The AFSCME Council 57 Executive Board announced on July 26 that Charles Allen has been named the new executive director of the council, effective immediately.

Allen has been with the council since 2010, working as a business agent for Local 101—primarily with members at the City of San Jose. In the last two years he took on additional locals, representing Local 955 (City of Pleasanton) and Local 2428 (East Bay Regional Park District).

For most of the country, Nov. 8, 2018, might not stand out the same way it does for social worker Lance Ferris. But for Ferris, who’s based in Chico, that was a day that changed his life and the lives of those in his community forever.

The 19 presidential candidates who participated in the AFSCME Public Service Forum on Saturday disagreed on a range of topics, but they all agreed on one issue – our country needs a federal law that expands and protects collective bargaining rights for all public service workers.