News

Federal funding to help vulnerable Americans in danger of getting cut

Federal money for programs and services that help millions of vulnerable Americans and employ many AFSCME members could be in jeopardy next year.

Marion County Surveyors Employee Retention Program

In 2017, then newly elected Marion County Surveyor Debbie Jenkins inherited an office with extremely high turnover and tanking morale. Workers were leaving public service for higher wages only to find that the tradeoff was at the expense of unpredictable work hours, smaller benefit packages and no pension options. Surveyor Jenkins, like many other local and state office holders struggled to retain those looking for greener pastures. One employee shared "I don't really want to leave but I don't see a future here."

Security when it matters: Pay raises for unionized workers reached multi-decade high in 2023

The last few years have seen a rise in worker momentum, with unionized workers raising their voices to demand higher pay, safer working conditions and more.

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 members — under the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program.

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