Posts tagged AFSCME Council 28
RECORDS CONFIRM RUMORS OF PERSONNEL TURMOIL AT WFSE
November 29, 2023 // As of August 2023, the number of state agency workers represented by WFSE—its pool of potential members—had increased to 38,872, but its dues-paying membership had still shrunk to 23,303, leaving it with a membership rate of only 58 percent. Unless WFSE embraces values like transparency and customer service instead of secrecy and partisan politics, it should expect more of the same no matter who sits atop the organization.
Workers at Tacoma Art Museum vote unanimously to unionize
November 21, 2023 // With the vote, the union will join the Washington Federation of State Employees, [AFSCME Council 28/WFSE] part of the nationwide American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, which represents some 10,000 cultural institution workers nationwide. Significant about TAMWU’s bargaining unit is the inclusion of employees from multiple museum departments. Museum workers across the country have struggled to bargain as a whole and have been split into separate unions. Often, workers at museums are separated into unions based on positions, like the security guard union at the Seattle Art Museum and at the Frye Art Museum.
FREEDOM FOUNDATION FILES PERC COMPLAINT AGAINST WFSE CITING DISCRIMINATION, INTERFERENCE WITH LABOR RIGHTS
October 11, 2023 // Additionally, it’s unlawful for exclusive bargaining representatives to “restrain or coerce an employee” in the exercise of their right to not join a union. Conditioning access to equitable representation on a worker joining a union coerces the employee to join the union. As for Fix, he was exclusively represented by WFSE for the purposes of collective bargaining. Therefore, WFSE owed him a duty of fair representation that was breached when Yestramski refused to communicate with him. Public employees like Todd Fix who have no desire to affiliate with unions are constantly bearing the price of exclusive representation regimes, the original sin of modern public-sector labor law principles. In exchange for their compliance with exclusive representation laws, workers have the right to be represented fairly by their exclusive representative. And they have a right to make their own choices about joining a union without fear of losing access to equitable representation.
Janus at 4: Landmark Labor Ruling Helped but Still Needs to be Enforced More Aggressively
July 7, 2022 // Rather than simply complying with the unambiguous wording and intent laid out in Janus, unions like AFSCME, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), the Brotherhood of Teamsters, the National Education Association (NEA), and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) responded to the ruling by doubling down on their bullying tactics.