SAN ANTONIO – AFSCME members from across the nation knocked on doors, visited worksites and gathered signatures during a summer blitz in San Antonio to mobilize support for AFSCME Local 2021’s efforts to advocate for workers throughout the Texas metropolis.
Though San Antonio lacks a collective bargaining law, the local has proven that city employees still can build power and ensure they have a voice in the decisions that affect them. The city’s 12-seat Employment Management Committee (EMC) makes decisions that affect workers, and AFSCME members hold nine of those seats.
By engaging in vigorous advocacy on this committee, Local 2021 members have won pay increases, cost of living adjustments and permanent job class salary adjustments for city employees, and stopped the city’s attempts to cut jobs and increase the cost of health care.
“We're extremely far behind where we should be getting paid for most of our job titles throughout the city,” said David Owen, a 911 police communications supervisor who sits on the EMC. “It's important that the equality and wealth are spread across to everybody, and not just the higher ups.”