News

Members from our two locals that represent workers at the East Bay Municipal Utility District recently won a new contract that guarantees them a 4% raise in the first year, retroactive to April 2017, as well as a Consumer Price Index (CPI) increase plus 0.5% over the next three years.

In both units, 75% of the membership participated in ratifying the new agreement with 96% of the members overwhelmingly voting in support of the new contract.

A powerful advocate for working people and retirees on the nation’s largest public-pension fund now has an even stronger voice.

In mid-January, AFSCME member Priya Mathur was elected president of the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) Board of Administration, becoming the first woman to hold that post. The $350 billion pension fund serves more than 1.8 million people.

Seeking new ways to build and strengthen our union, Council 57 members from throughout the state came together in January for the second installment of the Local Union Leadership Academy (LULA).

The first LULA training took place in late 2017 and served as a proactive way for union members to get reenergized, learn AFSCME leadership fundamentals and take back those lessons to their locals and chapters. The most recent training served as a follow-up.

AFSCME members recently joined members of SEIU and IFPTE to help get a bill passed in California that will make it more fair and equitable for court reporters to electronically file transcripts of court proceedings.

Council 57 and a number of our locals gave the gift of solidarity this holiday season by supporting the successful two-month strike organized by machinists at Henkels Bay Point.

As a result of the strike, 80 machinists at Henkel Bay Point will be able to return to work. In addition to AFSCME members, labor and other community organizations poured out their generosity.

Henkel’s workers, who manufacture industrial glue and adhesive products for the aerospace industry, staged an Unfair Labor Practice strike beginning October 16 over health and safety concerns.