Posts tagged AFSCME
Penn Museum workers demand raises, protest Univ. pay proposals in picket after authorizing strike
July 10, 2025 // “The average annual salary in the bargaining unit is less than $45,000,” Shaw said. “We’re looking for raises that will not only allow workers to keep up with increases in the cost of living, but to do better over time.” Union leaders also handed out flyers that emphasized Penn’s continued “lowball pay proposals” despite the University’s “annual operating budget of $4.7 billion.” “It’s not so much to ask from the University of Pennsylvania, the largest private employer and one of the wealthiest in the city,” Shaw said.
Commentary: Throwing out the garbage? Did you ask your local union first?
July 9, 2025 // The behavior of public-sector unions is enough to make you puke. This is true figuratively, when, as a matter of course, these groups bankrupt cities and states with unsustainable contract demands and tie the hands of elected officials to run the governments voters chose them to lead. But it was also true literally in Philadelphia, where an eight-day strike caused trash to pile up across the city.
Nation’s most liberal, union-beholden congressman wants out
July 8, 2025 // Notably, he has received hundreds of thousands of dollars in contributions from major public-sector unions such as SEIU and AFSCME. Evans was a vocal supporter and co-sponsor of the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act, a controversial bill criticized by opponents for undermining workers’ freedom to choose union membership and expanding the political power of union leadership. Before serving in Congress, Evans spent 35 years as a Pennsylvania state representative. In 1998, he notably opposed the teachers union, which spent more than $150,000 in an unsuccessful effort to defeat him.
Mayor Parker, unwavering in negotiations, dangles holiday pay incentive to end strike
July 6, 2025 // Though typically not part of a union negotiation that often includes wages, paid time off policies and health benefits, the Parker administration is trying to lump in dedicated low interest 30-year home mortgages for DC33 union members as part of their contract deal. The administration is also offering special dedicated access to all the home affordability programs she’s been spearheading.
Philly strike updates: Negotiations to resume as trash piles up; city worker charged in tire-slashing incident
July 2, 2025 // DC 33 worker charged with vandalism for slashing PGW tractor tires A Philadelphia Parks and Recreation employee and member of District Council 33 has been charged with slashing the tire of a Philadelphia Gas Works digger loader amid the municipal worker strike, police said.
Supreme Court likely to decide fate of federal unions
June 30, 2025 // How the Supreme Court will view the matter is anybody’s guess, though the Roberts Court has shown deference to the executive branch and a willingness to revisit precedent involving public sector unions. In its 2018 Janus v. AFSCME ruling, the court said public sector employees could not be forced to join a union as a condition of employment. Federal government collective bargaining is relatively recent, having only been codified in 1978. The Roberts Court may decide collective bargaining is a privilege, not a right, for federal workers.
Philadelphia, city’s largest blue-collar workers union to continue talks Sunday as strike looms, union says
June 30, 2025 // CBS News Philadelphia asked if any contingency plans were being made, but the mayor didn't answer that question. If an agreement is not reached, the strike would start at 12:01 a.m. Tuesday morning, which is only days before the city's Wawa Welcome America July Fourth Festival.
Bid Protests Offer a Way Around PLAs, But Will a Slow, Steady Precedent Win the Day?
June 25, 2025 // The OMB memo instructs federal agencies to maintain the labor pact requirements but also points to a Federal Acquisition Rule provision that provides an exception to the PLA requirement for large construction projects when its use would substantially reduce the number of bidders and impact the price. But it has left neither contractor groups nor NABTU happy. "To that extent this isn’t what we hoped for, it is definitely better than what was in place with the Biden administration,” Brian Turmail, vice president of public affairs and workforce at AGC told ENR. “In addition, given the recent court decisions, it is hard to see how the administration will be able to impose a mandated PLA without facing successful bid protests."
Op-Ed: Public employees deserve truth from union officials
June 24, 2025 // Pueblo’s contract isn’t even the worst offender in Colorado. The Denver Housing Authority’s contract, enacted this year, says that its 300-plus employees must be full, dues-paying members of the union, AFSCME Local 535. If enforced, the requirement could be one of the most egregious violations of public employees’ rights of free speech and association anywhere in the country. With some union officials unaware of — or unwilling to comply with — dettled law, it’s more important than ever for public employees in the state to understand their rights under union representation.
‘With you or without you’ – The growing rift between unions and Democrats
June 21, 2025 // O’Brien said that, during a meeting he had in the summer of 2024 with unnamed Democratic senators and three other major union leaders, he opposed bringing up the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act for a Senate vote ahead of the election. This was despite the PRO Act being a wish list of union priorities. O’Brien assumed that a vote at that time would have been an act of political theater, not a serious bid to get the legislation through the Senate. That would have suited Democrats, who could claim that they voted in support of unions, without actually benefiting them. “They wanted to introduce the PRO Act, and I’m like, ‘It’s never gonna pass,’” O’Brien told Walsh. “I had a sidebar with these three other general (union) presidents and I said, ‘They’re using this as an issue to weaponize it.’” O’Brien said that the “weaponization” of the legislation made it politically toxic and therefore impossible to get enough bipartisan support.