Communications Director

The Illinois council of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) is currently seeking candidates for the position of Communications Director.  AFSCME Council 31 is a statewide labor organization with more some 290 affiliated local unions representing 75,000 public service workers in a wide variety of fields—including health care, public works, public safety, education and human services.   Council 31 has a strong tradition of progressive, democratic trade unionism and plays an active role in the political, legislative and policy arenas.

The communications director is primarily responsible for all member communications within AFSCME Council 31, as well as assisting as needed with external media relations.  The core function is writing, editing and overseeing the design of Council 31’s bi-monthly newspaper, On the Move, which is mailed to the homes of some 100,000 active and retired union members.  In addition, the communications director is responsible for writing and designing special newsletters and bulletins as needed to keep union members informed of important developments, as well as producing leaflets, flyers and other outreach materials.  The communications director has key responsibilities for the union’s social media program.  He/she also works collaboratively with the union’s public affairs director in handling external media relations.

Key Responsibilities:

• Report, write and edit news and feature stories for 16-page bi-monthly union newspaper;
• Collaborate with external vendor in the layout and design of the newspaper;
• Coordinate the union’s social media program, including the Council 31 website and Facebook page;
• Take photos for the newspaper, website and other uses and manage the photo archive;
• Conduct newsletter training classes for local unions;
• Write copy for and do layout and design work for flyers, signs, buttons, stickers, etc;
• Write news releases, op-eds and do media relations in collaboration with the public affairs director

Desirable Qualifications:

• Excellent writing skills, including the ability to write quickly and clearly;
• Excellent interpersonal skills;
• Working knowledge of all forms of social media, e.g. websites, Facebook, twitter, etc.;
• Proficiency with computer applications;
• Good organizational and planning skills;
• Ability to work under pressure and to meet deadlines;
• Demonstrated ability to work independently and to build productive working relationships;
• Knowledge of and commitment to the labor movement;
• Master’s degree in journalism, communications or related field, or commensurate experience.

Competitive salary structure.  Excellent benefit package.  Send resume to:

Minnie Perez
AFSCME Council 31
205 N. Michigan Ave.,  Suite 2100
Chicago, IL 60601

or email to mperez@afscme31.org