News

Biden forgives student loans for an additional 78,000 public service workers

AFSCME President Lee Saunders praised the White House’s announcement Thursday that the Biden administration will forgive student loans for an additional 78,000 borrowers — including many AFSCME mem

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."

AFSCME congratulates Judge Nicole Berner on winning Senate confirmation

AFSCME President Lee Saunders congratulated Nicole Berner, a longtime labor lawyer and general counsel of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), on being confirmed to serve on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.

Mr. Montoya goes to Washington

Mr. Montoya goes to Washington

Photo: Nicholas Voutsinos/ AFSCME

AFSCME supports Biden’s vision for America and will help him execute it

In this year’s State of the Union speech, President Joe Biden highlighted his administration’s achievements over the past three years and vowed to continue fighting for working people.

AFSCME applauds his accomplishments and strongly supports the Biden-Harris administration’s vision for the future, which includes defending our nation’s democracy, protecting a woman’s right to choose and making the wealthy pay their fair share in taxes, among other things.

In Black History Month event, AFSCME highlights return of public service jobs

The public sector has finally recovered from the COVID-19 pandemic. At the end of last year, there were 22,000 more public service jobs in the nation than in February 2020, just before the pandemic started.

This is cause for celebration for everyone in our communities, but especially for workers of color, who have been historically overrepresented in state and local government jobs.

AFSCME retiree blasts fiscal commission bill as a backdoor way to gut Social Security, Medicare

AFSCME retiree blasts fiscal commission bill as a backdoor way to gut Social Security, Medicare

AFSMCE Retiree Mary Cannon-James and Connecticut Rep. John Larson. Photo credit: Madalin Sammons/ AFSCME

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.