MSEA says the investigation must examine both the driver’s actions and whether MDOT followed the safety procedures meant to protect workers and motorists. 

“MDOT management has a responsibility to make sure workers are not sent into dangerous conditions without the proper equipment, signage, staffing and traffic control procedures,” MSEA President Jacob VanSickle said. “This is not about excusing unsafe driving. It is about making sure the complete safety system is investigated.” 

Bruce Wagner and Steve Spenle were public service workers who helped keep Michigan moving. Their deaths have left their families, co-workers and communities grieving. 

“No one should go to work and not come home,” VanSickle said. “Bruce and Steve served the people of Michigan, and we owe it to them, their families and every worker still on the road to demand the full truth.” 

MSEA is calling for a full review of the work zone, including whether employees were allowed to use proper safety equipment, whether an arrow board directed traffic away from the crew and whether signs warned drivers to slow down. 

According to MSEA, the Michigan Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices makes clear that safety cannot be reduced simply because an operation is short term or mobile. 

Management voluntarily recognized their union, which will be part of AFSCME Local 397 (District Council 47) and Philly Cultural Workers United. The Atelier union will represent 51 workers.  

“When an employer agrees to a voluntary recognition process, it demonstrates respect for and trust in the workers who have expressed their intent to unionize,” said April Gigetts, president of District Council 47. “It lays the groundwork for a more collaborative relationship during contract negotiations and beyond. We're thrilled that Atelier has decided to set this positive example for other employers, and we're thrilled that the Atelier workers will soon be growing the Local 397 family."  

Atelier employees are highly skilled at handling priceless works of art: packing, transporting, storing and installing them in museums and galleries in Philadelphia and around the country. They are well known to the Philadelphia museum staff they work with on a regular basis, many of whom are already members of AFSCME Local 397. 

Now that the majority of eligible employees have shown support for joining Local 397,  negotiations over a collective bargaining agreement can begin.  

In a joint statement, the employees and the company said they share a goal of fostering a collaborative, transparent and respectful workplace. 

"As a long-time AFL-CIO member myself, I am profoundly grateful to our incredible employees and AFSCME for their dedication to a collaborative future,” said Derek Jones, executive director of Atelier. “Our team's unmatched expertise is the reason Atelier continues to set the standard in art services. Being recognized alongside Philadelphia's esteemed cultural institutions is a true badge of honor for us. We look forward to growing and strengthening our organization together as we enter this exciting new chapter." 

Atelier employees join more than 50,000 workers in libraries, museums and other cultural institutions across the country who have gained a voice on the job through the AFSCME Cultural Workers United campaign. That includes workers at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Please Touch Museum and the Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education, among others.  

Across correctional facilities in Pennsylvania and nationwide, prisons and jails have struggled in recent years to fill vacancies and retain experienced staff. At Lehigh County Prison, members say chronic shortages have led to increased workloads, exhaustion and mandatory overtime for correctional officers and support staff.

For years, members of Local 543 have pushed county leaders to take action. They regularly attended county commission meetings and advocated for policies that would make Lehigh County safer by ensuring corrections is a more attractive place to work and build a career.

Local 543 President Jennifer Newell said union members have remained engaged throughout the process and closely followed how county leaders responded to concerns raised by AFSCME workers.

“The members of our local have been attending commissioner meetings for quite some time now, and we have been paying close attention to the commissioners’ and the county executive's responses to the shortages that our prison has faced since the pandemic in 2020,” said Newell.

“In a job that can be stressful and difficult to balance a healthy work/family life, we appreciate (County) Executive (Josh) Siegel's decision to offer paid parental leave to those new parents among our ranks who might otherwise have to make the difficult choice between expanding their families or maintaining their employment with the County of Lehigh.”

Newell said the new benefit will help the county recruit workers who are looking for long-term careers while also improving conditions for current employees.

“We look forward to attracting employees who choose to stay with the county thanks to benefits such as this, which will effectively improve morale and ultimately decrease mandatory overtime hours,” she said.

For Local 543 members, the victory represents more than a new benefit: It is proof that workers speaking up together can win meaningful improvements that strengthen both their workplaces and the public services they provide every day.

The newly created American Library Association Workers United will be part of AFSCME Council 31 and represent more than 100 employees, mostly in Chicago.

“We’re happy to welcome employees of the American Library Association to our ever-growing union,” said Council 31 Executive Director Roberta Lynch, who’s also an AFSCME vice president. “Together in our union they will have a strong voice to advocate for themselves and their families, for the libraries and library workers they serve nationwide, and for every American who counts on thriving public libraries as a bulwark of our democracy.”

The National Labor Relations Board administered the election, and more than 95% of the votes cast were in favor of the union. The results were announced on May 27.

As they prepare to negotiate their first contract, the employees are focused on protecting the staff’s work, their well-being and the organization’s future.

AFSCME and the American Library Association were recently both plaintiffs in a lawsuit filed to protect the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) from being dismantled by the Trump administration. After filing the lawsuit, AFSCME and ALA won a legal settlement that protected the IMLS and the grants it provides to libraries and museums across the country.

More than 50,000 workers at museums, libraries, zoos and other cultural institutions across the United States have gained a voice on the job through the AFSCME Cultural Workers United campaign — the largest of its kind in the nation. That includes a swath of Chicago-based institutions such as the Art Institute of Chicago, Shedd Aquarium, the Chicago Public Library, and more.

"We are their safety net," said Denise Mackinnon, vice president of AFSCME Local 1517 (Council 93), who has worked at Pappas for more than two decades. "These kids have no alternative. We are there for them. We become part of their family. We watch them grow up, we celebrate their milestones, and we carry them in our hearts. Every one of them deserves a full life. We're here to make sure they get that chance."

Parents reach out to staff all the time, Mackinnon said, sharing stories about what Pappas has meant to their children and their families.

"They want us to know what it means to them, that their child was seen, that someone cared," she said. "And right now, families are scared. If Pappas closes, they don't know where their children will go or who will care for them the way we do."

So when Gov. Maura Healey’s administration moved to close the facility, AFSCME members and the families they serve refused to accept it.

Workers and families packed the State House. They testified before lawmakers, flooded officials with calls, and delivered more than 17,000 petition signatures. The coalition was loud, unified, and impossible to ignore.

It worked. Earlier this year, the administration paused its closure plans and approved a temporary funding extension.

"We got a pause," Mackinnon said. "But the threat is not over. They're continuing on the same path."

The concern is rooted in what workers see happening on the ground. Admissions criteria have grown so restrictive that children who once would have qualified for care are now turned away. Long-term patients have been discharged on the grounds that they no longer meet the state's definition of "hospital level of care." The result is that families who need care are not getting access to the beds and services Pappas was built to provide.

That is why the fight continues.

"There are moments when you're going through a fight like this and you ask yourself, 'Is anything I'm doing going to matter?'" Mackinnon said. "But when you see other people come to support you and fight alongside you, you keep going."

For Mackinnon and her colleagues, the stakes could not be clearer. A hospital does not become unnecessary because policymakers stop filling its beds. And a community that has fought this hard has no intention of stopping now.

The fight isn't over

The temporary funding extension bought time, but it did not secure the future of Pappas. Families, workers, advocates, and community members must continue speaking out until the hospital's future is protected and every child who needs its services can access them.

"If we ultimately keep this facility open for the children of Massachusetts," Mackinnon said, "it will be because the people who care for these kids every day refused to stay silent. We know what's at stake. We know what these children need. And we were willing to fight for them.”

The children at Pappas deserve more than uncertainty. They deserve the security of knowing the care they rely on today will still be there tomorrow. The fight that won a reprieve for Pappas showed what is possible when workers, families, and communities stand together. Now they need that support again.

Join AFSCME members and families in the fight to save Pappas. Contact your elected officials and tell them Massachusetts must protect Pappas and the children who depend on it.

"I am proud of my co-workers for coming together to organize our union. As admin assistants, we are the backbone of our offices — nothing happens without us. And we deserve the dignity and respect that comes with having a unified voice on the job,” said Maria Behic, an administrative assistant at the Florence McClure Women's Correctional Center in Las Vegas. “We look forward to joining our AFSCME family in building our power in the workplace.”

State employees in the new bargaining unit B include administrative assistants in all state agencies, departments, state colleges and universities, as well as other assistants, clerks and clerical staff. And most of them are women. The vote count was 91% in favor of AFSCME as exclusive representative.

Workers in bargaining unit B filed for their union election during Women’s History Month in March. They seek fair wages, good benefits and better working conditions that will help them support their families and serve their communities.

Once the Employee Management Relations Board certifies the election results, the state will have up to 60 days to begin contract negotiations. The workers will now begin forming their bargaining team to negotiate for pay raises, lower health care costs, come up with ways to improve staff recruitment and retention, and win more equitable paid time off policies.

Workers in bargaining unit B will join their colleagues in other state worker bargaining units who have also organized in recent years with AFSCME in Nevada.

Since winning collective bargaining rights in 2019, AFSCME members have secured wage increases, four annual personal days, bilingual pay, a fairer grievance process and other lasting improvements. 

Registered nurses, case managers and nontechnical workers voted to form a union through AFSCME Michigan, building the power to win a stronger voice on the job and improve care for the Port Huron community.

“We know that we are just getting started,” said Breahna Snay, a registered nurse at McLaren Port Huron. “But it is a relief to know that we will finally have a voice in our working conditions and the care we provide to the community. We are ready to take our seats at the table and bargain a contract that will benefit the employees, patients and the entire Port Huron community.”

Across the health care industry, many hospital executives expect workers to carry heavier loads with fewer resources. That leaves workers stretched thin and patients paying the price. McLaren Port Huron workers chose a better path by coming together to form a union.

“From the start of this organizing effort, we knew that it would be an uphill battle,” said Jeremy Wittmer, nurse aide. “We watched as other health care workers won their unions, and we could not be happier to join the AFSCME family! We are ready to have our voices heard and build the foundation for a stronger McLaren Port Huron.”

Their victory is part of a growing movement of health care workers across Michigan who are standing up for respect, safe staffing and the freedom to have a say in the decisions that affect their work and their patients.

“The workers at McLaren Port Huron have exercised their right to organize their union,” said Gino Carbenia, executive director of AFSCME Michigan. “Now they can continue to build their power, meet management at the table, and collectively

AFSCME Retirees know that the rights working families earned have been fought for – not given – and that spirit drives them today.  

You’ll find them on the strike line, in statehouses, and in Washington, D.C., where they’re standing up for their union family and the retirement security of generations that follow.  

For decades, the AFSCME retiree army has been battling to defend our union freedoms from billionaires and anti-worker, anti-retiree lawmakers. Because no one better understands the difference that belonging to a union can make in working peoples’ lives.  

“My union has been everything to me” 

John Tilden, a member of AFSCME Illinois Retiree Chapter 31, spent nearly three decades as a psychologist for the Illinois Department of Human Services.  

Treating developmentally disabled patients provided him with a rewarding career. But he says that without his union, his retirement would have been “a nightmare.” 

“My union has been everything to me,” he says. 

Now, as an AFSCME retiree, he's using his union power to fight for a system where all Americans can enjoy a secure retirement after a lifetime of hard work.  

Kean voted for the so-called One Big Beautiful Bill last year that slashed funding for Medicaid and Medicare. He has stood by while the Republican-led Congress and White House have cut services for the most vulnerable and driven up the cost of living for everyone.

 “Last year, Congressman Kean voted for cuts that devastated funding for critical programs working families rely on. Now, with costs continuing to skyrocket and families continuing to struggle, where does Congressman Kean stand?” asked AFSCME Council 63 Director Steve Tully before introducing members of Local 2220 (AFSCME New Jersey) who work at Hunterdon Developmental Center who spoke at a press conference in Flemington.

Savanah Simeone, senior program assistant at Hunterdon, said what hurts her the most is realizing that her daughters’ generation may be worse off than their parents.

“That’s not the American Dream I grew up hearing about. That’s not making America great. We’re going backwards,” Simeone said. “And I’ll tell you why so many working families are worse off: Because the people who are supposed to represent us have chosen to prioritize billionaires and corporations over working people. Funding for health care, education and essential public services is being slashed so tax breaks can continue flowing to the wealthy.”

“Congressman Thomas Kean voted for the policies and budget proposals that are dismantling Medicaid, Medicare and affordable health care in our state,” Simeone added. “Roughly 350,000 New Jerseyans could lose Medicaid coverage outright.”  

AFSCME members that provide essential services to seniors, children and working families of New Jersey demanded Kean push back on administration policies that favor billionaires over working people.

Jackie Mutter, a licensed practical nurse and president of Local 2220, said the health care cuts are hurting both patients and the workers who deliver the services.

“2020 came along and state workers became health care heroes. In 2026, with the passage of The Big Beautiful Bill, we’re health care zeroes,” Mutter said about how the profession has changed since the COVID-19 pandemic.

“My co-workers and I are struggling and working overtime to make ends meet, but for some co-workers it’s still not enough. They must rely on SNAP benefits to relieve the burden and make ends meet,” Mutter said, referring to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. “Those are the same SNAP benefits Representative Kean and his pals in Congress made historic cuts to, to include the Medicaid and Medicare my patients rely on.” 

Workers are not alone in sounding the alarm about the impending health care crisis.

Cathy Bennett, president and CEO of the New Jersey Hospital Association, said New Jersey is facing a “health care fiscal abyss.”  

Gerardo Rivera, senior therapy assistant at Hunterdon, said the cuts are not abstract political debates in Washington and people are already being hurt.

“For those of us on the front lines, these aren’t political talking points. The people I care for do not have lobbyists. These decisions have real consequences,” Rivera said. “And we’re already seeing it. When health care facilities reduce services or close altogether and workers lose their jobs or lose income while expenses continue to rise, people leave the profession. Burnout increases. Recruitment becomes harder. Retention becomes harder. And again, it is New Jersey’s most vulnerable that ultimately pay the price.” 

But first responders are still entitled to paid meal breaks under the Federal Labor Standards Act (FLSA) if they remain on call.  

For four members of Local 260 (AFSCME Florida), their first union contract helped them get the compensation they earned over years of missed meal breaks.  

“As flight paramedics we can’t take the helicopter through a drive-thru after a call, so a lot of the time the idea of a meal break never even crosses your mind,” said Heath Schmidt, a critical care paramedic with UF Health ShandsCair Critical Care Transport Team and vice president of Local 260. “But we formed our union through AFSCME a few years ago so we would have a voice and support when problems arose, and this is a case where it made all the difference in the world.”  

Over the years, Schmidt said management told him and his team not to even bother clocking out for lunch. That would have been fine except they discovered earlier this year that the time was still being deducted from their paycheck — though they never took those meal breaks. They also discovered that, over the years, similar issues were found and resolved at other sites in Florida.  

Schmidt and the three other members brought in Local 260 President Paul Tucker and AFSCME Florida staff to find a solution. Ultimately, they filed a grievance requesting lost pay for three years of unpaid meal breaks — well over $5,000 for each of the four members.   

“To me, this is a perfect example of the union difference being part of AFSCME has made,” said Schmidt. “Before, first responders like us always got the scraps because we didn’t have a seat at the table. But now, we have a process to stand up for what we deserve and the support of our union when we do it.” 

After reviewing the grievance, UF Health agreed with Local 260 and the four members will see the money in this month’s paychecks. And they are not done — Local 260 is already pursuing problems found in shift differential pay and more. 

“I can’t say enough good things about what the union has done,” said Schmidt. “AFSCME has changed our lives for the better and made real changes that will continue to do good for years to come.” 

Nearly 140 workers are forming Seattle Art Museum Workers United as part of WFSE/AFSCME Council 28. 

Workers delivered a letter to museum management on May 13 announcing their intent to unionize before rallying outside the museum. They requested voluntary recognition of their union.  

At the rally, workers were joined by allies from Tacoma Art Museum Workers United, Washington State Labor Council President April Sims and WFSE Vice President Ashley Fueston. The workers announced that they have also filed for an election with the National Labor Relations Board should the museum refuse to voluntarily recognize their union.  

In their letter, workers wrote that they are unionizing to have a voice on the job and representation in the decision-making processes at the museum, as well as to fight for sustainable wages and health benefits. 

Drew Davis, an art handler at SAM involved in the organizing drive, shared his reasons for unionizing. 

“I'm forming a union because no one did it before me,” Davis said. “I want the protections that it guarantees. I want the stability that it can guarantee. I want to live and work and have a family in Seattle. And I shouldn't have to sacrifice doing the important work of making art.”  

The workers said that forming their union is “a movement to improve working conditions in alignment with SAM’s mission, vision and core values.”  

Jenny Woods, an installation design and registration specialist, echoes this commitment to improving the museum: “I'm fighting for a union because I want to make SAM a better place for all workers, where we're treated with the respect that we deserve.” 

The organizing drive at Seattle Art Museum follows a national wave of cultural workers unionizing through AFSCME Cultural Workers United. This includes their peers at the nearby Tacoma Art Museum, also organized under WFSE, where workers secured their first union contract last year. 

“Turnover feels much higher now than when I started almost 10 years ago,” said AFSCME District Council 20 member Evita Pass.  

“Many of my co-workers simply can't afford to maintain the high level of care our students need as we are struggling to ensure our families have those same opportunities,” said Pass, an education aide for the District of Columbia Public Schools. “Our short-staffing means paraprofessionals are already being shuffled around and stretched thin.”  

Pass said that proposed cuts to the D.C. budget will cut future raises and worsen the problem.  

“With the high cost of everything — food, gas, housing, electricity — it’s going to be hard to find qualified professionals with the necessary skills for these jobs,” Pass said.    

District Council 20 Trustee Ernestine Miles, a health care administrator for the D.C. Department of Health Care Finance, echoed that sentiment.  

“Investing in public service workers makes it possible for people like me — and so many other D.C. workers — to continue affording to do public service work in the city we serve,” Miles said.   

The rally took place outside the Wilson Building. Inside, union leaders such as Arthur Slade, vice president of AFSCME Local 2743, testified before the Committee of the Whole about how Mayor Muriel Bowser’s proposed fiscal year 2027 budget and financial plan will harm their livelihoods and the city’s services.  

The mayor’s proposals include $127 million in funding cuts for future collectively bargained raises for city workers. This would harm thousands of D.C. government workers who are already facing an affordability crisis and making sacrifices to continue providing the public services that keep the nation’s capital running.  

Other speakers at the rally included leaders of other unions, D.C. Councilmembers Robert White and Janeese Lewis George, and D.C. City Council At-Large candidate Dyana Forester.   

More than 800,000 football fans descended on Pittsburgh, breaking attendance records — but fortunately not breaking the city itself. 

That’s because the AFSCME members of Council 13 who make Pittsburgh happen were out in full force to ensure the safety and smooth operations of the huge undertaking that was the 2026 NFL Draft. 

Some AFSCME members were quite visible during the Draft while others worked behind the scenes – and months in advance. 

Dana Murphy, a member of AFSCME Local 2719 who works for Pittsburgh Parking Enforcement, served as a draft “ambassador.”  

Posted at the Greyhound bus station, her job was to welcome out-of-towners, to “represent Pittsburgh” as she put it, to make people feel safe, and to make sure they got where they wanted to go. 

“Everyone was very friendly,” said Murphy, a Pittsburgh native. “You meet all different kinds of people. It was a long few days of work, but the people made it go really fast.” 

Murphy’s colleagues also handled parking enforcement and ensured there was city-wide access to parking. 

Meanwhile, AFSCME members like Craig Sipple, who works for the Department of Permits, Licensing and Inspection, was responsible for many critical aspects of the Draft infrastructure. 

“We look at all the documents — construction drawings, safety drawings, architectural and engineering drawings — and [made sure] they meet minimum code requirements for all the structures that were built,” Sipple said.  

That included the main stage outside of Acrisure Stadium, itself the size of a football field, as well as structures that went up along the North Shore, PNC Park, Market Square and elsewhere.  

His team also ensured safe accessibility across the event grounds, so that anyone —whether they were fully mobile or not — could enjoy all that the city had to offer. 

Those offerings included the wares of many kinds of vendors. 

There again, Sipple’s team verified that every vendor was insured, certified by the health department and complying with local rules and regulations.  

“It was definitely an all hands-on-deck situation,” Sipple said. “Everyone knew there were going to be extra permits and licenses. We made sure that all our members of our local were the best they could be, on the ball and getting everything done in a small amount of time.” 

That spirit of preparedness and enthusiasm extended to all AFSCME members who worked the Draft. 

Members like Ed Hart, of Local 2266, who works for PennDot Tunnels.  

“Our job was to maintain traffic,” said Hart.  “We had to keep traffic flowing at all times.” 

If there was a breakdown, Hart’s team got it cleared immediately. Like an elite offensive line, they kept routes open while preventing cars from entering roads that had been closed.  

Thanks to the city’s planning, which encouraged public transportation, Hart said traffic was actually much lighter than normal. 

“I haven’t seen traffic that low since COVID,” said Hart. He joked, “Thursday afternoon was like a Sunday morning. I went home disappointed — happy, but disappointed.” 

Nearly a half-dozen other AFSCME locals also provided critical support. 

Now, with the 2026 NFL Draft in the books, it’s worth taking a moment to recognize one team that may not have gotten a draft pick but delivers wins season after season — Team AFSCME. 

The agreement was ratified by union members with more than 95% support and received final approval Thursday from Cook County commissioners. 

Board of Review workers do the careful, public-facing work of reviewing property tax assessments and helping homeowners file appeals. It is the kind of work families depend on when they need a fair shake from the government. 

Now, these workers are getting a fairer shake, too. 

“Together in our union, Board of Review employees are securing greater fairness in the workplace,” said AFSCME Council 31 Executive Director Roberta Lynch, who’s also an AFSCME vice president. 

For too long, Board of Review workers were paid less than other county workers doing important public service. Their first contract helps fix that with a $2,500 bonus, a 2% pay increase on June 1, and a 4% raise on Dec. 1. Workers with six or more months of seniority will also receive a $1,000 retention bonus. 

That is the union difference in plain terms: better pay, more respect, and a real voice on the job. 

Board of Review workers now join more than 4,000 Cook County workers in the health system, courts, public defender’s office, jail, and other vital public services as members of AFSCME.  

Their union was certified in July 2024, and workers began negotiating together that November. The contract runs through Nov. 30, 2027. 

By standing together, Board of Review workers did more than win a contract. They built power, strengthened public service, highlighted the union difference and showed other workers what is possible in AFSCME. 

By “my kids,” Powell is referring to the nearly 1,400 kids who pass through her cafeteria throughout the day.

Powell is a loving and steady presence and the students and staff can always count on her.

“I started work in 2001,” recalls Powell. “Since then, a lot has changed, but I’ve always enjoyed going to work. I love the kids and the people I work with.”

Her work day at the school often starts before 8 a.m., when breakfast is served. She clocks in, turns on the dishwasher, and gets all the supplies and food ready for the early morning rush of students.

“I like making sure the kids get a good meal every day. It makes me happy when their little stomachs fill up so they can take tests.”

In the cafeteria, Powell can be found putting out cold trays of fruits and vegetables, hauling in supplies from the supply truck, helping her colleagues in the kitchen, as well as working double lines of hot food during lunch.

Across the four shifts of service, Powell can be seen piling on fruit for the students and making sure they always have plenty of milk.

But her job is about a lot more than nourishing their bodies; she also nourishes their hearts.

“I had one little guy who came up to me after my father died. They had told the kids that I was going to be out. He said he cried all night because he didn’t think I was going to come back,” Powell recalls. “That gave me goosebumps.”

The unique role that Powell plays at Guilford is recognized by students, co-workers and school administrators alike.

Her colleague, Judith Johnson, nominated Powell for AFSCME’s Never Quit Service Award, saying: “I think that she is exceptional. She goes above and beyond every day.”

Powell says that her principal “always comes down and says the kids love all of you so much.” And her boss, Brittany Monreal, known to Powell and her co-workers as “Mrs. Brittany,” says the same thing: “Those kids love you.”

Always willing to lend a helping hand, to take on new responsibilities, Powell’s entire career has been about serving others.

She spent 20 years working at a hospital in Rockford, and 30 years working at McDonald’s, on the 5 a.m. to 8 a.m. shift, before she came to school. She continues to take shifts there.

Though Powell has been at Guilford High School for more than a quarter of a century, she doesn’t want to retire.

“There are so many people out there who just want their kids to have a good meal. As long as I’m there, I want to make sure I get the job done. I want all my kids to have a happy face,” she says. “That makes me really happy.”

That’s why front-line workers at Hennepin County Medical Center (HCMC) sounded the alarm, organized with patients and labor allies and pushed lawmakers to act before vital care was put at risk. 

Thanks to the efforts of AFSCME members who keep HCMC running, state leaders have reached a bipartisan agreement to stabilize the immediate future of Minnesota’s largest public hospital. The move protects health care access for families, seniors, children and vulnerable Minnesotans. 

“This bipartisan agreement to save HCMC from closing is a major victory for working people, patients and communities all across Minnesota and the Upper Midwest region,” Bart Andersen, executive director of AFSCME Council 5, said in a statement Thursday.   

 “For months, our union members who work at HCMC sounded the alarm about what was at stake if HCMC was allowed to shutter, and that was always an unacceptable reality,” Andersen said. “Workers shared their stories, organized relentlessly, advocated at the Capitol, held rallies and press conferences, spoke directly with lawmakers, all while also continuing to show up every single day at HCMC to provide lifesaving care for every patient who walks through the doors. Workers' activism, courage and unwavering commitment to our communities made this bipartisan agreement possible.” 

AFSCME Locals 2474 and 977, both part of Council 5, represent more than 3,000 HCMC workers who helped build the public pressure needed to protect the hospital system. 

“My co-workers and fellow union members never gave up because we understood this fight was never just about a building or a budget line item,” said Sara Franck, president of Local 2474 and a dental assistant at Hennepin Healthcare. 

 “Our fight to save HCMC was about protecting a lifeline for our patients regardless of their income, insurance status, ZIP code or background,” Franck said. “HCMC is where Minnesotans go during some of the hardest and most tragic moments of their lives, and our union members deeply understood that allowing these services to collapse would have devastating consequences for families across our state, and that was an unacceptable reality — so we fought back." 

Kitsune Tara, president of AFSCME Local 977 and a patient services coordinator at Hennepin Healthcare, also praised the state action, adding that the fight isn’t over.  

“This historic agreement proves what is possible when workers, patients, community members, Minnesota's labor movement and lawmakers come together to put people before politics,” Tara said. “Now we must push lawmakers to finish the job by passing this agreement into law and ensuring HCMC remains strong for generations to come, and we will be back to advocate for long-term, sustainable funding solutions.”

Through her veto, Gov. Abigail Spanberger has denied about 500,000 public service workers the ability to bargain for fair pay, safe working conditions and better public services for all Virginians. Currently, only local government workers whose municipality has passed an ordinance allowing for collective bargaining enjoy the freedom to negotiate with their employer. This bill would have extended that freedom to all local government employees, and the vast majority of state employees. 

In response, AFSCME President Lee Saunders said Spanberger broke her promise to support union rights for public sector workers across Virginia.  

“For too long, anti-worker extremists have sidelined working people while starving the public services Virginia families rely on, earning the state a reputation as one of the most anti-worker in the country. Governor Spanberger campaigned on the promise to end this historic injustice,” Saunders said in a statement. 

“But she has broken that promise by vetoing legislation that would have finally granted most state and local workers the freedom to collectively bargain,” Saunders added. “The landmark collective bargaining legislation, passed by pro-worker champions in the General Assembly, would have empowered more than half a million public service workers with the freedom to negotiate and to strengthen the public services that communities across the commonwealth depend on.” 

Saunders said AFSCME members will not stop fighting for Virginia’s public service workers. 

“While the governor has broken her word, AFSCME members are deeply grateful to the bill’s sponsors, and the leadership of both chambers, who kept theirs,” Saunders said. “Their commitment to working people stands in stark contrast to the governor and will not be forgotten. Governor Spanberger made a choice today, and working people will remember it. AFSCME members will continue fighting to ensure every public service worker in Virginia has a real voice on the job. This fight is far from over.”  

That’s because Local 3299 negotiators secured a late-night deal from UC after two years of trying.

Higher wages, more affordable health care and better staffing are all part of the last-minute agreement that avoids what was to be a massive strike of service and patient care workers throughout the UC system.

During late-night negotiations prompted by a midnight strike deadline, Local 3299 members won multiple pay increases and a higher minimum wage for thousands of workers in UC facilities across the state, plus several other workplace improvements.

The tentative agreement was announced early Thursday morning and will be voted on by union members next week.

Local 3299 President Michael Avant hailed the agreement.

“It means UC’s most vulnerable workers will no longer have to choose between paying for health care and paying for groceries,” Avant, who works as a patient transporter at UC San Diego Medical Center, told the Los Angeles Times. “This process took persistence and involved great sacrifices by every single one of our members. The tentative agreements we’ve reached ensure they will be better off, and better able to keep pace with rising costs so they can build a better future for their families.”

The agreement, if ratified, would be a major victory for UC workers, whose wages were not keeping up with the rising cost of living. It also shows how powerful workers can be when they organize, bargain collectively and stand strong when management tries to impose unfair terms on employees.

The planned open-ended strike would have been the first of its kind in the history of the UC health care network, according to Local 3299.

LOS ANGELES – About 42,000 service and patient care workers represented by AFSCME Local 3299, who have been working two years without a contract, are preparing to go on  an unfair labor practice  (ULP) strike at multiple facilities across the University of California system. 

The open-ended strike, set to begin early on May 14, will be the first of its kind in the history of the UC health care network, according to Local 3299.  

It represents a major escalation in the workers’ fight for higher wages, housing aid and affordable health care. Local 3299 members have gone on a series of  ULP  strikes of limited duration in the past over the same issues.  

“For more than three years, AFSCME 3299 has worked to negotiate successor agreements that address the acute affordability crisis facing the university’s front-line service and patient care workforce,” said Local 3299 President Michael Avant, who’s also an AFSCME vice president. “Instead of bargaining in good faith, UC has illegally imposed terms that leave us further behind and refused to bargain over the housing crisis that has left our members sleeping in their cars and living in homeless shelters.  We have been left with no choice but to strike.” 

Local 3299 represents service workers like custodians, groundskeepers, food service workers, parking and security personnel throughout the UC system statewide. The union’s patient care units include medical assistants, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technicians, operating room assistants, respiratory therapists and licensed vocational nurses. 

Unless a last-minute agreement is reached, workers will be on strike at all 10 UC campuses, as well as medical centers, research laboratories, clinics ,  and other UC facilities across the state.  

The open-ended strike was announced one month ago, giving management time to either negotiate a deal or develop a contingency plan to maintain operations during the legally protected strike. Despite recent talks, there has been no contract agreement or a resolution to the underlying unfair labor practice charges. 

“Our team continues to bargain in good faith, but thus far talks have fallen short on core economic issues, including housing and health care costs that would leave many members worse off and unable to afford the same quality of care they deliver every day,” Avant said.  “If UC fails to rectify the terms it illegally imposed and refuses to address the core issues driving the affordability crisis for its most vulnerable employees, our members will be on strike on Thursday morning."    

As in the past, several dozen critical care workers are exempted from taking part in the strike. Local 3299 also created a patient protection task force — a line of communication with UC hospitals — that will enable certain striking workers to support emergencies during the work stoppage if UC’s contingency plans are insufficient to meet patient needs. 

Each year, on April 28, as part of Workers Memorial Day, the Connecticut AFL-CIO holds an event in Hartford to honor workers who have died, been injured on the job or gotten sick due to work.

The Connecticut AFL-CIO Health and Safety Committee also honors those who are working to prevent workplace deaths and injuries.

This year, AFSCME Locals 387, 391 and 1565 — all part of Council 4 — were recognized for their advocacy at the Connecticut Department of Correction to boost workplace safety.

“Due to the coordinated advocacy of all three AFSCME DOC locals, the Department of Correction finally chose to begin the implementation of mail scanners and body scanners in select correctional institutions — critical technology that, when it is utilized in every facility within the CTDOC, will make correctional officers and staff, as well as inmates, exponentially safer,” said Jeremie St. Pierre, a correctional officer at the Cheshire Correctional Complex and president of Local 387.

“Correctional officers live solidarity in a way that most can only hope to understand. Every day, they put their lives on the line for others, trusting that their brothers and sisters in uniform will be there beside them,” said St. Pierre, who was honored along with his co-workers at the Connecticut AFL-CIO event. “That bond is sacred. It's not built on empty words, but on the shared experience of risking their lives in service to their community, with long nights on the job and split-second moments.”

State Sen. Julie Kushner received the Connecticut AFL-CIO’s Legislative Health & Safety Award for a lifetime of fighting for worker health and safety. Kushner, chair of the Labor & Public Employees Committee, sponsored SB 660 in 2021. The law expanded post-traumatic stress injury coverage to Department of Correction employees, 911 dispatchers and Emergency Medical Services personnel.

Last week was  National Correctional Officers and Employees Week, a time to honor corrections workers and their crucial public safety mission, and thank them for their behind-the-scenes service to their communities. In addition to workplace safety, corrections professionals nationwide face a short-staffing crisis.

Last month, we commemorated Workers’ Memorial Day. In 2024, the most recent full year of data available, 5,070 people were killed at work nationwide, including those who provide public services. Across Connecticut, 41 workers lost their lives due to work-related injuries in 2024.

Public safety professionals are turning to AFSCME to build power at work and 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 our communities.  

At events held during the congressional recess, when House members were back in their districts,child care, Medicare, Medicaid and other services that President Donald Trump has called for.

“This isn’t politics to people like me —  it’s survival,” said Mary Cannon-James, president of AFSCME Iowa Retiree Chapter 61. “I worked my whole life, paid into Social Security and Medicare every single paycheck, and now politicians in Washington want to gut the very programs we earned while costs keep rising on everything from prescriptions to groceries.”

Those comments were directed at  Iowa Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, who supported the so-called Big Beautiful Bill. Cannon-James, like her fellow AFSCME working members and AFSCME retirees, demanded to know if lawmakers like Miller-Meeks will reverse course and stand against Trump’s most recent budget proposal, which sells out working people to benefit billionaires.

Already, 3 million people have been dropped from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) since Trump signed the so-called One Big Beautiful Bill Act. More than 1 million fewer people have signed up for health care through the Affordable Care Act marketplaces since subsidies expired. The bill also cut Medicaid by $1 trillion over 10 years. Trump and his cronies in Congress slashed programs working people and retirees rely on to dole out massive tax breaks for their billionaire buddies.

Sue Conard, president of AFSCME Wisconsin Retiree Chapter 32, said: “In communities across Wisconsin, people are doing everything right and still struggling to get by. We are all stretched thin,” said Conard, “so cutting Medicare and Medicaid in the middle of an affordability crisis is cruel.”

Arlene Muniz, a member of AFSCME Retiree Chapter 97, expressed similar sentiments in Arizona.

“While working Americans are stressed from trying to hold it all together, Donald Trump is saying that the federal government ‘can’t be funding day care, Medicare, Medicaid,’” Muniz said. “And his latest budget follows through on those threats.”

These AFSCME members are Getting Organized, and you should too. Join the fight.

An overwhelming majority of the more than 300 ISU employees represented by AFSCME Local 1110 (Council 31) voted to ratify the new contract agreement. More than 95% of votes cast were “Yes.”

“This struggle was about fair pay, and we won that. Even more importantly, it was about respect, and we earned it,” said Chuck Carver, a building service worker and president of Local 1110, which represents workers in building services, grounds, dining services and other ISU departments.

Pay provisions in the contract include an immediate 3.5% raise and a $1,500 lump-sum payment upon ratification. Workers will also receive annual raises of 3% beginning July 1, 2026, and going through 2029. In all, workers will receive a 16.5% compounded increase over the life of the five-year agreement, which runs through June 30, 2030.

The workers went on strike last month after ISU administrators provoked the strike by insisting on two takeaway demands: No retroactive pay increase back to last July and no assurance that union members will receive at least the same annual percentage increase as administrators.

The lump-sum payment in this agreement is greater than the value of a retroactive raise for the average Local 1110 member — even more so for lower-paid workers. Meanwhile, the new contract reinstates the me-too provision as of July 2028 and going forward.

“The terms of this agreement were available to ISU management on February 10, when union members voted down the university’s takeaway demands, and on April 7, when we met with the mediator before our strike deadline,” said AFSCME Council 31 Executive Director Roberta Lynch, who’s also an AFSCME International vice president. “Instead, management chose a path of conflict and division that brought hardship to workers, disruption to students and a stain on ISU’s name.”

“In an inspiring display of courage and solidarity — and with the support of students, faculty, staff and alumni, members and leaders of other unions, elected officials and countless others — ISU employees stood up, stayed strong and prevailed,” Lynch added.