News

Lawmakers seek congressional support for paraprofessionals and other school staff

Connecticut Rep. Jahana Hayes recently introduced a resolution calling on Congress to affirm its support for providing living wages, good benefits and fair working conditions to paraeducators, classroom assistants, bus drivers, custodial workers and others who are vital to our public education system.

AFSCME’s ‘I AM Story’ podcast nominated for NAACP Image Award

AFSCME’s “I AM Story” podcast has received a nomination for an NAACP Image Award in the “Outstanding Podcast – Limited Series/Short Form” category.

AFSCME Moment of Silence - February 1, 2018 4:20pm

1968.  Memphis, Tennessee.  The heart of the Jim Crow South.  African American sanitation workers were called "boy."  They faced poverty wages and degrading, unsafe work conditions.  The city refused to recognize their union, or even their humanity.

After two sanitation workers - Echol Cole and Robert Walker- were crushed to death on the job, their AFSCME brothers stood together to demand dignity and respect.  They marched in the streets carrying signs with four powerful words: "I AM A MAN."

Union membership numbers show momentum remains strong despite staffing shortages

Despite the growing wave of worker organizing across the country, the union membership rate last year ticked down slightly, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported today, underscoring the importance of initiatives like AFSCME’s Staff the Front Lines to fill job vacancies in the public sector.

As a government shutdown looms, AFSCME members voice alarm and frustration

For John Campion, a monitoring officer with AmeriCorps, the potential for a federal government shutdown beginning this month brings fear, insecurity and frustration.

Elmore Nickleberry, Memphis sanitation worker who went on strike in 1968, dies at 92

Elmore Nickleberry, Memphis sanitation worker who went on strike in 1968, dies at 92

Retired from the job, but not from activism

As the year comes to a close, I am celebrating the incredible surge of worker activism in 2023. Current and future members of AFSCME and many other unions were in the streets, on the picket lines, and at the bargaining table demanding fairness and respect. I want to also take a moment to recognize and celebrate some of the most inspiring activists in our AFSCME family: AFSCME retirees.

Latest jobs report shows public services are ‘on the way toward a full recovery’

AFSCME President Lee Saunders applauded the latest federal jobs report, which showed the U.S. economy gaining 199,000 jobs in November.

AFSCME-backed bill would help child care providers with food costs

AFSCME supports a proposal in Congress to ease the financial burden on child care professionals who provide meals and snacks.

AFSCME applauds nomination of Nicole Berner to federal appeals court in Virginia

Our union applauds the nomination of longtime Service Employees International Union (SEIU) lawyer, Nicole Berner, to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.