News

We Are Going Union!

A Super Majority of Workers from Dignity Health in Merced, California voted to form their union with AFSCME Council 57, Local 2703 today! 

To Close the Gender Pay Gap, First a Voice on the Job

In the 1980s, I was living and going to school in Minnesota when women who worked for state government won a big victory. They got the state to increase the pay of women in “female dominated jobs” by passing a pay equity bill. In other words, they put a dent in the gender pay gap. As a student, I researched and wrote about the process of crafting, passing and implementing that legislation. And I learned something that I have never forgotten: the union made it happen. And not just any union. Our union: AFSCME. 

State Workers Make Workplace Violence, New Employee Training Top Priorities During 2019 Lobby Days

The Numbers Are In: AFSCME Members Are Sticking with Their Union

Our union gained more than 9,000 dues-paying members and nearly 19,000 dues-paying retirees in the last year, suggesting that billionaires and corporations are failing in their effort to “defund and defang” public service unions.

Human Services Workers Win Raise, Better Working Conditions in San Mateo County

After months of negotiations, stalled talks and a two-day strike, the members of AFSCME Local 829’s Human Services Agency unit won a new contract this month and brought about a number of changes that will make working conditions better in San Mateo County.

In Merced County, Loreina Childress Is More Than Just a Health Inspector

Local 2620 Member Finds His Commuter Cool

Valley State Prison is in Chowchilla, California, about 40 miles outside Fresno. It’s here that Anthony Ngo, an AFSCME Local 2620 (Council 57) member, commutes every day, providing psychological counseling and group therapy to the medium security facility’s inmates.

“It’s a great job – great pay and benefits, and I love the staff, and I have a flexible work schedule,” says Ngo. “I also like the work I do.”

Victories Against Anti-Worker Laws in Missouri, New Mexico Show Momentum

Workers in Missouri and New Mexico have chalked important victories against anti-worker laws that would have robbed them of their voices and the right to bargain collectively.

In Missouri, two separate anti-worker measures, HB 1413 and SB 1007, were halted by state courts last week.

Fighting for Better Working Conditions in San Mateo County

As a clinical social worker with San Mateo County’s Children and Family Services Department, Laura Stovall is sometimes required to go into a family’s home when a child’s life is put in danger—oftentimes, her own life is put in danger as well.

But when Stovall asks San Mateo County management for time off or the ability to work some days from home or fair overtime pay so that she can regroup, spend quality time with her family and get ready to help other families in need, she is often punished or made to feel like her job isn’t important.