and Wisconsin — would have their rights restored. And public service workers across the country would get the respect they deserve.

AFSCME President Lee Saunders praised the legislation and urged Congress to approve it.

“With a seat at the table, we can fight for fair pay, better benefits, and safer working conditions — all of which are critical for recruiting and retaining qualified people to work in public service,” he said in a statement.

The COVID-19 pandemic cost nearly a million public service jobs nationwide. Although our country has bounced back in a big way, we have more work to do. Governments must continue to hire qualified people to restore public service employment to a level commensurate with population growth.

By giving workers a seat at the table, Congress can make inroads towards this goal. Last year, our union launched an initiative called Staff the Front Lines to build up public services. By working with governors, mayors, city council members and other leaders, we aim to recruit qualified and passionate people to work in public service.

“During a time when many public services face drastic staffing shortages and turnover, we must identify ways to strengthen this workforce,” Saunders said. “The Public Service Freedom to Negotiate Act will help do this and more.”

What’s more, the benefits of collective bargaining go beyond the workplace. When workers gain a voice on the job, they advocate for the communities they serve, leading to improvements in public services.

“Collective bargaining also gives us the power to protect and improve vital services — for example, keeping library doors open, getting sanitation workers the equipment they need, and ensuring there are enough paraprofessionals to help students with disabilities,” Saunders said.

Go here to learn more about S. 4363 and here to learn more about H. R. 8426.

A strong majority of those workers submitted union authorization cards to the Oregon Employment Relations Board (ERB) on April 26.

OHSU research workers at OHSU are on the cutting edge of live-saving biomedical research focusing on a range of topics, including cancer, ALS and seizure disorders, coronaviruses and mental health disorders. Eligible workers who signed cards range from scientists to clerical staff to software/analytical tool makers.

“In choosing to focus on academic research instead of going to the private sector where we could make several times our wages, we’re helping drive revolutionary advances in medicine that will have a lasting effect on the health and well-being of people in need,” said Madeline Hedberg, a pancreatic cancer researcher in the Department of Surgery.

“We organized our union in order to raise standards in our industry so that our jobs can be seen as stable careers and not just ‘stepping stones.’ Up until now, we haven’t been listened to, but now with our union, we’re stronger together,” added Hedberg.

Like so many OHSU researchers, Hedberg started off barely scraping by. 

“My starting wage was about $36,000 a year, while at the same time I had about $300 a month in private student loan payments and another $200 in federal student loan payments to make — on top of the cost of living in Portland,” Hedberg said.

Prior to submitting authorization cards, OHSU Research Workers United asked OHSU to voluntarily recognize their union or remain neutral in the ERB election process and allow workers to use their voice freely without coercion. OHSU declined to voluntarily recognize the union, choosing to rely on the formal ERB process for verifying that a majority of research workers did indeed sign authorization cards.

“These workers are conducting and supporting cutting edge research, which is the foundation of work done at OHSU and literally saves lives. However, they’re barely able to afford to live in the community they’re such an important part of,” said Joe Baessler, executive director of Oregon AFSCME.

“In joining the over 8,000 Oregon AFSCME-represented workers at OHSU, these research workers have the power to make their voices heard in the decisions that affect themselves and their research. They are standing up to make sure the work they do is supported for the benefit of patients,” added Baessler.

In forming their union with Oregon AFSCME, Research Workers United join the House Officers (AFSCME Local 4820), Graduate Researchers (AFSCME Local 402), Postdocs currently bargaining their first contract, as well as OHSU workers represented by Local 328.

Irrigation systems operators, who overwhelmingly supported joining AFSCME last month, ensure that farmers, ranchers and homeowners have access to water. Their work includes maintaining ditches, operating water systems and working with the public. Workers cited compensation, fairness and respect on the job as major reasons for unionizing.

"This is a way to make sure we get compensated properly for all the work we do," said a senior irrigation systems operator, who didn’t want to be named for fear of workplace retaliation. "We make sure that farms get water so that they can grow all the crops we all eat. And we want to level the playing field and be treated fairly".

Connie Derr, Council 18’s executive director and an AFSCME vice president, said, "We're really excited to have the irrigation systems operators in AFSCME. The work they do is essential for all of us in New Mexico, and it's high time they get a voice at the table. We look forward to working with management to benefit both the services and those who provide those services."

This 35-worker unit is the second at Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District to organize with Council 18.  A unit of 110 equipment operators, welders, mechanics and field maintenance technicians voted to join together through AFSCME last October.

For the irrigation workers, the next steps are to vote on a bargaining team to negotiate a first contract with management.

More than 16,000 state employees are eligible for consideration for temporary hazard pay for the severe hazards they faced as they kept Hawaii’s state government running during the pandemic.

In April, Gov. Josh Green offered HGEA a settlement for employees organized into Units 2, 3, 4, 8, 9, 13 and 14 who work at the state’s executive branch, the University of Hawaii, public charter schools, the Hawaii judiciary, and the Hawaii Health Systems Corp. A majority of members in all affected jurisdictions voted to accept the offer that same month.

Shortly after the settlement was accepted, the Hawaii Legislature approved nearly $450 million to fund hazard pay for unionized workers. This is the largest temporary hazard pay award to date secured by HGEA.

“Our members heroically showed up to work throughout the pandemic putting their own health — as well as that of their loved ones — at substantial risk to keep services running for the public,” said HGEA Executive Director Randy Perreira. “From caring for patients in our state hospitals to processing a deluge of unemployment claims, HGEA members went above and beyond, exposing themselves to the virus, all in the name of service to the public.”

The settlement is split into two compensation tiers — $10,000 and $20,000. The compensation that members receive will depend on the number of days they reported to a physical worksite from March 4, 2020, to March 25, 2022.

The settlement comes on the heels of a string of victories for hazard pay throughout Hawaii. Earlier this year, HGEA received its second biggest temporary hazard pay award by winning its long-standing arbitration on behalf of 7,800 employees against the state Department of Education.

In October 2023, an arbitrator in HGEA’s case against Kauai County conceded that members in that jurisdiction faced a hazard. In October 2022, HGEA prevailed against Maui County in its dispute for temporary hazard pay for more than 1,300 workers. Members in that case have already been paid out by the county.

Most recently, an arbitrator ruled in HGEA’s favor in a case for hazard pay in Hawaii County. A pending follow-up case will determine eligibility.

Hundreds of high school students whose parents or grandparents are AFSCME members submit essays about “what AFSCME has meant to our family.” The essays tell stories about our union and its impact, from negotiating health insurance that provides life-changing care for kids to teaching lessons about worker power and public service. Some students like Bronwyn, the daughter of Pia Allabastro of AFSCME Local 328 (Council 75), plan to follow in their parents’ footsteps. As Bronwyn puts it, “I see myself working in a service or care work career like my mom.”

AFSCME moms are incredible role models, and I learned about their impact through the stories their kids told with pride. This Mother’s Day, I want to share a bit of that inspiration with you.

Last month, at a bill-signing ceremony attended by dozens of AFSCME Maryland Council 3 members, Maryland Gov. Wes Moore signed HB 260/SB 192, which allows over 5,000 supervisors employed by the state of Maryland to negotiate for a contract.

“Our administration has always been proud to lift up, and support, the work that our dedicated state employees do,” Moore said. “This bill underscores that. By working in partnership with AFSCME, state supervisors can choose their exclusive representative, and we can continue our efforts to reduce vacant state government positions. We are ensuring that more of the people who make Maryland happen every day have a voice in our shared future.”

The legislation goes into effect Oct. 1. A majority of state supervisors will need to demonstrate support for AFSCME as their authorized collective bargaining agent as the first step to start the process of negotiating a union contract.

Following the bill signing, supervisors held a worksite blitz to share the news, answer questions and sign up co-workers.

AFSCME already represents nearly 45,000 public service workers in Maryland, including over 20,000 state employees across a variety of state agencies. Nationally, supervisors in a dozen states have organized with AFSCME, as have Maryland  supervisors in the Prince George’s County Health Department, Baltimore City Housing Authority and in Howard County.

“Allowing state supervisors to have a voice in their work and a protected say on the job is long overdue,” said AFSCME Maryland President Patrick Moran, who’s also an AFSCME vice president. “We’re grateful to our elected leaders for listening to what Maryland’s state supervisors had to say, and this wouldn’t have been possible without the hundreds of AFSCME members who showed up every week during this legislative session to make their voices heard. Now, these supervisors have a chance to share their expertise and experience and be equal partners in making our state agencies and state services the best that they can be.”

AFSCME Maryland member LaShonda Dreher, a supervisor who works for the Division of Parole and Probation, said: “I want to thank the legislature and Governor Moore for supporting me and thousands of hardworking state supervisors who now can have the dignity of having a seat at the table when it comes to our work.”

For Walter Moore, Jr., security attendant supervisor at Springfield Hospital Center, AFSCME solidarity was key to the victory.

“I couldn’t be prouder to be an AFSCME member because I know we’re a union that stands together and fights for all of us – whether that’s passing collective bargaining rights in Annapolis or fighting for better working conditions in our workplaces.”

Christal Cooper, a customer agent supervisor at the Motor Vehicle Administration, said the bill will improve the staffing crisis at state agencies.

“We are facing a real staffing crisis in many agencies across Maryland, but with this law we’ll be able to have a voice at the table to improve our jobs through negotiating a contract and help reduce turnover in our worksites,” Cooper said.

In addition to the legislation for state supervisors, Moore also signed into law HB 609/SB 591. This legislation allows more than 2,000 people who work in Maryland’s public libraries to form and join unions and participate in collective bargaining.

Together, these pieces of legislation represent the largest expansion of collective bargaining rights in Maryland at the legislative level in the past decade. Many AFSCME Maryland members who were involved in efforts to pass these bills recognized the significance of these legislative wins.

“The right to form a union, and the right to collectively bargain, is not just about negotiating a contract,” said Nicole Spencer, a field supervisor for the Division of Parole and Probation. “It’s about feeling seen, heard, and respected. With the passage of this bill, supervisors are gaining a voice. Now, we are ready to use it.”

“Some public service workers — including those in child welfare, mental health and substance abuse counseling — have been ineligible for overtime pay despite modest wages and the long hours they put in at essential jobs,” Saunders said in a press release. “This rule will fix those loopholes, so that more people who have spent their careers supporting their communities will now be in a better position to support their families.”

The new rule increases the salary thresholds required to exempt workers from overtime pay. Currently, only workers making an annual salary of less than $35,568 are covered by federal overtime pay requirements. Beginning July 1, that threshold will increase to $43,888 and to $58,656 on Jan. 1, 2025.

What’s more, beginning on July 1, 2027, salary thresholds will automatically update every three years, “by applying up-to-date wage data to determine new salary levels,” according to the Department of Labor.

Overtime protections require employers to compensate workers below certain salary thresholds for time worked over 40 hours in a seven-day workweek at 1.5 times the regular rate of pay. 

To come up with the new overtime pay requirements, the Labor Department engaged employers, workers, unions and other stakeholders. Back in October, AFSCME encouraged our union’s members to express their support for the new rule.

The outcome is “a win-win” for workers and communities alike, Saunders said. He added that the new rule will help governments at all levels to “retain more passionate and qualified individuals in public service.”

In a statement, AFSCME President Lee Saunders said, “Public service workers do many different jobs, but they all have one thing in common: They are passionate about helping others. Every one of these occupations – from health care and public safety to school employees and transportation workers – is essential to the strength of our nation. This week, we are proud to honor the 1.4 million AFSCME members who keep America running.

“Across the country, public service workers are organizing their workplaces and raising their voice on the job, because being in a union means having the power to advocate for a better future for themselves and their families.”

We are proud that so many dedicated workers are building power and finding a voice through AFSCME and keeping our country functioning day in and day out.

Babbin-Disciullo grew up in nearby Kingston and has been serving Duxbury schools for 19 years. She has worked in all the town’s schools — including the middle school and the high school — and loves what she does because it’s all about the kids.

“I love making a positive impact in their lives,” she says.

That’s why she was so disappointed when, on Dec. 6, the Duxbury School Committee announced that it would explore the possibility of privatizing the custodial staff — that is, hiring an outside company to fill and manage those positions.

“My co-workers and I, we’ve given our all to this town, and we felt we weren’t being appreciated,” says Babbin-Disciullo, who is also a chapter chair in AFSCME Local 1700 (Council 93).

Privatization of public service jobs, often motivated by cost cutting, can have serious negative effects not just on the workers, who may lose their jobs or see their wages and benefits reduced, but also on the community. That’s because privatization almost always leads to lower-quality public services.

“These things almost always start out the same,” says Jim Durkin, legislative director for Council 93. “Management always uses the same talking points. They say this is just exploratory, no decisions have been made. ‘We’re just looking into this.’ But it’s a slippery slope. Almost invariably, those explorations lead to privatization. So, you have to act from the beginning as though it’s going to happen.”

Jason Hook, a custodian in nearby Hanover who is president of AFSCME Local 1700 and serves as the sergeant-at-arms on the Council 93 Executive Board, says that his first reaction upon hearing of the privatization attempt in Duxbury was that they had to act fast.

“We have to make every effort to stop it,” he remembers thinking.

And so, as soon as the school committee made its announcement, AFSCME leaders and members sprang into action. Babbin-Disciullo, and Hook and four different departments within Council 93 worked together, along with AFSCME International, to come up with ways to educate the community about the dangers of privatization and pressure the town administration to back off.

Babbin-Disciullo was able to get hundreds of people on social media to sign a petition against the privatization effort. Hook suggested that they go on WATD 95.9 FM, a popular local radio station, to warn about the dangers of privatization.

“When you’re replacing trusted, dedicated custodians … and you’re paying the contract crew low-wage jobs, you have this revolving pool of strangers coming in and out of your schools,” Durkin said on air.

Durkin also warned that cost savings attained through privatization are often short-lived, and that once a community loses the infrastructure to provide a public service in-house, it’s very difficult to bring it back.

AFSCME members, including the 20-plus custodians whose jobs were directly threatened, showed up to make their voices heard. They stood together, spread the word, and rallied outside school committee meetings.

The result was total capitulation by the committee: In April, the committee voted 5-0 to scrap the privatization effort and look for solutions with the workers through the collective bargaining process.

Babbin-Disciullo says she always felt confident they would win because the community was on their side. The support of the parents and the solidarity of union members is what made the difference.

“The idea of the school committee was to divide us, but we stuck together to fight,” she says. “And I think that was the most important thing.”

Hook, who has worked as a custodian in the schools he attended as a child, agrees that the key to success was highlighting the essential work that custodians provide and their connection to the community.

“Often a custodian is seen as a faceless position,” he says. “But these are the people who leave their own families during a storm, who work seven days a week. They are an integral part of our buildings. They care about the communities they serve.”

The April 18 announcement came in a public letter signed by 60 workers. When certified, Shedd Workers United/AFSCME will represent about 300 employees across the aquarium, including throughout its departments of Animal Care, Learning & Community, Guest Relationsand more.

“We believe that by joining together in our union, we can truly have a voice to advocate for our own welfare and for the welfare of the animals that bring us together,” employees wrote.

“In recent years, we have voiced concerns to management regarding work-life imbalance, financial struggles, and lack of communication, but received little tangible response. Together in our union, we can bring to light and work to resolve these inequities in order to better our own lives and — very importantly — those of the animals we work to protect and uplift.”

The union’s logo — hand-drawn by a Shedd employee — features a beluga, a shark, a plankton and Neptune’s trident, the staff wielded by the mythical god of the sea, which tops the aquarium’s dome.

Shedd workers invite the public to share their support for the union at afscme31.org/shedd.

In forming their union, Shedd employees join workers from the Field Museum, Museum of Science & Industry, Notebaert Nature Museum and the Art Institute of Chicago who have all recently organized with AFSCME.

“Shedd employees care deeply about their work, the aquarium, every creature that lives there and everyone who visits. We’re proud to include them in our union family and help them use their voice,” said Council 31 Executive Director Roberta Lynch, who’s also an AFSCME International vice president. “We call on Shedd leadership to respect workers’ right to organize free from management interference.”

AFSCME represents more than 35,000 cultural workers across the country — more than any other union. The AFSCME Cultural Workers United (CWU) campaign has helped workers at more than 100 museums nationwide form unions and gain a voice in their workplaces.

The 38 workers, who provide educational programs, rehabilitate wildlife and protect the city’s only private nature preserve, voted 93% in favor of their union on Feb. 22, joining other cultural worker unions in the area, including Philadelphia Museum of Art Union, Penn Museum Workers United, and Please Touch Museum United.

Workers say they started the union campaign due to some issues common to other cultural institutions, such as low pay and poor benefits coupled with an expectation that employees should feel grateful for their employment.  

Nick Tonetti, an environmental educator at the Schuylkill Center, said workers challenged the idea that if they love what they do, they cannot expect to be paid well.

“The biggest thing for people [was] wages, but I think related to that is just a feeling of security and sustainability,” Tonnetti said. “Everyone really loves the work they do, and I think everyone just wants to feel like this is something they could do for a long time. People just want to feel the security that I can do what I love while still getting what I need to survive.”

On top of that, management and employees rarely discussed workplace issues. Workers say their concerns about proper staffing were brushed aside and when certain employees pushed back, some were punished with undesirable work and even fired.

Workers pointed to one example when an educator who worked at the Schuylkill Center for nearly two decades was unceremoniously fired.

“She was not afraid to talk to parents about issues at the center, which made her a target of executive management,” said Tonnetti. “But she wasn’t speaking up because she disliked her work, she was vocal because she really cared and wanted to make it better for parents, kids, workers and everyone.”

Tonnetti said management treated her “like she was a criminal.”

“She was given five minutes to pack everything and get out of the center. They took away this person that was like such a huge part of the Schuylkill Center and greater community, and disrespected her on the way out, too,” he said. “Our unit was like ‘I can't believe they did this. This is exactly why we need a union.’ Once I saw that, I had this feeling that we're gonna win this.”

Tonnetti was right — workers voted in a landslide in favor of their union.

But Sky Templeton, another worker at the Schuylkill Center, knows this fight is far from over.

“For me, it's exciting in the sense of not when the race is over, but when the race has begun,” Templeton said. “I knew we could do it despite the fact that management said, ‘No, you can't, no, you can't’. It’s validating to prove them wrong.”

Templeton remarked that the victory shows that every worker should be part of a union.

“No small is too small. You matter. Even if you’re part time or just doing it because you care.  Well, that's enough to be defended in the workplace, and don't let anybody tell you otherwise,” Templeton said.

Templeton, Tonnetti, and the rest of Schuylkill Center staff are now a part of AFSCME Cultural Workers United, a national movement of cultural workers at libraries, museums and zoos joining together to negotiate for better pay and working conditions, demand equity, and fight for transparency in our workplaces.

AFSCME represents more cultural workers than any other union, including 10,000 museum workers at 91 cultural institutions in the public and private sectors, and more than 25,000 library workers at 275 public and private libraries. 

AFSCME corrections officers and staff in Minnesota are the latest to declare victory over private prison companies. They pushed hard for more than 15 years to pass state legislation that bans private prisons across Minnesota. And just last year, they finally won that fight.

In 2023, the Minnesota legislature passed and the governor signed a bill to outlaw private prisons. Under the law, the state Department of Corrections and local sheriffs can house inmates only in facilities that are owned and operated by state or local governments.

More than half a century ago, the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSH Act) went into effect, a law propelled forward by labor unions and their allies. The law was instrumental in reducing fatalities, setting legal requirements for employers to prevent workplace injuries and deaths.

Although our country has made much progress, far too many workers continue to be injured, sickened or killed on the job. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), more than 5,400 private sector workers died on the job in 2022, with an average of 15 workers killed each day in the line of duty.

“Under President Biden’s leadership, strides have been made on worker safety. A reenergized OSHA has stepped up enforcement — but the fact remains, even one worker death is too many,” AFSCME President Lee Saunders said in a statement.

“We must continue to hold employers who skirt safety regulations accountable, because our lives are more important than their bottom lines. Study after study shows that the best way to improve worker safety is through collective bargaining and the protections of a union contract,”  Saunders added.

Everyone deserves the right to go to work and return home at the end of the day. Yet, thousands of workers are killed each year, and millions suffer from injuries and illnesses due to preventable exposures on the job.

Black workers face the highest job fatality rates in nearly 15 years and Latinos continue to face the greatest risk of dying at work compared to all other workers, according to an AFL-CIO report released Thursday.

Though job injuries and illnesses cost our society between $174 billion and $348 billion a year, the budgets of job safety agencies are scarcely enough to keep pace with inflation, according to the AFL-CIO report.

Public service workers are not treated equally under federal health and safety law, an injustice that AFSCME is working to fix at the federal and state levels.

In 27 states and territories, public service workers, including thousands of AFSCME members, are not protected by federal OSHA standards. State, local and municipal employees are not covered unless there is an OSHA state plan, passed by the legislature and signed into law by the governor.  

In states where their laws do not protect public service workers, the union difference matters. AFSCME works hard to ensure that its members have needed health and safety protections no matter what. But that unequal treatment under federal and state law must end.

In addition to unequal coverage from state to state, current OSHA criminal and civil penalties are too low.

In fiscal year (FY) 2023, the average penalty was about $4,600 for a federal OSHA serious violation and just over $2,400 for OSHA state plans combined, according to the AFL-CIO report. These abysmally low penalties, combined with OSHA’s ability to allocate only about $3.93 per U.S. worker per year, and an inadequate number of inspectors to cover the millions of workplaces means employers are able to violate health and safety standards without accountability or oversight.

Driven by a commitment to worker justice, AFSCME, national unions and allies continue the fight for increased protections through stronger federal and state policies and collective bargaining.

In the coming weeks, Pennsylvania Rep. Chris Deluzio plans to introduce the Public Service Worker Protection Act. This bill would ensure nationwide OSHA coverage for millions of state and local government employees, regardless of whether their state has an OSHA state plan.

In addition, AFSCME  supports the Protecting America’s Workers Act, sponsored by Connecticut Rep. Joe Courtney, which seeks to increase OSHA penalties and expand OSHA coverage for millions of state and local government employees.

In addition, AFSCME has been working to expand worker protections against heat illness, workplace violence, infectious diseases and chemical exposures.

For instance, in July 2023, members of AFSCME Local 1624 flew from Texas to Washington to join an all-day vigil and thirst strike on the steps of the U.S. Capitol to demand federal heat protections. AFSCME affiliates nationwide also bargain for safety protections in their contracts, bringing issues like staffing and training to the table.

The impact of worker health and safety hazards is severe, and it ripples across families and communities. As we honor the lives of those who have died on the job, AFSCME members recommit to continuing the fight to strengthen and extend workplace protections for all.

Around 500 members of AFSCME Council 5 rallied at the Minnesota State Capitol in St. Paul earlier this month for a massive Day on the Hill lobby day. They were welcomed by Gov. Tim Walz, Secretary of State Steve Simon, State Auditor Julie Blaha, and Senate Majority Leader Erin Murphy.

Members met with key state lawmakers like House Speaker Melissa Hortman to advance key priorities for working families — expanded unemployment insurance benefits for striking workers, fixes to the earned sick and safe time laws passed last year, expanded government transparency laws, and fixes to Minnesota’s public pension system.

They also pushed back against planned closures of facilities that provide direct substance abuse and mental health treatment across the state.

Tarajee Goorhouse, a licensed practical nurse at C.A.R.E in Carlton said the facility is the state’s sole women-only chemical dependency treatment facility and the only addiction treatment facility for pregnant women. It’s currently slated to be closed.

 “It felt good to be able to advocate for the women of Minnesota and all of my co-workers,” said Goorhouse, a Council 5 member. “It was amazing to see and feel the support from the other locals.”

“I think it’s important for people to be able to advocate for themselves and others because if we don’t, nothing would ever change for the better,” Goorhouse added. “It’s for workers, our clients, the community and the state.”

However, even though the contract went into effect more than a year ago, workers say the museum is shortchanging many workers who are contractually guaranteed to receive longevity pay.

According to PMA Union (AFSCME District Council 47), employees are set to receive a raise for every five years of service.  However, just weeks after the strike ended, workers were shocked to learn that management only intended to give employees longevity pay if their work anniversaries fell within a certain time frame set by the museum.

Halcyone Schiller, the president AFSCME Local 397, the union for cultural workers across Philadelphia, condemned the museum’s action and said a grievance was filed immediately.

“The purpose of longevity pay is to reward full-time and part-time staff who have been working and contributing to the PMA for a long time,” said Schiller, a conservation technician at PMA. “But according to management’s interpretation, if an employee reaches their 10-year work anniversary outside of the time frame designated by management, they would not qualify for longevity pay.”

Schiller continued, "But if another employees’ five-year anniversary fell within the qualifying dates, how does it make sense that they would get longevity pay when it was denied to an employee that has worked at the museum for twice as long? [Management]’s logic does the exact opposite of what it’s supposed to do by further exacerbating issues of inequity.”

According to Schiller, the dispute affects one-third of the union’s bargaining unit and has resulted in only 6% of staff actually receiving longevity pay.

In addition to the grievance, workers launched a petition urging the PMA to honor their commitment and pay workers what they are owed. The petition garnered more than 4,000 signatures and gained the attention and support of community allies and some elected officials. Staff at the PMA also organized various actions during the museum’s all-staff meetings, including a demonstration during which workers wore signs highlighting their years of service at the museum.

“I was happy to vote for our contract at the end of [our] strike, partly because of how the longevity pay clause addressed historically low and stagnant pay rates with a modest increase for years of service,” said Sarah Roche, a label technician at the PMA. “This is important to us because it recognizes people’s genuine dedication to the museum, institutional knowledge and skilled labor.”

Roche added, “Although I have worked at the museum for 26 years, I am not in line to earn any longevity pay as the museum is currently interpreting the language. It is painful to not get the raise I expected, both personally and financially. It is bewildering that management’s strange position on longevity is actually making pay rates less equal.”

Members of the PMA Union and management expect to enter arbitration later this year. Roche and other workers in similar situations hope that things turn around soon.

These new union members made history in February as the first EMS workers to form a union with AFSCME Council 9 and the first AMR employees to unionize in Montana.

“We really love what we do, we want to be helping people,” said Chris Dooley, who left his career in human resources to become an EMT. “But we need to make enough money to get by.”

Their pleas to management for better equipment, like new ambulances that can safely transport patients in Bozeman’s mountainous terrain, also went unresolved.

 “We're supplied with very old clapped-out ambulances that frequently break — whether it's wheels falling off, axles breaking or brakes just randomly failing,” explained Tyler Holmes, an EMT in Bozeman. “It really impacts our basic ability to respond to calls and confidently be able to help people.”

Their organizing campaign began last fall when a group of longtime workers at AMR Bozeman began talking to their colleagues about the possibility of forming a union. After receiving many positive responses, this core group of EMS professionals began collecting union cards with help from organizers at Council 9.

“We needed to come together in a collective action and have more of a voice,” Dooley said.

But it didn’t take long for AMR management to catch wind of their employees’ push to form a new union.

“When word first started getting out to management, we had a number of meetings with legal PowerPoints that they would put together and [they were] telling us that forming a union was a terrible idea,” Holmes recalled.

Despite management opposition, EMTs and paramedics voted in unison. All 34 workers who voted said “yes” to create their new union with Council 9. The turnout for the election was extremely high for the group of some 40 eligible workers, including part-time employees.

“That certainly sends a pretty strong message that this isn't just a handful of people,” Dooley said. “We all landed on the same answer.”

Having elected new officers, these AFSCME members plan to use their strong voice at the bargaining table to fight for their top priorities as they get ready to negotiate their first contract.

Their message to other EMS workers who are considering whether to form a union? Do it.

“If folks are feeling like we did, like they just have no voice and they don't know where to go to start fixing things, I would say absolutely do it,” Holmes said.

Public safety professionals are increasingly turning to AFSCME to build power at work, and to advocate for safety on the job, better wages, good health care and a secure retirement. AFSCME members in corrections, law enforcement and emergency response defend our freedoms and those of the communities we serve.

Visit the AFSCME Public Safety website to get involved and learn more.

Carrying signs that read “Respect Those Who Protect,” Council 4 members and retirees took part in a rally on April 10 and held a press conference at the State Capitol building to ask their elected representatives to do just that.

“Staff assaults were up 56% in 2023 while the inmate population has been reduced,” said Officer Mike Vargo, president of AFSCME Local 1565. “We are being asked to do more without the proper resources and adequate preparation needed to minimize the rate and severity of assaults.”

Respect for these AFSCME corrections officers means passing a 2.5% wage and step increase to retain qualified professionals, creating more staff posts in facilities and restoring sanctions for inmates who assault COs and their fellow inmates.

“Stress, anxiety and trauma are taking a severe toll on our well-being,” said Officer Sherine Bailey, executive board member of AFSCME Local 391. “With the rigorous demands and risks we face, the base-level pay fails to reflect the gravity of our work.”

The Connecticut General Assembly’s Appropriations Committee plans to vote on the wage and step increase in the next few days.

Last week’s rally and press conference received widespread local media attention — and it’s clear that these AFSCME members will keep fighting alongside one another until safety and staffing issues are resolved.

Public safety professionals are increasingly turning to AFSCME to build power at work, and to advocate for safety on the job, better wages, good health care and a secure retirement. AFSCME members in corrections, law enforcement and emergency response defend our freedoms and those of the communities we serve.

Visit the AFSCME Public Safety website to get involved and learn more.

From his dispatch center in Everett, Piazza runs through a checklist he’s been trained on, keeping the caller calm, asking her questions to help him determine which emergency services he’ll send.

Meanwhile, he learns the husband is unconscious and not breathing. Without Piazza’s help, he’ll die. No time to waste: Piazza tells the wife to perform CPR. Meanwhile, Piazza alerts the fire department to send medical help to the man.

“I was able to meet that gentleman a few months later after he was out of the hospital and very much alive,” said Piazza.

That experience — knowing he was able to change the outcome and save that man’s life — was “mind-blowing,” said Piazza, who has been a dispatcher for six years.

It’s an extraordinary job — every day, dispatchers field multiple calls from people who may be having the worst day of their life. It’s a profession whose rewards can be as weighty as its challenges. This week, during National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week, we honor professionals like Chad Piazza, who save countless lives.

Piazza and his fellow 911 dispatchers may be the first of the first responders, but the essential work they do is far too often unseen. And no matter how much training they have in what Piazza describes as “being that calm voice in the storm to get [callers] to the other side,” their work also takes a heavy toll.

“It’s a unique stress,” Piazza acknowledged.

It’s hard not to take work home with them. For Piazza, his long commute provides a respite.

“For me, some nights, I sit in the car and listen to music and kind of let everything fall off my shoulders,” he said. “Other nights, if we’ve had a particularly bad call, it’s a quiet ride home. For me, that’s what I like to do be able to not take work home. I take some time to decompress and take some breaths on the ride home, then appreciate the time I have with my family once I walk through that door.”

Piazza and his fellow 911 dispatchers in Snohomish County also sought ways to improve their jobs by affiliating with AFSCME Council 2.

Members of AFSCME Local 829 (Council 57) who work for the Northern California city have won the largest contract gains in recent memory, securing cost-of-living allowances of 14% over the next three years and total possible pay raises of approximately 16.5%. The union’s previous one-year contract for 2022 included raises of only 2% — well below inflation in the  surrounding San Francisco Bay area.

Workers fought with city management for more than eight months until the Burlingame City Council finally approved the new agreement on Feb. 20. The contract will last until June 30, 2026.

During negotiations, union members filed multiple unfair labor practice (ULP) charges against the city, including over allegations that former Mayor Michael Brownrigg stifled workers’ rights to free speech. As part of its settlement with the city, AFSCME agreed to withdraw its ULP charges to secure a new contract.

The foundation to the workers’ success was their engagement with contract negotiations over the past year. The local increased its membership rates from approximately 77% of all eligible workers before negotiations began to more than 91% today. Last December, more than 100 AFSCME workers staged a one-day strike to protest management’s actions — the first strike in the city since 1981.

“Although we have won the biggest gains in recent memory for AFSCME at Burlingame, not every worker is jumping up and down, since many Burlingame employees’ wages are still likely to lag behind other neighboring cities,” said Rich Stephens, a water quality lead worker in the Public Works Department.

AFSCME members and the city were able to break through an impasse in negotiations thanks to the valuable assistance of John Kagel, a state-appointed mediator with more than 50 years of experience during which he mediated hundreds of labor disputes.

“John Kagel was instrumental in bridging the divide that had existed with the city for so long,” said Joleen Helley, an administrative assistant in the Recreation Department.

AFSCME members and city officials will likely resume negotiations for their next labor contract in a little less than two years from now.

“Although it is disappointing that hard-working city employees had to fight so hard given how robust Burlingame’s finances are, I doubt the city will approach AFSCME in the same way when we negotiate a little over two years from now,” said Rod Palmquist, AFSCME Local 829’s business agent and the union’s lead negotiator.

On March 14, Gov. Janet Mills signed into law a “card check” bill for state, higher education and judicial branch employees throughout Maine. It builds on a 2019 law that granted card check — or majority authorization rights — to municipal workers throughout Maine.

According to the Maine AFL-CIO, card check laws require public employers to recognize a union if a majority of workers in a bargaining unit sign union cards rather than going through the lengthy and expensive process of holding a secret ballot election.

“Most importantly, it is designed to level the playing field between labor and management by limiting the ability of anti-union management officials to unduly and unfairly harass and intimidate workers into voting against unionization,” Jim Durkin, legislative director of AFSCME Council 93, told a Maine House committee in January.

Council 93 represents more than 2,600 public sector workers in Maine and an additional 43,000 in northern New England.

The 2019 card check law has already helped municipal workers in Maine form unions, and Council 93 has worked with several of those groups. 

“The process for us in Easton was pretty easy and straightforward,” said Jennifer Bray, an employee with the Easton, Maine, public schools. “We really felt that the choice to unionize or not was up to us, with little or no opportunity for management to try to intimidate us. We organized in 2023, and by February of this year we had our first contract. I would definitely want other public sector workers to have the opportunity to use this process since it worked so well for us.”

The 2024 card check law would provide even more workers across Maine the opportunity to come together to form unions to improve wages, benefits and working conditions — and advocate for the resources Maine communities need and deserve.

Adam Goode, the Maine AFL-CIO’s political and legislative director, testified in January that the new law not only expands the universe of eligible workers but also makes it mandatory for employers to recognize a union if a majority of workers chose it.

“Because the 2019 law only applied to municipal employees, public sector employers in the state, higher education and judicial branches are not required to honor their workers’ decision to form a union, even if 100% of employees demonstrate they want to have a union,” Goode testified.

Until now, employers rarely exercised their option of voluntarily recognizing unions, preferring instead to ask the Maine Labor Relations Board to schedule a secret ballot election, Durkin said.    

“It can take up to several months or longer before an election date is set, which not only delays workers’ efforts to secure better wages, benefits and working conditions, but also gives management a strong and unfair disadvantage over union proponents,” he said.

Most employers used that time to “do everything possible to dissuade workers from taking advantage of their legal right to vote in favor of forming a union,” according to Durkin.